Referring to the "New Culture Movement", Dr. Sun Yat-sen said: "Since the May 4th Movement among Peking University students, all patriotic youths have taken innovative ideas as their preparation for future innovation; So bitter fleabane bitter fleabane bitter fleabane, express their views, domestic public opinion from all walks of life, all kinds of new publications for enthusiastic young people, have emerged ... This new culture movement, in today's China, is an unprecedented change in the ideological circle. ..... If our party wants to win the revolution, it must rely on the change of thought ... So this new culture movement is really the most valuable thing. " It can be seen that the New Culture Movement is of great significance. So I want to find its value through the understanding and research of this sport.
As the starting point and position of the New Culture Movement, New Youth just stopped publishing in the year when it was founded. It is necessary to mention the good news here. Jiayin School's political writing almost became an important literary school in the early years of the Republic of China. However, this kind of writing genre, which is neither easy to do nor popular, will fail in practice. Therefore, the elites of this school, such as Gao, Li Dazhao and Li Jiannong, later became writers of vernacular prose. Hu Shi said that this history of reluctant application of consultation is an inevitable stage of the transition between old and new literature. Because the authors of New Youth were almost all Jiayin's old people at the beginning, at the beginning of its publication, it only continued Jiayin's old line and used Jiayin's logical literature as Jiayin's argument.
Therefore, we can see that the early "New Youth" has a strong taste of Mandarin ducks and butterflies. Moreover, the early novels translated by Hu Shi, such as Du De's The Surrounding of Berlin and Strimbo's Love and Bread, are also classical Chinese novels. And in China at that time, the response from all walks of life was very cold. Lu Xun said: "At that time, it seemed that no one came for it and no one came against it."
One of the most important contents in the early period of New Youth is the literary revolution.
1911/in June, Hu Shi published "My Humble Works Literature Improvement" in the fifth issue of the second volume of New Youth, and put forward the idea of literature improvement for the first time, arguing that vernacular literature should replace classical Chinese and vernacular literature should replace antique literature. He put forward eight suggestions in the article: 1. 2. Do not imitate the ancients; 3. Pay attention to grammar; 4. No illness, no groaning; 5. Get rid of cliches; 6. No code; 7. Don't talk about confrontation; 8. Don't shy away from common sayings. As for why we should oppose classical Chinese, Hu Shi thinks that classical Chinese is a "half-dead language" because many words in classical Chinese are still in use and some words have been abandoned. If you still use the word "dog", you don't need the word "dog"; "Riding a horse" is still a daily expression. "Riding a horse" is a dead word, but it is actually useless.
Then, aiming at the crude tool of literary improvement, Chen Duxiu wrote an article on the literary revolution in New Youth, openly supporting the literary revolution, advocating new literature and opposing old literature. And elaborated three slogans: 1. Tear down those polished and flattering aristocratic literature; Building a simple and lyrical national literature. 2. Pushing down obsolete and luxurious classical literature; Building fresh and sincere realistic literature. 3. Pushing down pedantic and incomprehensible mountain literature; Constructing clear and popular social literature. And the "three principles": overthrowing aristocratic literature and building national literature; Pushing down classical literature and building realistic literature; Tear down mountain forest literature and establish social literature.
Subsequently, the voice of style reform and literary revolution became louder and louder.
Hu Shi and many literati at that time called this literary reform "Renaissance Movement", which was in the same strain as the Italian Renaissance Movement and was intended to overthrow feudal literature. Under the call of New Youth, people with lofty ideals have published articles in magazines to express their views on progress. Among them, Lu Xun has to be mentioned. 1918 In May, Lu Xun's first vernacular novel Diary of a Madman was published in New Youth. This was the first cry that shocked China's ideological circle when he participated in the New Culture Movement. This work deeply attacked feudal society and feudal ethics, exposed its essence, and immediately aroused strong repercussions in society. This is the first spring thunder of China's literary revolution and the beginning of Lu Xun's participation in the new stage of the New Culture Movement. The article accuses and mercilessly castigates the feudal ethical code of cannibalism, sets a model of combining the form and content of literary revolution, and opens up the road of China's new literature. Lu Xun published 54 articles written in vernacular Chinese in New Youth, a large part of which played a decisive role in the movement at that time and the people of China.
