Ancient Chinese literature and ancient Chinese literary history were two different concepts. Ancient Chinese literature referred to the literary works created by individual authors in ancient Chinese history, including poetry, prose, novels, operas, and other artistic forms. The history of ancient Chinese literature was a study of the development and evolution of ancient Chinese literature, including the origin, development, climax, valley, and extinction of literature. Therefore, although ancient Chinese literature and ancient Chinese literary history both involved ancient Chinese literary works, their research methods, content and scope were different.