Existing research on Chinese science fiction and popular science works in the Republican period mainly focuses on the improvement of scientific knowledge and the political criticism of the society, but less on the language form, the consideration of the reader group, and the wartime context. Taking the latter three as the starting point, this article excavates the chemist Gao Xingjian(Xiaozhu)'s life experience and most of his "scientific fiction" and classic poems of popular science written in the 1930s. It attempts to reveal another feature of science fiction and works of popular science in the Republic of China. To be specific, it is the combination of traditional Chinese literature, drama and other traditional forms, and Western scientific discourse. This is related to the wartime situation and the changes in the readership group. Placing Gao's works in the context of the war in the 1930s, this paper argues that the westward migration caused by the war made intellectuals reconsider the methods and objects of popularization of science, and they achieved to popularize science in a broader sense of "vernacular" scientific discourse rather than limiting by vernacular Chinese. It also echoes the concept of "new wine in old bottles" during the debate of "national form" in the 1930s.

popular science in the Republican period  /  scientific discourse  /  wartime enlightenment  /  Gao Xingjian（Xiaozhu）