This introductory chapter places Chinese writers’ conception of world literature within the broader framework of globalization. Moving beyond Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Eurocentric perspective on world literature, which largely neglected the political and nationalist struggles of the nineteenth century, the chapter contends that Chinese writers, through their writings and translations between 1918 and 1958, redefined the scope of world literature by integrating transnational influences with China’s quest for national independence. To reconceptualize world literature, the chapter emphasizes that Chinese authors during this period pursued two notable cultural trajectories: they drew upon the cosmopolitan traditions of ancient China and engaged with multiple cultural intermediaries by translating and adopting literary works through Japanese, German, English, and Esperanto sources. The chapter concludes by contending that Chinese writers, despite their peripheral position, reshaped world literature through active participation in global literary movements and by fostering a revolutionary subjectivity rooted in the populace.