Was the enlightenment a continuous process from the late Qing to the May Fourth period?

ABSTRACT

Intellectual development from the late Qing to the 1911 Revolution and then to the May Fourth New Culture Movement was generally a continuous process despite various ambivalent and hesitant zigzags. Within this overall continuity, new elements became salient. The new policies promulgated by the republican government soon after the success of the 1911 Revolution created an institutional legacy that gave previously marginal ideas enough legitimacy to enter the mainstream. Changes in “background culture” also resulted in many new themes associated with May Fourth, though these themes were ostensibly similar to those in the late Qing period. The enlightenment of May Fourth endowed the “future” with positive values so that a future-oriented perspective became a fashionable trend in this period.

KEYWORDS:

• May Fourth
• enlightenment
• continuity
• switch in history
• background culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Glossary

Bai Wenwei	=	柏文蔚
Cao Cao	=	曹操
Cao Kun	=	曹锟
Chen Duxiu	=	陈独秀
Chen Chi	=	陈炽
chuantong	=	传统
Dao	=	道
Fu Sinian	=	傅斯年
gezhi	=	格致
gongli	=	公理
gong li	=	公例
Guannian shi yanjiu	=	《观念史研究》
Guangxu	=	光绪
Hu Shi	=	胡适
Jin Guantao	=	金观涛
Jingshu gongli xue	=	《经术公理学》
Kang Youwei	=	康有为
Lao she	=	老舍
Li Dazhao	=	李大钊
Li Gong	=	李塨
Liang Qichao	=	梁启超
Liu Dapeng	=	刘大鹏
Liu Qingfeng	=	刘青峰
Lu Xun	=	鲁迅
Mei Guangdi	=	梅光迪
Peng Ming	=	彭明
Qian Xuantong	=	钱玄同
Qin	=	秦
Shenbao	=	《申报》
Shun	=	舜
Sima Yi	=	司马懿
sixiang	=	思想
Song Yuren	=	宋育仁
Weizhuang	=	未庄
Wusi shiqi de shetuan	=	《五四时期的社团》
Wu Yu	=	吴虞
Xinchao zhi huigu yu qianzhan	=	《新潮》之回顾与前瞻
Xu Yisun	=	许怡荪
Yan Yuan	=	颜元
Yao	=	尧
Yi Zongkui	=	易宗夔
Yuan Shikai	=	袁世凯
Yun Yuding	=	恽毓鼎
Zhang Shizhao	=	章士钊
Zhang Xun	=	张勋
Zheng Chaolin	=	郑超麟
Zheng Guanying	=	郑观应
Zhong ti xi yong	=	中体西用
Zhou Zuoren	=	周作人
zhuyi	=	主义
Zhu Yuanzhang	=	朱元璋

Notes

¹ Chen Duxiu, Shian zizhuan, 32.

² Mei Guangdi’s letters to Hu Shi, dates not certain, but most likely between October 1911 and January 1912, in Mei Guangdi, Mei Guangdi wencun, 498–505.

³ Qian Xuantong, Qian Xuantong riji, 219–315.

⁴ Zhou Zuoren, Zhitang huixianglu, 182.

⁵ Yun Yuding, Chongling zhuan xin lu, 60.

⁶ Wood, The American Revolution, 128.

⁷ Dunn, Modern Revolutions, 149.

⁸ See Min Jie, Jindai Zhongguo shehui wenhua bianqianlu, vol. 2, 468–472.

⁹ Hu Shi, “Wu shi nian lai Zhongguo zhi wenxue,” 246.

¹⁰ Zhang Yufa, Zhongguo xiandai shi, 191–192.

¹¹ Liang Qichao, “Wu shi nian Zhongguo jinhua gailun,” 46.

¹² Weber, The Protestant Ethic, 180.

¹³ Zhou Zuoren, Zhitang huixianglu, 424.

¹⁴ For instance, in Ye Shengtao’s novel, Ni Huanzhi, the protagonist describes the 1911 Revolution as “fresh energy injected into people’s bodies and propelling them into action.” See Ye Shengtao, Ni Huanzhi, 12.

¹⁵ See Mills, From Max Weber, 280.

¹⁶ Liu Dapeng, Tui xiang zhai riji, 184.

¹⁷ Luo Jianqiu, Jindai Zhongguo shehui wenhua bianqian lu, 75.

¹⁸ Lin Yu-sheng, Zhongguo chuantong de chuangzao xing zhuanhua, 178–179.

¹⁹ Wang Fan-sen, Sixiang shi shenghuo de yizhong fangshi, 344.

²⁰ Zheng Chaolin, Zheng Chaolin huiyilu, 7.

²¹ For this English translation, see Tsunoda, de Bary, and Keene, Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol. 2, 139–140. For the different versions of the Prescript for Education, see Che Weifen, Jindai Riben hanxue, 242–246.

²² Chen Duxiu thought the Republic of China was only an empty framework. For the relationship between the 1911 Revolution and the May Fourth Movement, see Wang Fan-sen, “Sichao yu shehui tiaojian.”

²³ Hu Shi, “Wo de qilu,” 467.

²⁴ Chen Duxiu, “Jiu sixiang yu guoti wenti,” 3.

²⁵ Chen Duxiu, “Yuan Shikai fuhuo,” 2.

²⁶ See Qian Xuantong’s diary entry dated Feb. 12, 1917 in Qian Xuantong, Qian Xuantong riji, 309; see also Wang Fan-sen, “Sichao yu shehui tiaojian,” 103–144.

