The Japanese invasion of China proper on 7 July 1937 heralded yet another period in a long chain of devastation, suffering and internal displacement. Viewed from the perspective of literary history, however, the widespread mayhem and chaos of war became a catalyst for important developments as the established Chinese cultural field was broken up and fragmented. Old hierarchies were challenged and overthrown, and some authors and intellectuals took advantage of the upheaval to experiment with novel ways to cross what had formerly been sharp boundaries – between the elite and the popular, romanticism and modernism, tradition and modernity. With a focus on popular Chinese literature of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the present study is an examination of some of these experiments.

Xu Xu 徐訏 (1908–1980) and Wumingshi 無名氏 (1917–2002) were among the most widely read authors throughout the period, and they remained popular for many years afterwards. Both of them wrote short stories and novels that counted among the bestselling works of the time, which at first glance appear to be simple love stories and romances. Closer reading nonetheless makes it clear that these writings defy such easy categorisation, touching upon numerous more complex issues, including utopian fantasies, nationalism, sexuality and questions of identity. Some of these short stories and novels use distinctive narrative techniques bordering on modernist experimentation, echoing the Shanghai modernist writers of the early 1930s, most notably Shi Zhecun 施蟄存 (1905–2003) and Mu Shiying 穆時英 (1912–1940). On the whole, while Xu Xu's and Wumingshi's works remain melodramatic tales of passionate love and exotic adventure, at the same time they also demonstrate the diversity and sophistication that flourished in the popular wartime literature of the 1940s.

Many of China's literary experiments and new developments during this period stem from what Edward M. Gunn calls the ‘literature of disengagement’, works produced by authors who refrained from engaging in resistance and national or social activism. A few of these writers remain widely known today, in particular Zhang Ailing 張愛玲 (or Eileen Chang, 1920–1995) and Qian Zhongshu 錢鐘書 (1910–1998), who both worked in occupied Shanghai.