Established in the mid-1980s under its old name AACCL (American Association of Chinese Comparative Literature), the Association of Chinese & Comparative Literature is one of the very few scholarly organizations in the world devoted exclusively to literary studies in the China field. The Association promotes exchanges between scholars working in the field of Chinese and Comparative Literature in the U.S., China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

The Association has more than three hundred members internationally, about one third of them currently holding academic positions in North American universities. Since 1991, the Association has sponsored nine international conferences at Duke University (1990), UCLA (1992), Princeton University (1994), University of Georgia (1996), University of Vienna and Salzburg (Austria) (1999), Fudan University (China) (2001), SOAS, London University (The United Kingdom) (2003), Nanjing University (China) (2005), Sichuan University (China) (2007) and three joint Conferences with ACLA at Indiana University (1993), Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) (1997), and University of Texas at Austin (1998).

The administrative body of the Association consists of the following: President, President-elect, Executive Committee, Advisory Board, and Liaison Officers in Europe, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.