First introduced in the 1920s,English novelist Jane Austen has attracted numerous readers and has received extensive attention from critics in China .Most of the early articles on Jane Austen's novels appeared in magazines based in Shanghai,such as English Weekly or Literature Journal .During the first 16 years of the People's Republic,Austen was more or less marginalized,because of an overwhelming emphasis on the social/political function of literature at that time .During the following 10 years of″C ultural Revolution″,the study of Austen's novels was brought to a standstill .It was in the1980s that her works reemerged in China's literary field and was held,unprecedented,in high esteem .Scholars and readers tried to discover the artistic features and themes of her novels,and compared them with the famous Chinese classic A Dream of Red Mansions .Quite a number of crucial western writings on Austen were also translated into Chinese .Since the 1990s,the translation and publication of Austen's novels have become very ″hot″,and movies or TV series adapted from Austen's novels magnetized a great number of fans . From1990 to2009,Austen studies made rapid progress .Partly due to the growing importance of doing research to teachers and postgraduate students in universities,partly due to the expanding influence of Western contemporary theories,discussing Jane Austen's novels became more and more an academic activity—t he topics increasingly diversified,various efforts were made in response to the Austen studies in the West .Recent developments may be tentatively summarized as follows :(1)studies focusing on techniques or aesthetic values quickly increased;(2)traditional reflections on″content″,i .e .,inquiries into ethical,ideological,social and historical aspects,are being radically″refreshed″;(3) western feminist criticisms and gender studies inspired many followers or imitators;(4)interdisciplinary researches that may be loosely termed as″cultural study″f ormed a promising area;(5)non-scholarly essays should not be neglected .Overall,Austen studies in China in this period produced very fruitful results,in spite of some occasional shoddy work that are hastily patched together,and some plain plagiary .Yet,considering the Austen craze in Western countries,the wide popularity of her novels and related movie/TV products in China,as well as our massive commentaries on some other English writers (Hardy,for example),our intellectual interest in Austen is far from adequate .