New Culture Movement edit
Connected to: May Fourth Movement
The New Culture Movement (Xin wenhua yundong) was a movement during the period 1915-1923, following the May Fourth Movement, promoting modernized culture through media. Some of the main contributors to the movement include: Hu Shih, Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Chen Hengzhe, Lu Xun, and Li Dazhao. Launched by the writers of New Youth magazine, these intellectuals promoted a new society based on unconstrained individuals rather than the traditional Confucian system.[1]
History edit
The May Fourth Movement was one of the first acts of nationalism that had become of symbol of the New Cultural Movement. The New Culture Movement was an expression used to describe the events that followed the May Fourth Movement in 1919. Wenhua yundong (cultural movement) is the term used to refer to what happened after the May Fourth movement. As the cultural movement became associated with "revolution in thought" (思想革命 "sixiang geming") it was also considered the foundation for all the other changes that would then occur. Xin wenhua yundong (New Culture Movement) emerged after Chen Duxiu published his recommendations of what cultural modernity should be in the 1920s.
The promotion of western scientific principles and the focus on the individual are what the intellectuals refer to as "Mr. Democracy" and "Mr. Science". These two were regarded as the two symbols of the New Culture Movement and also it's legacy. [2] The restructuring of national heritage first began when Hu Shih replaced traditional Confucian learning with a more modern construction of research on traditional culture. [3]
Contributors edit
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.[4]
Chen Duxiu founded the Youth Magazine (青年雜誌 "Qingnian zazhi"), which then became New Youth (新青年 "xin qingnian"), in 1915. Some of the most influential manifestos to help instigate the movement were titled: "To Youth" ( 敬告青年 "jinggao qingnian"), "1916" (一九一六年 "yijiuyiliu nian"), and "Our Final Realization" (吾人最後之覺悟 "wuren zuihou zhi juewu").[5]
The way in which the New Culture Movement reshaped history is with the vernacular language we are using right now. Hu Shih first attempted to set the tone for the movement by introducing the studying of problems and scientific principles as new trends of thought. Hu 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. [2] As the aim of science is to pursue truth, Hu Shih advocated that all ideals and knowledge were hypotheses that needed to be proven.
Academics and Media edit
An influential newspaper of the time was based in Shanghai called Shenbao. This newspaper had been one of the resources that reported the stories concerning those related to the New Culture movement. Shenbao had made Cai Yuanpei into a spokesperson for those who were involved with the New Culture Movement. Much of what they reported shaped narratives and realities amongst those who were interested in what was becoming the New Culture Movement. [4]
- ^ Hon, Tze-ki (2014-03-28). "The Chinese Path to Modernisation". International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity. 2 (3): 211–228. doi:10.18352/hcm.470. ISSN 2666-6529.
- ^ a b Zhitian, Luo (2019-10-02). "Wholeness and individuality: Revisiting the New Culture Movement, as symbolized by May Fourth". Chinese Studies in History. 52 (3–4): 188–208. doi:10.1080/00094633.2019.1654802. ISSN 0009-4633.
- ^ Weiping, Chen (2017-04-03). "An Analysis of Anti-Traditionalism in the New Culture Movement". Social Sciences in China. 38 (2): 175–187. doi:10.1080/02529203.2017.1302243. ISSN 0252-9203.
- ^ a b Forster, Elisabeth (2014). ""From Academic Nitpicking to a 'New Culture Movement': How Newspapers Turned Academic Debates into the Center of 'May Fourth.'"". Frontiers of History in China. 9: 25.
- ^ Kuo, Ya-pei (2017). "The Making of The New Culture Movement: A Discursive History". Twentieth-Century China. 42 (1): 52–71. doi:10.1353/tcc.2017.0007. ISSN 1940-5065.