May Fourth Movement
China is moving into the modern world with such speed that it is understandable that there are inevitable time warps. But such anomalies point to the transcendent questions of what China is and where is china going. These questions are crucial to us because in the twenty first century China is a significant player in world affairs; if we hope to deal intelligently with China and its people we must understand their past and present. Revolution was one of the most important problems facing individual Chinese and China as a nation. Focusing on the New Culture/May Fourth Movement (1915-1923) and how its salient features, dominant themes were to influence successive generations of educated Chinese.
Beneath the surface during the decade of military struggle China was stirring. A new generation, who had still been learning of their letter when the Empire disappeared, was coming of age. Their experience of the politics of their elders was uninspiring. They were ready for new loyalties and new ideas. The centre of new thought was Beijing University. It was based on the Tong Wen Guan, which had been transformed into a university by the 1898 reformers; and it was only one of their reforms to survive. In 1916 the liberal scholar Cai Yuanpei had become its president. He encouraged debate and built staff representing every shade of opinion. While China’s own culture remained the foundation of education it was studied critically. Typical was the work of Gu Jiegang, the young historian who applied to the classics the methods he has already used in his studies of the colloquial drama, treating the classics as accretions of tradition.
The most influential writer at Beijing was Chen Duxiu. In his journal ‘New Youth’ he encouraged his contributors in an open minded search for radical solutions to the nation’s problems. He preached science and democracy as the basis of renewed national strength. He launched a head on attack on Confucianism, dismissing it as irrelevant to the modern
Beneath the surface during the decade of military struggle China was stirring. A new generation, who had still been learning of their letter when the Empire disappeared, was coming of age. Their experience of the politics of their elders was uninspiring. They were ready for new loyalties and new ideas. The centre of new thought was Beijing University. It was based on the Tong Wen Guan, which had been transformed into a university by the 1898 reformers; and it was only one of their reforms to survive. In 1916 the liberal scholar Cai Yuanpei had become its president. He encouraged debate and built staff representing every shade of opinion. While China’s own culture remained the foundation of education it was studied critically. Typical was the work of Gu Jiegang, the young historian who applied to the classics the methods he has already used in his studies of the colloquial drama, treating the classics as accretions of tradition.
The most influential writer at Beijing was Chen Duxiu. In his journal ‘New Youth’ he encouraged his contributors in an open minded search for radical solutions to the nation’s problems. He preached science and democracy as the basis of renewed national strength. He launched a head on attack on Confucianism, dismissing it as irrelevant to the modern