Abstract: The “Romantic Tales” created by Shen Congwen around 1930 plays an important role in the formation of his cultural concept,for they strongly and romantically express his “ideal life style” and are the core of his creation ideology.The creation of these “Romantic Tales” is an effort for Shen Congwen to seek the tradition of the Miao culture in Xiangxi and to construct the Miao culture in Hunan.By fighting against the dominant Han culture,Shen gains a self-recognition and affirmation,discovers and reconstructs the humanity of the Miao people in Xiangxi,and establishes his “small temple of humanity”.Further more,he tries to develop the particularity out of the Miao culture into universality to resist the popularity of the Han and Western cultures,using “small temple of humanity” as a frontier culture to resist “modernity”.

Key words: Shen Congwen, humanity, modernity, tradition, distinction, romantic tales