Contemporary literature can be defined as a transition of classical literature to the present-age .

What happened in the contemporary time?

The contemporary period refers to the glorious thirty years from the in 1919 until the foundation of the Peoples' Republic of China in 1949. This period is named the ?New Democratic Revolution Period of China, and is an important element within Chinese history. The May 4th Movement marked the Chinese revolution, which was characterized by changes from the old democratic

revolution. In 1921, Mao Zedong, as one of seven presenters of the First National Congress in Shanghai, found the Communist Party of China (CPC). In 1924, Sun Yat-sen, pioneer of China’s democratic revolution and the founder of the Kuomintang (KMT), worked together with the Communist Party of China to organize workers and peasants for the Northern Expedition (known as the Great Revolution in history).

After Sun Yat-sen passed away, the right-wing clique of the KMT headed by Chiang Kai-shek staged a counter-revolutionary coup in 1927, murdering Communists and revolutionary people, and founded the Kuomintang regime in Nanjing. Thus the Great Revolution ended in failure. After that, the CPC led the Chinese people to wage the 10-year Agrarian Revolution War against the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, which is also known as 10-Year Civil War.

In July 7, 1937, Japan launched all-out aggression against China.

The Kuomintang.armies started a series of battles, which gave relentless blows at the Japanese invaders. In the enemy’s rear area, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, under the leadership of the CPC, fought against most of the Japanese forces, thus playing a decisive role in the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.

From June 1946, an unprecedented large-scale civil war started. Kuomintang armies launched an all-round attack on the Liberated Areas led by the CPC. To thoroughly emancipate the Chinese people, the CPC led the army and people in the Liberated Areas to start the nationwide War of Liberation. After three campaigns, the CPC overthrew the rule of the Kuomintang and won a great victory in the new democratic revolution in 1949. Then the People’s Republic of China founded on Oct.1th 1949.

With the development of the New Culture Movement and the victorious October Revolution in Russia in 1917, new thoughts refreshed the literary field. They tried to approach the public with more oral and excellent works as well as the literary association. After the republican revolution (1911) authors turned away from the classical modes of composition, and many writers (notably Hu Shih and Lu Xun) advocated writing in vernacular.

Translations of Western books frequently appeared in China, and the novelists of the republican period were greatly influenced by European writers. Women writers grew equally prominent during these decades.

Contemporary literature took on a new vigor, despite the fact that Chinese was in the throws of checkered and complicated times. This period was distinctive as it brought into being a new and revised literary language, form, content and skills allowing it to evolve into an independent and open art available to the whole of society. It attached great attention to people's lives and a future with strong political tendencies. Influenced by the arrival of world literature, it provided wide and effective communication between writers and readers.

What are forms of contemporary literature?

With this spirit of reform and renaissance , one group of intellectuals, led by an American-educated scholar, Hu Shi, proposed a major new direction for Chinese literature and language in 1917. The new movement used local dialect as the written language. Lu Xun, who is now considered the father of modern Chinese literature, wrote "Diary of a Madman", the first short story written in the local dialect.

1940s when it would be eventually replaced by amateur work after the establishment of the People's Republic.The chaos, hopelessness, and desire for change are portrayed in the major novels of this era. These works are no day brighteners but their realist style gives us a similar feeling as authors’ who actually lived through a painful transitional time.

Contemporary Poetry

Modern Chinese poems are also called “new poetry”, which usually do not follow any prescribed pattern. Early 20th-century poets like Xu Zhimo, Guo Moruo and Wen Yiduo sought to break Chinese poetry from past conventions by adopting Western models.

The most important Misty Poets include Shu Ting, Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian. Hai Zi should be regarded as a special case of the mystic poets because he became very famous after suicide.

What is the first golden age of Chinese literature?

The first golden age is from the 1920s to the 1930s, starting from the New Culture Movement, showed strong opposition to imperialism and feudalism. The progressive writers, such as Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, Ba Jin, Mao Dun, Lao She and Zhang Ailing, not only pioneered China's modern literature but fulfilled to be great masters in China's art and literature.

At the beginning of the century, the feminist movement took hold fiercely, which marked a period of growing unrest for women. Women of this period were faced with two main problems, one is to their thoughts, and the other is to the society. They have to deal with the dilemma of protesting oppressive ideas that stem from Confucian ideology or remaining true to their family to maintain peace and order. Women writers of the time concerned on feminist sentiment and the issues that came with revolution. Zhang Ailing, Lu Yin, Shi Pingmei and Ding Ling, were four most influential female writers at that time.

As aforementioned, in the roily times, some excellent works will be brought up. Definitely, there are actually splendid literature works in contemporary time. Contemporary literature is not only an important component of Chinese literature but also an outstanding part of world culture.