Abstract: Regarding the four forms of poetry (verses, ditties, odes and songs) as orthodox representatives of Chinese literature, previous works on Chinese literary history tended to focus on the lyricism tradition of Chinese literature. Such interpretation and description of Chinese literature, however, are revised in A Study of the Narrative Tradition of Chinese Literature, whose author believes that the two traditions of Chinese literary history, namely lyricism and narratism, should be both covered in a book on Chinese literary history. This paradigmatic shift is significant, which means a fundamental change of literaryhistory evaluation from monocenter to dualcenter. In other words, the basis on which Chinese literary history has been constructed is radically changed.

Key words: A Study of the Narrative Tradition of Chinese Literature, literary history, lyricism, narratism