Abstract: The publication of Zhu Dongrun’s Talks on Tales from Shakespeare in Pacific Journal in Shanghai in the early years of the 20^th century marked the beginning of the criticism on Shakespeare’s dramatic texts in the Chinese academia. The four articles of Talks on Tales from Shakespeare, which exceed over 20,000 words and fully demonstrate the author’s professional knowledge about Shakespeare, turn out to be the longest existing, the most elaborate, and the earliest independent and comprehensive Shakespearean commentaries. They touch upon various aspects of Shakespearean studies, such as his life, the achievements and shortcomings of his literary works, authorship, actors in his plays, and stage setting; they offer not only superb and meticulous textual analysis on well-known plays like Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, but also conscientious and perspicacious insights into the comparison between the Chinese and Western literature; and for the first time they provided the readers at that time with a more specific and detailed understanding of Shakespeare’s basic features than ever before. Zhu Dongrun is the first Shakespearean expert who conducted his studies on Shakespeare by translating and citing the original texts of Shakespeare’s plays. His criticism focuses on the discussion of artistic charm, stresses the importance of the close reading of texts, and reveals the implication of ideological values in various plays. What we can learn from his articles is an objective, pragmatic, steady, persistent, and rational approach that has proven to be extremely valuable in helping the readers discover and understand Shakespeare through the art of drama. Evidently, the value of Zhu’s articles goes beyond merely signifying the initial acceptance of and scholarship on Shakespeare within the modern Chinese academia, because his articles also explore the different characteristics of genres in literature and the reception patterns in cross-cultural translation. In a word, the scholastic significance of Zhu’s articles is definitely pioneering and monumental in the history of Shakespeare’s reception in China.

Key words: Zhu Dongrun, Talks on Tales from Shakespeare, close reading, comparative consciousness, value