Abstract: During the Anti-Japan War, three important Chinese modern poets, He Qifang, Bian Zhilin and Ai Qing have visited Yan’an. They also wrote and published their Yan’an experiences. There are significant differences among their writings about Yan’an. Scholars interpreted the differences as independent literariness or politicized literature. The paper argues that the literariness or the independence of poet is not a suitable frame for the issue. Three kinds of traditions of Chinese modern poetry shaped the way of the three poets’ very different acceptances of Yan’an in their writings and activities.