According to the polysystem theory of Itamar Even-Zohar, a conclusion can be drawn that the introduction of the history of Chinese literature in 20th century which was a completely new conception to Chinese had transformed Chinese literature study from convention to contemporary, by observing the environment in which the translation of Sasakawa Taneo’s original work A History of Chinese Literature was published, such as the translation selection, characteristics of translator’s subjectivity, publishing activities, etc. Among those several works about history of Chinese literature written by foreign experts in early times, the Japanese ones were consideredas the mostin fluentialon China. The Development of Literature, one of them, neither the best nor the earliest, played a Dynamic Canon role at that time when the study of the history of Chinese literature was just beginning, owing to its timely presence and its particular translation and publication environment.