May Fourth New Culture Source

Author: Chen Wanxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: It is worth mentioning here that the historical role and significance of the May Fourth New Culture Movement should not be overly focused on measuring the effectiveness of the reform proposals put forward by intellectuals at the time. Instead, we should acknowledge their courage to confront and expose the comprehensive issues China had to face to break free from its misfortunes and move towards modernization. Only at this point can the Chinese people truly understand their own dilemmas. The depth and breadth of the issues revealed by that generation have, it is undeniable, not yet been fully achieved to this day. Therefore, the reform agenda highlighted during the May Fourth period still retains its vitality. It can be asserted that as long as intellectuals are still regarded as or see themselves as the vanguard of historical progress in China, the May Fourth Movement will continue to hold enduring appeal for the intellectual community. However, the author believes that in the modernization of Chinese history, the intellectual community could only play a leading and principal role during the three decades at the turn of the 20th century—this period was also when the formation and growth of the new generation of traditional scholars into modern intellectuals took place.
Secondly, in addition to the historical process of modern China's reform movements gradually deepening until the May Fourth period gave rise to the flourishing of the New Culture Movement, we cannot overlook the historical conditions that facilitated the formation of the new generation of modern intellectuals alongside this process. The author's manuscript below attempts to trace the origins of the New Culture Movement in a systematic manner to demonstrate the relationship between the formation of the new generation of modern intellectuals and the May Fourth New Culture Movement.