本文追溯釐清中國20世紀「通俗文學」和「純文學」兩個概念的生成、分歧及其背後隱含的文學議題。主要論點是：就中國「通俗文學」和「純文學」兩者割離分歧的起點，一般咸被指認為五四時期的新文化運動，但事實上更可追溯至晚清梁啓超等人的「新小説」理念。「推」、「俗」兩者之間的分歧到1920年後成為普遍接受的論述，其政治傾向壓倒美學意義，對後來的中國現代文學的發展造成了相當大的影響。文學創作的政治傾向不但削減了現代文學的主體性，也反映出菁英群體對民間文藝的警覺和掌控文化生產的企圖。總結以上觀察與檢視，本文將清末民初此種就「雅」、「俗」文學的隔離命名為「大分歧」。

The main purpose of this essay is to trace the development and implications of the split between “popular” and “elite” literature in modern China. I argue that the seeds of this division, which most acknowledge was fully formed by the New Culture Movement of the May Fourth period, can be found in Liang Qichao’s 梁啟超 late Qing writings about novel. The split as it hardened into orthodoxy by 1920 had serious consequences for the development of modern Chinese literature, creating an artificial division within it based on political rather than aesthetic grounds. This politicization of writing had serious consequences for the growth of an autonomous literature in modern China, reflecting as it did the fears on the part of elites left and right alike for cultural work not under their direct intellectual control. Based on the paper's findings, it labels the split between “popular” and “elite” literature “the great divide”.