The journal was first published in April 1979 with its lead article entitled "No Forbidden Zone in Reading."

Articles introduced many ideas from modern Western philosophy (e.g. Nietzsche, Heidegger, Cassirer, Marcuse, Sartre, and Freud) as well as post-colonial theories such as Orientalism.

[2] However, during these early years until as late as 1988, there was much secrecy around who edited Dushu aside from it being established by a number of "publishers.

The magazine has tended to raise issues not previously discussed and carries a wide range of political opinions, including the views of Chinese liberals, the Chinese New Left,[4] and generally anti-neoliberal views.

[5] In 2007, the CCP propaganda department ordered the publisher to dismiss Wang and Huang, a decision that weakened the New Left in China.