New historical novels and new realistic novels can be said to have the same root and different branches, but they only push the described space-time field into history. As far as the specific creation situation is concerned, the topic selection of new historical novels is generally limited to the period of the Republic of China, and the major revolutionary events in this period are avoided. Therefore, defining the concept of new historical novel mainly means that it contains non-party historical themes during the Republic of China. His writing method accords with the basic tendency of new realistic novels.

There are many similarities between new historical novels and revolutionary historical novels in the choice of creative themes. Most of them involved the founding of the Party and the later revolutionary historical life. However, the authors of new historical novels are influenced by personal life experiences, real life, especially various modern western thoughts. They made completely different historical judgments on these same or similar historical themes. The main spokesmen of new historical novels are landlords, bourgeoisie, businessmen, prostitutes, concubines, bandits and other marginal people who are not "workers, peasants and soldiers". They mainly describe daily, secular and even humble life, such as eating and drinking Lazar, weddings and funerals, friends turning against each other, mother and daughter hating each other, and family ups and downs. Representative works include: White Deer Plain by Chen, Living by Yu Hua, Red Sorghum by Mo Yan, Fengyangshu Village Series by Su Tong (The House of Poppies, The Escape of 1934, Ensemble of Wives), The Story of Jujube Trees by Ye, and Chasing the Moon Building.