Abstract: Although the language of ballad seems simple and unadorned, its specific formal skills and overall idea of form run through the whole text, where its important literary value lies. It not only has a set of internal formal rules, but also shows a close association with daily spoken language, dialect, and ancient Chinese poetry. Therefore, what is worthy to learn for the New Literature is not wonderful words or sentences in a ballad, or its simple and natural language style or strong feelings expressed for ordinary people, but its formal rules. These rules not only provide useful reference and nourishment for formal innovation of literary language, but also enrich the New Literature in terms of emotional structures and realistic contents, and promote the modernization of Chinese literature in the 20th century in expressions and aesthetic meanings.

Key words: ballad, the Ballad Campaign, literary language