Abstract:  The western postmodernist literary theories have exerted an inestimable impact on contemporary Chinese literary theories since they were first introduced to China over two decades ago. This impact has both positive and negative sides. While some scholars tend to devalue or simply negate the importance of postmodernist theories, this article aims to focus on their positive impact in China and seeks to demonstrate that these theories have actively contributed to the innovative construction of contemporary Chinese literary theories in the whole course of their critical reception in China. This positive influence is to be demonstrated from five aspects, supported by abundant of empirical materials. Firstly, they have introduced a critical and reflective perspective. Secondly, they have helped to diversify contemporary Chinese literary theories. Thirdly, they have powerfully challenged the metaphysical way of thinking. Fourthly, they have generated a sense of crisis of literature in the postmodern world and triggered the debate on “the end of literature”. Fifthly, the postmodernist ecological criticism has positively contributed to Chinese literary theories. Doubtless, western postmodernist literary theories have something that we can borrow and use for our own purpose, but more importantly this positive impact is due to the fact that Chinese scholars of literary and art theories, with their keen insight and openmindedness, have critically reviewed, assimilated and creatively reworked these theories to make them more relevant to the Chinese context and our own problems and more flexibly adaptable for their own creative construction of Chinese literary and art theories.

Key words:  postmodernism, positive influence, chinese literary theories;, critical and reflection perspective