This paper will present when, in what political and cultural context and through which channels Maurice Maeterlinck, recipient of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Literature, was introduced into the Chinese sphere. After briefly discussing the circumstances under which foreign literature made a breakthrough in a declining Chinese Empire from the late nineteenth century through a wave of translations unparalleled for more than a millennium, the paper will explain how the translation of Maeterlinck’s works fed the fashion of symbolism in the Middle Kingdom. The authors will then take a look at the history of Maeterlinck’s translation in Republican China (1911‑1949) and its reception in local intellectual circles, including by examining some critical reviews that have been made of his work in literary journals. Finally, they will undertake to portray some of the translators who built the reputation of the Belgian playwright in pre-Communist China.