The paper is an attempt to explore the causes of modern
transformations of the novel in China and its development trends,which
are directly related to the construction of modernity in the novel.Al- though the cry for the historical function of the novel was still dominant in the period in which the Chi- nese novel was being modernized,the voices concerned about the
poetics of the novel could be heard with in the circle of the novel,and it had become a force to balance itself in the process of the transfor- mation of the novel.Even such mainstream theorists of“the new novel”as Liang Qi-chao began to pay attention to the style of the novel.In contrast,scholars or novelists like Wang Guo-wei,who were mainly concerned about the aesthetic interpretation of the novel in their theories of novel creation and critical theories,helped to give new appellations to modem novels.It can be seen from the aesthetic perspective of modernity and its appellations,Wang Guo-wei et al's concern with the poetics of the no- vel and the duality of Liang Qi-chao's theory of the novel reveal the growth potential of the novel cov- ered within the dominant discourse.