This essay seeks to determine the specific historical meaning of certain questions that emerged after the Cultural Revolution in China such as 'literature is a human science' or 'literature is an art of language' through an examination of the interactions between history and concepts. This essay also attempts to demonstrate how these questions formed a unique cultural discourse in the determinate context of the 1980s that subsequently limited and influenced the development of literary thought in the 1990s. In so doing, this essay offers a different discussion of the current predicament in literary studies by arguing that historical context is in fact an important factor determining the course of literary trends, but the true historical and aesthetic value of a literary trend depends on its ability to fulfil its historical mission while transforming that mission in the process. A new concept should be evaluated on a similar basis whether it can meet this historical demand while transcending a simple, mechanistic, and reactive relation to its historical context. Accordingly, the static formula for evaluating theories and concepts that is common in academic discussion can only be of secondary importance.
