The Institute of Literature and Art Studies Zhejiang University was established in 1998. Literature Theory is a provincial key discipline in Zhejiang Province and was granted the authority to confer doctoral degrees in 1998.

The academic research in this discipline holds an important position nationwide. Mr. Wang Yuanxiang's foundational theories in literature and art studies and his research in Marxist literary theory are distinctive in the academic community and have had a profound influence, laying a solid foundation and excellent traditions for the discipline's development.

In recent years, the Institute of Literature and Art Studies has made significant progress in foundational theories of literature and art, comparative poetics, Western literary theory, and other fields, attracting widespread attention in academic circles.