Abstract: This paper studies the formation the modern connotation of the term "wenxue"(literature) as the result of the co-construction of Catholicism in the late Ming Dynasty and Christianity in the late Qing Dynasty. In his books Xixuefan and Zhifang Waiji published in 1623, Guilio Aleni coined the term "wenyi zhi xue", which aims to include various types of poems and argumentative writings. In YANG Ting-yun's posthumous work Daiyi Xupian published in 1635, Aleni's "wenxue zhi xue" in Xixuefan was quoted and replaced by "wenxue", which was the first time that the term "wenxue" obtained its new meaning different from its traditional one as Confucian classics or cultivation since the Analects. YANG's usage was continued by Christian commissionaires such as Joseph Adkins, who also used "wenxue" in his Liuhe Congtan to include epics, tragedies and comedies, historical records and even rhetoric in the Western tradition. The modern connotation of "wenxue" has gradually formed since then and with its application in WEI Yuan's Records and Maps of the World, and reformers and scholars such as LIANG Qi-chao and WANG Guo-wei, "wenxue" has made contribution to China's modernity.

Key words: YANG Ting-yun, Giulio Aleni, WEI Yuan, Joseph Adkins, “wenxue”