Mr. SHEN Cong-wen and Thomas Hardy, though living in two totally different cultural environments, created Border Town and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which are closely related to each other in the local spirit and tragic characteristics. However, the two works are sharply different in describing the relationship between environment and human beings, and between despair and hope. This is why the two works respectively shows the different national cultural characteristics between China and England.