| The special conditions of politics and culture in the 1930s determined that literary magazine had to take the task of promulgating politics and culture while promoting literature. In July, 1933, the monthiy magazine The Journal of Literature which was edited by Mao Dun who worked secretly then started its first publication in Shanghai. Experienced five years of hard life, it developed steadfastly under the rigorous cultural control by Kuomintang and in the struggle against the reactionaries. It was an important literary magazine which had a longest existence besides The Novel Monthly before the anti-Japanese war. The Journal of Literature, which survived under the abominable circumstances in the KMT-controlled area, has grown to be a powerful weapon to imprecate, denounce and sweep "all the obstacles from the road to the light" and has set the trend of new literary creation in the 1930s. It has united writers of various genres and styles, published a great amount of influentihl works as well as trenchant literary criticism with much profundity and brought up a batch of budding writers in the world of letters. Therefore, this journal possesses an important literary and historical value. Through it, we can grasp the thread of literary development in the 1930s methodically. Taking the journal as a whole, this paper illustrates its ideas in the sequence of the following five parts.In the first part, this paper presents briefly the development course of the journal in the adverse circumstances of 1930s. Based on the exhaustive data, this paper makes a concise analysis of its publication, its script writers and its survival in hard times; at the same time, the purpose of its publication, the characteristics of its contents and its issues as well have also been summarized and discussed. Facing a perilous situation, Mao Dun and his peers worked diligently and adopted a variety of strategies such as publishing special issues in succession, employing two editors or invisible editors so as to make this journal survive in the KMT-controlled area. It is really not easy for them to help this magazine negotiate through three hard stages of creation, development and termination in a period of four years.In the second part, this paper mainly focus on the close relationship between the monthly journal——The Journal of Literature and some eminent writers like Lu Xun, Mao Dun together with some new progressive writers. This journal has received much support from such famous writers as Lu Xun, Mao Dun and Lao She as well as new talent writers as Zang Kejia, Sha Ting and Ai Wu in the process of its growth. They showed a persistently deep concern for the development of the journal. In the face of being clamped down, they tried every conceivable means to ensure its survival including their own contribution to the journal. It can be safely said that the journal cannot be in existence without their efforts.In the third part, a new concept of "ontological color" is introduced into this paper. This paper expounds the rich and brilliant ontological color possessed by The Journal of Literature as the combination of creative, critical and academic noumenon by way of its featured columns of "special issues of creation", "literary forum" and "comments on books and newspaper". As the creative noumenon of the journal, the column of"special issues of creation" has contributed such excellent works as The Pond of Reverend Gui, A Peaceful World, Mr. Bao and His Sons; as the academic noumenon of the journal, the column of "literary forum" not only provides a debate arena but also makes great achievements in theoretical criticism through such activities as discussions on literary heritage, popular Chinese and disparage among men of letters, thus bringing much vigor and vim to the literary world; as the critical noumenon of the journal, the column of "comments on books and newspaper" has published trenchant theoretical criticism. For instance, On Writers and Their Articles by Mao Dun has not only created a new type of critical style but also cultivated and recommended new progressive writers.In the fourth part, this paper, making a vertical comparison between The Journal of literature and Novel Monthly & Literary Position as well as a horizontal comparison with The Modern Time, analyzes the distinct features of The Journal of Literature. This journal, being one of the important magazines of series of Mao Dun's literary periodicals, succeeded to The Novel Monthly and followed by The Literary Position. As one of the "commercialized" belles-lettres in the 1930s, The Journal of Literature has much in common with Novel Monthly & Literary Position. For example, they all concerned themselves with social life, possessed a firm and persistent character, had a powerful working staff and laid much emphasis on digging out new writers in the literary world. However, they all displayed individual characteristics. Comparatively speaking, The Novel Monthly focuses on the introduction of the western literature and The Literary Position pays more attention to discussions than creation while The Journal of Literature stresses creation and critical comments on writers and their works as well. The Journal of Literature has much difference in style with The Modern Times which is a pure literary magazine with a manifest commercial purpose and a mediocre character. The former has a strong flavor of politics and is filled with a sense of struggle with life while the latter is a "fashionable" literary magazine which sticks to neutrality and has a free, modern and avant-eourier character. Through the vertical and horizontal comparisons, The Journal of Literature manifests its marked individuality.in pursue of value judgment and literary orientation; it is a banner of seeking after light and progress in the literary word in the "Red 1930s'.In the end, the paper generalizes its historical status in the history of literature in the 1930s, and illuminates its unique and significant value in respect of vernacular literature history, editor study and study of historical materials.
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