Abstract: Professor Wu Xinghua, a poet and scholar who died young, reviewed and translated the works of two important playwrights of the Elizabethan era, Marlow and Shakespeare. Wu’s works were important academic achievements in British and American literature studies of the “Seventeen Years” period. Among these works, the long essay The Merchant of Venice: Conflict and Solution published in Literary Review in 1963 was a representative one and was exemplary in Shakespearean studies of the “Seventeen Years” period. It is also one of the most valuable achievements in the literary theory studies of the period. My article reviewed Wu Xinghua’s special paradigm of the study of The Merchant of Venice, elaborated the research method of revealing the playwright’s intentions and values through observing the modifications of the writing materials, the structure of the script and the development of the plot, and recognized his research orientation of placing historical totality-text analysis and original works positivism in the core position. Besides, my article attempts to expand the depth of Wu Xinghua’s analysis by applying the theories of disenchantment and re-enchantment.

Key words: Wu Xinghua, The Merchant of Venice, Shakespearean studies in China, literary theory studies of the “Seventeen Years” period;, disenchantment, re-enchantment