(2) Learning from foreign art forms and carrying out reforms in traditional Chinese literary forms, i.e. the modernization of old Chinese literary forms. For example, Zhao Shuli's new storytelling-style novel, Liu Shaotang's legend-style novel and Liji's folksong narrative poems.
 (3) The creation of new forms through absorbing useful efements from both Chinese and Western literary forms. For example, the opera White-haithed Girl is a combination of western opera, stage play, traditional Chinese opera and yangko dance (a popular rural folk dance); while many skits, suddenly popular on stage and television are a hybrid of special expressive methods borrowed from the one-act play, Chinese crosstalk, as well as artistic styles from film and TV, giving them strong vitality.
4. A diversity of literary schools have developed freely and compete on an equal basis with each other. This has always been a positive tradition of Chinese literature. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Chinese ideological and Cultural circles had witnessed a situation of "a hundred schools" of thought contending with each other. During this period four famous schools emerged: Confucianism,
Mohism, Taoism, and the Legalist School. A number of important works representative of ancient human civilization came forth in this period, including: Analects, Mencius, XunZi,LaoZi,Zhuangzi, and Hanfeizi. Later, during more than 2,000 years of history, many more literary schools appeared, such as the "Gentle-' School, the "Heroic" School, the JiangXi School, the Chaling School, the Gong'an School, the Parallelism School, the "Tfue Colors" School, the Wujiang School, the Linchuan School, the jingling School, the Tongcheng School, the ChangZhou School, and the yuanyang hudtie pai ("Mandarin Duck and Butterfly" School).
In the development of the modern novel, there has also been the New Sensualism School, the Native School, the Social Analysis School, the Beijing School, and the july School. in the development of modern poetry there have emerged the july School and the Nine-leaf Poets.
"The Potato School" and the "Hehuadian School" came up after the founding of new China. It is the nature of literary creation that gives rise to a situation of many literature genres vying with each other And this kind of phenomenon also marks the prosperity and vitality of literary undertakings.
Chairman Mao, observing the law of literary creation, further put forward, in his important work, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People" (published in February of 1 957), the guideline: "Let
a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend." In expounding this guideline, Chairman Mao said: "Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land. Different forms and styles in art should develop freely and different schools in science should contend freely. We think that it is harmful to the growth of art and science if administrative measures are used to impose one particular style of art or school of thought and to ban another Questions of right and wrong in the arts and sciences should be settled through free discussion in artistic and scientific circles and through practical work in these fields. They should not be settled in an over-simplistic manner"
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