Background Following the
1911 Revolution,
Yuan Shikai’s ending of the
second revolution of the summer of 1913 forced many intellectuals into exile, some fleeing to Tokyo, while others sought refuge in Shanghai. In the same year, Chen Duxiu founded the Youth Magazine (青年雜誌 Qingnian zazhi), which was later retitled as
New Youth (新青年 Xin qingnian), thus marking the beginning of what would become the New Culture Movement. In its initial stages, New Youth was only a small operation, but it would soon become much more influential than The Tiger had ever been. The founders of the New Culture Movement clustered in Peking University, where they joined
Cai Yuanpei, who served as chancellor. These founders include Chen Duxiu who served as the Dean of the School of Arts and Letters in addition to being founder of the New Youth, the philosopher
Liang Shuming, and the historian
Gu Jiegang, among others.
Hu Shih had argued for the use of the modern
written vernacular Chinese ( baihuawen) in literature before and especially in his essay published by
New Youth in January 1917 titled
Preliminary Discussion on Literary Reform (
文學改良芻議 wenxue gailiang chuyi) with the guideline: "Do not imitate the ancients." On April 18, 1918, he published the followed landmark article
Constructive Literary RevolutionA Literature of National Speech (建设的文学革命论 jianshe de wenxue geming lun). The first vernacular Chinese fiction was the female author
Chen Hengzhe's short story
One Day (一日 yi ri), published 1917 in an overseas student quarterly (《留美学生季报》 liumei xuesheng jibao). This was a year before the publication of
Lu Xun's
Diary of a Madman on April 2, 1918, and
The True Story of Ah Q (second was not published until 1921), which has often been incorrectly credited as the first vernacular Chinese fiction.
Death of Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai, who inherited part of the
Qing dynasty military after it collapsed in 1911, attempted to establish order and unity, but he failed to protect China against Japan, and also failed in an attempt to have himself declared emperor. When he died in 1916, the collapse of the traditional order seemed complete, and there was an intensified search for a replacement to go deeper than the changes of the previous generations, which brought new institutions and new political forms. Daring leaders called for a new culture, as the death of Yuan Shikai in June 1916 had opened the possibility of fundamental reform in the Chinese political sphere anew. Along with this musicians such as
Yin Zizhong joined the movement through music. The New Culture Movement promoted women writers and condemned feudal traditions which had inhibited women from pursuing literary careers. Scholars, such as Y.R. Chao (
Zhao Yuanren), began the study of the various
Varieties of Chinese using tools of foreign
linguistics. Hu Shih was among the scholars who used the textual study of
Dream of the Red Chamber and other vernacular fiction as the basis for the national language. Literary societies such as the
Crescent Moon Society flourished. Hu Shih was not only one of the founders of the movement but also considered the leader of the vernacular faction with his promotion of scientific methods. Hu was among the influential New Culture Movement reformers who welcomed
Margaret Sanger's 1922 visit to China.
Cai Yuanpei Cai Yuanpei was a Chinese philosopher, the Chancellor of
Beijing University, and he was also a friend of Chen Duxiu. He also viewed religious aesthetics as containing major potential for achieving transcendence through appreciation of beauty. A large number of foreign doctrines became fashionable, particularly those that reinforced the cultural criticism and nation-building impulses of the movement.
Social Darwinism, which had been influential since the late nineteenth century, was especially shaping for Lu Xun, among many others, and was supplemented by almost every "ism" of the world. Cai Yuanpei,
Li Shizeng, and
Wu Zhihui developed a
Chinese variety of anarchism. They argued that Chinese society had to undergo radical social change before political change would be meaningful. The pragmatism of
John Dewey became popular, often through the work of
Hu Shih,
Chiang Monlin, and
Tao Xingzhi. Dewey arrived in China in 1919, and spent the following year lecturing.
Bertrand Russell also lectured widely to warm crowds. Lu Xun was associated with the ideas of
Nietzsche, which were also propagated by
Li Shicen, Mao Dun, and many other intellectuals of the time.
Development and aftermath When Cai Yuanpei, the principal of Beijing university, resigned on May 9, 1919, it had caused a huge uproar in the media across the country. This connected the academic discourse within the university with the political activism of the May Fourth demonstrations. The
May Fourth Demonstrations of 1919 initially united the leaders but soon, there was a debate and falling out over the role of politics. Hu Shih, Cai Yuanpei, and other liberals urged the demonstrating students to return to the classroom, but Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, frustrated with the inadequacy of cultural change, urged more radical political action. They used their roles as Peking University faculty to organize
Marxist study groups and the first meeting of the
Chinese Communist Party. Li called for "fundamental solutions", but Hu criticized it as abstract, calling for "more study of questions, less study of isms." The younger followers who followed Li and Chen into organized politics included
Mao Zedong. Other students heeded Hu Shih's call to return to their studies. The new approaches shaped scholarship for the next generation. The historian
Gu Jiegang, for instance, pioneered the application of the
New History he studied at Columbia University to classical Chinese texts in the
Doubting Antiquity Movement. Gu also inspired his students in the study of Chinese folk traditions which had been ignored or dismissed by Confucian scholars. Education was high on the New Culture agenda. Cai Yuanpei headed a New Education Society, and university students joined the Mass Education Movement of
James Yen and
Tao Xingzhi which promoted literacy as a foundation for wider political participation. Many of the leaders of the Kuomintang, such as
Liao Zhongkai,
Hu Hanmin and
Dai Jitao as well as Communist members of the Kuomintang such as
Li Dazhao, participated in the New Culture Movement. These figures played a major role in the restructuring of the Kuomintang along Soviet lines in 1922–1924.
Journalism and public opinion Chinese newspaper journalism was modernized in the 1920s according to international standards, thanks to the influence of the New Culture Movement. The roles of journalist and editor were professionalized and became prestigious careers. The business side gained importance and with a greater emphasis on advertising and commercial news, the main papers in Shanghai such as
Shenbao, moved away from the advocacy journalism that characterized the 1911 revolutionary period. Much of what they reported shaped narratives and realities amongst those who were interested in what was becoming the New Culture Movement. In 1924, Indian
Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore held numerous lectures in China. He argued that China could encounter trouble by integrating too much progressive and foreign thoughts into Chinese society. Liberal ideals were a major component of the New Culture Movement. Democracy became a vital tool for those frustrated with the unstable condition of China whereas science became a crucial instrument to discard the "darkness of ignorance and superstition". New Culture intellectuals advocated and debated a wide range of cosmopolitan solutions that included science, technology,
individualism, music and democracy, leaving to the future the question of what organization or political power could carry them out. The anti-imperialist and populist violence of the mid-1920s soon overwhelmed New Culture intellectual inquiry and culture. == Evaluations and changing views ==