This dissertation examines the role of modernism and modernity in Chinese spoken drama and film during the years between the May Fourth Movement and the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. This influence is traced through close readings of a selection of works in different categories, underlining relevant themes and structures that are recurring in both drama and film. Rebecka Eriksson was born 1984 in Stockholm, she began her Ph.D. studies at Lund University in 2009