²⁷ Lu Xun, “A Q zheng zhuan,” 517.

²⁸ “Sun Wen guanyu Yuan Shikai,” 105.

²⁹ Austin, How to Do Things, esp. Lecture I, VIII, and IX, 1–11, 94–119.

³⁰ Zheng Chaolin, Zheng Chaolin huiyilu, 6.

³¹ Zhang Shizhao, “Shu Huangdi hun,” 219.

³² Zhang Hao, “Chong fang Wusi.”

³³ Mao commented, “It is a significant crime to suppress individuals and restrict individuality. Therefore, the three [ethical] principles of our nation should be discarded; Christian churches, capitalists, monarchs, and states are evil forces in all countries.” See Mao Zhedong, “Lunli xue yuanli pizhu,” 151–152.

³⁴ Fu Sinian, “Xinchao zhi huigu yu qianzhan,” 161.

³⁵ Peng Ming, Wusi yundong shi, 135–136. Here, Peng Ming cites Li Dazhao’s article “Qingchun” [Youth], in which Li praises the German empire and claims that when “the young nation” meets “the old nation,” the old one will surely be defeated.

³⁶ Yang Zhensheng, “Huiyi Wusi,” 261, 264.

³⁷ Peng Ming, Wusi yundong shi, 135–136.

³⁸ Chen Duxiu, “Ouxiang pohuai lun,” 229.

³⁹ Peng Ming and Cheng Xiao, Jindai Zhongguo de sixiang licheng, 242, 290.

⁴⁰ Song Yuren, Jing shu gongli xue, preface, 7.

⁴¹ Darnton, Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment, 127–159.

⁴² Mencius expresses this notion – “The path [Dao] is one, and only one” – in part 1 of the chapter “Teng Wengong.” See Legge, The Works of Mencius, 234.

⁴³ Lu Xun, “Xin de qiangwei,” 309.

⁴⁴ Chen Duxiu, “Dongxi minzu genben sixiang zhi chayi,” 29.

⁴⁵ Li Dazhao, “Dongxi wenming genben zhi yi dian,” 40.

⁴⁶ Li Changzhi, “Wusi yundong zhi wenhua,”393.

⁴⁷ Jin Guantao and Liu Qingfeng, Guannian shi yanjiu, 7–8.

⁴⁸ Ibid., Appendix II, 481–571.

⁴⁹ Ibid., 56, 338.

⁵⁰ Zhang Yunhou et al eds, Wusi shiqi de shetuan.

⁵¹ Mei Guangdi, Mei Guangdi wencun, 529. In this citation, the italic “tradition” is originally written in English. “Their” in this context refers to the Westerners.

⁵² Burke argues that a “terministic screen” only allows people to see some of the infinite possible interpretations of reality, while simultaneously veiling other interpretations. Burke, On Symbols and Society, 26, 33.

⁵³ Zheng Xiaoru, Zheng Xiaoxu riji, 3:1470.

⁵⁴ Chen Duxiu, “Da Yi Zhongkui,” 209.

⁵⁵ Peng Ming and Cheng Xiao, Jindai Zhongguo de sixiang licheng, 408.

⁵⁶ See Wang Fan-sen, “Sichao yu shehui tiaojian.”

⁵⁷ Chen Duxiu, “Ben zhi zuian zhi dabian shu.”

⁵⁸ Xiong Yuezhi, Zhongguo jindai minzhu sixiang shi, 137.

⁵⁹ Peng Ming and Cheng Xiao, Jindai Zhongguo de sixiang licheng, 409–410.

⁶⁰ Chen Duxiu, “Wu ren zuihou zhi juewu,” 56.

⁶¹ Peng Ming and Cheng Xiao, Jindai Zhongguo de sixiang licheng, 414.

⁶² Lao She, Lao She zishu, 25.

⁶³ For instance, He Lingxiu believes that Xie Guozhen’s study of the slave system in the Ming dynasty was influenced by the new perspective associated with the May Fourth movement. See He Lingxiu, “Daonian Xie Guozhen xiansheng,” 57.

⁶⁴ Motzkin, “Koselleck’s Intuition of Time in History,” 41.

⁶⁵ Xia Zhiqing, “Xia Ji’an dui Zhongguo su wenxue,” 234.

⁶⁶ Koselleck, Practice of Conceptual History, 11.

⁶⁷ Li Qinnan, “Wusi yundong shi de jiantao,” 514.

⁶⁸ Hu Shi, “Intellectual China in 1919,” 254.

⁶⁹ Liang Qingfeng, Yang Yongping, and Liang Zhengkun, Hu Shi Xu Yisun tongxin ji, 52.

Additional information

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Fan-Sen WANG

WANG Fan-sen received his PhD from Princeton University in 1993 and was inducted into the Academia Sinica in Taiwan as an academician in 2004. Currently, he served as the vice president of the academy and holds the position of distinguished research fellow at the Institute of History and Philology. His research focuses on the intellectual history of Ming-Qing China, and his most recent publications include Zhiniu de diyin: Yixie lishi sikao fangshi de fansi (The Persistent Low Key: Some Reflections on Approaches to History) (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2014) and Sixiang shi shenghuo de yi zhong fangshi: Zhongguo jindai sixiang shi de zai sikao (Intellectual History as a Way of Life: Rethinking Modern Chinese Intellectual History) (Taipei: Lianjing chubanshe, 2017).