Launched in July 1953 and discontinued on the eve of the Cultural Revolution in January 1966, Shijie Wenxue or World Literature was initially named Yi Wen and changed its name to “World Literature” in January 1959. As the only official journal publishing translated literature in Mainland China, Shijie Wenxue served as one of the main channels for the contemporary Chinese to keep in touch with foreign literature and literary trends. Hailed by almost all outstanding contemporary translators and foreign literature scholars nation-wide, Shijie Wenxue (Yi Wen) published 2,825 translated works of various genres from a total of 124 countries and regions in 139 issues. As many as 849 translators contributed to the journal. As a state-sponsored journal run by the Chinese Writers Association, Shijie Wenxue (Yi Wen) enjoyed a long-term high “political status”. 从1953 年7 月创刊到1966 年1 月“文革”前停刊，《世界文学》（创刊 时名为《译文》，1959 年1 月更名为《世界文学》）是中国大陆唯一公开发行 的专门译介外国文学作品的期刊，它成为当时中国国民了解、认识外国文学 作品、文艺动态的最主要的渠道之一。它的发展得到了中国当时几乎所有最 优秀的翻译家及外国文学研究者的鼎力支持。以此期间，《世界文学》（《译 文》）出版了139 期，共译载了124 个国家、地区或民族的2825 篇各类体裁 作品，译者达849 人。同时，《世界文学》又是一份由中国作家协会主办的 国家级外国文学刊物，长期在中国文坛享有很高的“政治地位”。