<p>William Empson is not just an important English critic and poet, but in China he is also revered as a professor and educator at the legendary Linda and Lianda, exile universities which combined Peking, Tsinghua and Nankai universities during the 1930s War of Resistance against Japan. In the poems which he composed in this period, we do not just see his own thoughts and acts, but also the society and history of that war-torn age. This essay will delve into Empson’s “China poems” to show, through contextual reading, that the Sino-Japanese War is not just a background, but is also an important theme. This will return these works back into their context, to reveal meanings which were hitherto hidden or neglected. Empson’s war narrative, together with his view on the relation between literature and politics and on the comparative cultures of China and Japan, will enable us to understand the social and historical dimension of his cultural and aesthetic thinking.</p>