Abstract: Since the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the image of workers has gradually transformed from the object of sympathy in the early labor literature to the image of rebels conscious of class identification in the left-wing literature. After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, the need to build an industrialized modern country in terms of economy highlighted the significance of workers. The sense of the workers “rising to the leading position” in the new society is a concrete embodiment of their national identification. Meanwhile their image also shifted from rebels to masters of the country.

Key words: national identification, industrial literature, worker image