The literary theory with Chinese characteristics consists of two parts: Chinese Marxist literary thought and Chinese indigenous literary theory. To develop the literary theory with Chinese characteristics, we must combine the Marxist literary thought with the concrete practice of Chinese literature, and combine the Chinese Marxist literary thought with the Chinese indigenous literary theory. Historical experience has proved that whether the combination of the two is realized and whether the combination is successful or not is the key to the smooth development of literary theory with Chinese characteristics.