Abstract:In the 1960s, Hsia Chih-ching adopted the theoretical method of “New Criticism” to study Chinese classical novels, focusing on exploring the aesthetic value of the works and analyzing their moral intentions. Hsia Chih-ching’s study on judging Chinese classical novels by the aesthetic taste of western literature and modern novel criticism method is inevitably narrow and criticized by some peers, but on the whole, it broke through the popular textual research approach prevalent in academic circles at that time and brought the return of the literariness of Chinese classical novel research.