Andersen is called "the king of fairy tales in the world" by the world. Since Zhou Zuoren first introduced his works to China on 19 13, he has been concerned and loved by readers and children writers. Cao Wenxuan, a professor of Chinese Department in Peking University, is a famous children's literature writer in China. His children's literature works such as Red Tile and Straw House won the "International Andersen Award" in 20 16, which attracted wide attention from readers and researchers. Cao Wenxuan admires and appreciates Andersen's artistic quality. The children's literature works of Andersen and Cao Wenxuan are similar or similar in creative style and thought, which is comparable. However, due to the difference of social background and traditional culture, the tragic consciousness embodied in their works has similarities and different forms of expression. Based on the reading and understanding of The Straw House, The Red Tile and Andersen's Fairy Tales, this paper makes a comparative analysis of Andersen's and Cao Wenxuan's life experiences, tragic consciousness and artistic techniques, and probes into the similarities and differences of tragic consciousness and the reasons for this difference. This paper is divided into four parts. First of all, in the introduction, the research status at home and abroad, the research purpose and significance of the paper, and the research methods are expounded in detail. Secondly, it discusses the influence of Andersen's fairy tales on Cao Wenxuan's children's literature works, mainly from two aspects: practical significance and artistic expression in creation. Thirdly, the tragic consciousness in the works of the two writers is compared and analyzed, and the similarities and differences between them are analyzed mainly from three aspects: characters, poetic language and humorous expression. Fourthly, the reasons of different tragic consciousness are analyzed from the aspects of cultural and social background, group consciousness, individual consciousness and aesthetic consciousness. Through comparative analysis, this paper holds that the classical tragic beauty and creative style in Cao Wenxuan's children's literature works are the product of the integration of China's traditional culture and national psychology with western classical tragic aesthetics, especially the classical tragic beauty in Andersen's fairy tales, which is extremely prominent in Cao Wenxuan's children's literature works. The tragic consciousness embodied in Andersen's and Cao Wenxuan's children's literature works has academic value and practical significance. In this paper, the in-depth understanding and research of Cao Wenxuan and Andersen's children's literature is of great significance.