This paper aims to analyze the introduction of the notion "well-made play" to Chinese theatre, its reception during the first half of the 20th century, and the transmission, the translation, and the adaptation of well-made plays in modern China. The focus is on French playwright Eugène Scribe's works: how Chinese readers have known and appreciated the playwright and his works and how his works have inspired Chinese writers and become one essential element in the promotion and development of modern Chinese theatre. I first clarify the definition of the "well-made play" in Chinese language. By reading carefully Chinese and Western literary works of the Republican period, I examine how Chinese readers and audience at that time have understood Eugène Scribe and the conception of French well-made play. My discussion is on two translations of Scribe's play Adrienne Lecouvreur published in the first half of the 20th century. The first one is Yuan 'resentment' (1912), a Chinese translation of Osada Shūtō's Japanese translation by Bao Tian-Xiao and Xu Zhuo-Dai. The second one is Yun Cai-Xia (1947), a translation and adaption of the French original by Li Jian-Wu, with elements of traditional Chinese opera added. The two works demonstrate that western well-made play is transferred to modern Chinese theatre through an indirect approach. The adaptation of Li Jian-Wu further suggests an innovative transcultural practice in modern Chinese theatre that has often been ignored. In the Yun Cai-Xia, the dramatic effect of well-made play is perfectly integrated into the story of Chinese opera performers. Because of it, the Chinese traditional drama is no longer the complete opposite of the Western modern drama in the opinion of May-Fourth writers. In fact, this successful adaptation of Li announces the end of their argument and provides a possible approach for the modernization of Chinese theatre in the 20th century