This article takes its point of departure from the advertisements for All Quiet on the Western Front, Leimake Pingzhuan, Guangming and Zhanzheng zhong that were published in the "Anti-War Novels" issue 2.5 of Xiandai in 1933. It then investigates the translation and publishing activities of Chinese literary magazines that used All Quiet on the Western Front as a representative of anti-war literature; and describes the intense interest and prolonged involvement of contemporary Chinese writers and translators with the movements of anti-war thought and war novels. Finally it shows the worldwide context of the Chinese creation and translation of literary treatments of the topic of war.