面對二十一世紀新的歷史情境，當我們探討當代中國文學的時候，我們對眼前的「中國」又要做出什麼樣的詮釋？這些詮釋又如何和變動中的閱讀和創作經驗產生對話關係？本文希望再一次試探，作為學科的中國現當代文學研究，是否還有未盡之處，是否有值得開發的新方向。本文分為三個部分。首先陳述從上個世紀末以來，英語世界所發展出對於什麼是「中國」、什麼是「中國文學」、什麼是「中國文學研究」的不同論述；這些論述往往以政治空間與文化空間的考慮為起點。其次，透過介紹「華語語系」論述的來龍去脈，探問在我們以大陸為座標的「中國文學」之外，海外的最新反響。第三個部分特別提出「臺灣的魯迅，南洋的張愛玲」這樣一個命題；這一提問點明「文學地理」以及「國族想像」的疆界總是變動不居，也因此文學歷史的動線需要不斷重組。華語語系文學包含了海內和海外在國族想像和文學地理等論述角力下的成果。從臺灣的陳映真、馬來西亞的李天葆的文學個案來看，我們得知後殖民論述不能完滿的解釋現當代中國文學與華語語系文學的興起與發展。只有當我們嚴肅面對後遺民思維的不絕如縷，我們才能理解這是華語語系文學與其他語系文學最大的不同之處。後遺民論述讓我們在海外面對中國性或是華語所謂的正統性的問題，產生了另外一個層次的批判和自我批判。

In the face of the new historical situations in the twenty-first century and in our discussion of contemporary Chinese literature, how do we interpret "China"? How do our interpretations converse with our experiences of reading and writing? This essay considers both old and new directions in contemporary Chinese literary studies as a discipline that are worthy of our further investment.The essay is divided into three parts. First, I discuss the different, usually place-based, discourses of what "China," "Chinese literature," or "Chinese literary studies" is in the English-speaking world since the end of the twentieth century. Second, I examine the context of the discourse of "Sinophone" and consider its influence on "Chinese literature" that is beyond and outside of the Chinese Mainland. Third, I introduce a thesis of "Lu Xun of Taiwan and Eileen Chang of the South Seas." By asking who Tawan's Lu Xun is and who the South Seas' Eileen Chang is, I highlight that it is necessary to always attend to the reconfigurations of literary history as the boundaries of "literary geographies" and "national imaginaries" are ever changing and never stay the same.Sinophone literature corresponds to the competing discourses of national imaginaries and literary geographies within and beyond China. With cases of Chen Yingzhen from Taiwan and Li Tianbao from Malaysia, we know that postcolonial discourses cannot satisfactorily explain the emergence and development of modern and contemporary Chinese literature and Sinophone Literature. We will only understand how Sinophone Literature is truly different from the Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone literatures when we consider how Sinophone writers labor under postloyalism, which calls for an additional self-(reflexive) criticism in relation to issues of the so-called Chinese authenticity and Chineseness within and beyond China.