Cai Yuanpei and Hu Shih (1917-1937)

Author: Zhang Xiaowei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: The May Fourth New Culture Movement can also be seen as essentially a movement of intellectuals. A group of intellectual elites spread new knowledge, criticized old learning, enlightened minds, and reshaped paradigms, profoundly influencing a generation of young people. Since then, the value system, political culture, and academic path of modern China underwent a significant transformation. However, this group gathered together for a very short time before dispersing like the wind. Only Cai Yuanpei and Hu Shi, who shared a mutual affinity, collaborated for over two decades, emerging as a dominant force in the intellectual circles of the Republic of China. They both maintained their original enlightenment ideals and liberalist characteristics, allowing the legacy of May Fourth cultural figures to endure. The case study of Cai Yuanpei and Hu Shi is closely intertwined with the thoughts, culture, and education since the May Fourth Movement, reflecting many aspects of the social life and psychological state of intellectuals in the Republic of China. Through their personal conduct, we can also faintly glimpse some that may belong to the "spiritual symbol of intellectuals."