In the field of poetry and prose, Gong Zizhen, an outstanding enlightenment thinker, is the first person to create a new literary style. His poems are full of political sensitivity and uniqueness, and his masterpiece "Miscellaneous Things in the Sea" is highly praised by critics. At the same time, there are Wei Yuan, Lin Zexu and Zhang Weiping. He also wrote many works full of times color and historical significance. Before and after the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao, a representative of the reformists, put forward "the revolution of poetry" and "the revolution of literature" and praised Huang Zunxian's new poetry school as a banner of "the revolution of poetry". Liang Qichao's own prose, which originated from Gong Zizhen, broke the pattern of all traditional ancient prose, became popular for a while and was dubbed "new style". Reasoning articles such as On young chinese and On Perseverance are magnificent, extravagant and charming. During the Revolution of 1911, the works of Liu Yazi, Gao Xu and Su were full of patriotism and democratic spirit. Qiu Jin was an outstanding poetess at that time. Her poems were impassioned and full of heroism. In order to publicize revolutionary ideas, Zou Rong, Chen Tianhua and others have written popular ancient prose and vernacular Chinese. Traditional poetry characterized by conservatism and retro is still active for some time. In terms of poetry, there have been "Song Poetry Movement" and "Tongguang Poetry School". Classical Chinese has produced famous writers such as Mei Zengliang, Zeng Guofan and Li Shuchang, and is called "Tongcheng School" Zhongxing. Ci has the development of Changzhou Ci School. These schools of poetry and prose are only formal techniques or simulations or renovations, and have never found a new way out.
In the early days of modern novels, the low-style, mediocre narrow evil novels and chivalrous case-solving novels still dominated. After Liang Qichao advocated the "novel revolution", he condemned the prevalence of novels. Li's The Appearance of Officialdom, Wu Woyao's Adventures in Twenty Years, Flowers of Evil, and Liu E's Travels of Laocan are also called the four great condemnation novels in the late Qing Dynasty. These works highlight the darkness and decay of feudal officialdom and widely publicize social progress. In content and subject matter, there are obvious developments, and some have absorbed the techniques of western novels. However, artistic achievements are generally not high. After the Revolution of 1911, there appeared "Yuanyang Butterfly School" novels and "shady novels" with low ideological and artistic value. Besides writing, Lin Shu and others also translated many foreign novels in ancient Chinese, which had a wide influence at that time.