A new criterion necessary and sufficient for the separability of pure bipartite systems for arbitrary finite dimensions is demonstrated; and the corresponding finer quantitative measures or characterizations of entanglement (beyond mere separability or non-separability determination) are discussed. Based on this criterion, we proved that the well-known Peres-Horodecki positivity-of-partial-transform criterion is also necessary and sufficient for separability in the case of pure bipartite systems. The maximum value of entanglement, and the corresponding maximally-entangled states are also worked out in detail.