In this vigorous cultural reform movement, literary reform should be said to have won to a great extent. "New Youth" started from Volume IV,No. 1 (19 18, 1), changed the vernacular and adopted new punctuation. The writing of vernacular Chinese has a long history, and a large number of excellent vernacular novels appeared as early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties. But the vernacular has become a language with extensive social influence, which is the beginning. 19 19 After the May 4th Movement, young people all over the country became active. Not only college students, but also middle school students should write small newspapers to express their views. As long as they find a movable type printing machine anywhere, they will use it to publish tabloids. Between 19 19 and 1920, there are more than 400 kinds of student publications, all written in vernacular Chinese. 1920 The Ministry of Education of the Beijing Municipal Government officially issued a circular to the whole country, so starting from the autumn of 2008, all textbooks for the first and second grades of primary schools must be written in vernacular Chinese. After 1922, all primary school textbooks should be mainly in vernacular.
Let's discuss that one of the reasons why the literary revolution in modern China was easy to succeed was the advantage of China's movable type writing itself, which was enough to promote the success of the movement, because China's style of writing itself was a great language with simple grammar. The grammar of vernacular Chinese is simple, rational and logical. This language can be taught without a teacher, and you don't need to go to school to learn the vernacular. In my opinion, the widespread popularization of vernacular Chinese is a major turning point for China people to get rid of feudal remnants ideologically. Advocating vernacular Chinese can promote both literature and politics. Vernacular writing is more in line with people's daily thinking and speaking patterns. People who can write articles are more enthusiastic about it, and those who can't write can learn it easily, which makes more people find a simple way to create literary works and express their opinions.
In the second half of the New Culture Movement, it developed into a completely different movement from the first half.
19 17 At the beginning of this year, Chen Duxiu became a senior liberal arts student at Peking University. During his stay in Peking University, Chen Duxiu seems to have experienced a change of thought. New Youth gradually deviated from the track of avoiding direct political criticism, criticized the Beiyang government more and more, and advocated mass movement.
19 17 When the October Revolution broke out, a series of new terms and ideas such as proletarian political parties and Marxism were introduced into China one after another, which attracted the attention of patriots.
19 19 in may, that is, this month when the may fourth movement broke out, Li Dazhao began to publish his long article "my view on Marxism" in the fifth special issue of new youth, which systematically expounded the three components of Marxism-historical materialism, political economy and scientific socialism. This is the first Chinese book introducing Marxism systematically and completely, which had an important influence at that time. Later, Chen Duxiu and other patriotic students also actively spread Marxism. Marxism is gradually known to the people, and it is regarded as the guiding light for China.
However, the widespread spread of Marxism after the May 4th Movement caused divisions within the New Culture Movement. The May 4th New Culture Movement was a united front action of bourgeois intellectuals, petty-bourgeois intellectuals and bourgeois intellectuals against feudal ideology and culture. They are unanimous in opposing feudal ideology and culture. However, with the in-depth development of the New Culture Movement, when Marxism became the mainstream of the movement, Hu Shi and other right-wing bourgeois intellectuals rose up against the correct direction of the movement.
In order to oppose the transformation of this "cultural movement" into a political movement, Hu Shi published the article "Study more problems and talk less about" ism ". The article points out: first, it is extremely easy to talk about good "ism"; Second, it is useless to emphasize the "ism" of foreign imports on the China issue. All ism is a practical solution to a practical problem somewhere at that time. It's useless to talk about imported abstractism unless you study your existing social, political and cultural needs on the spot. Third, it is dangerous to be biased towards "ism" on paper.
Hu Shi has always believed that "since this cultural movement is called the Renaissance Movement, it should put aside politics and consciously lay a non-political cultural foundation for the new China. We should devote ourselves to what we think is the most basic question about China's knowledge, culture and education. "
Finally, with the in-depth development of the movement, the May 4th New Culture United Front has been sharply divided. 192 1.7, China * * * production party was formally established in Shanghai. In September of the same year, New Youth was closed. In the second year, the producers of * * represented by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao founded The Herald, which actively publicized * * * capitalism and the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolutionary program. The right-wing bourgeois intellectuals, represented by Hu Shi, set up the weekly "Efforts" to publicize the political views of bourgeois reformism and oppose China's * * * production party and workers and peasants. The new culture united front, which was composed of the original three parts of intellectuals, officially broke down. Some radical petty-bourgeois intellectuals, represented by Lu Xun, continue to fight against imperialism and feudalism in the cultural field.
The spread of "New Youth" to Ma Yi and the arguments about Ma Yi promoted its spread and found new hope for China. Without the efforts of activists from all walks of life, China might not have achieved so much today.
After the closure of New Youth magazine, the new culture movement continued, but the momentum was not as good as before.
The influence of the New Culture Movement is undoubtedly unprecedented. We can see that even today, people still pay attention to the new culture movement, including praise and criticism. The focus of criticism is whether China's old tradition (quintessence of Chinese culture) and Confucianism are correct, and whether his influence on China is positive or negative.
Propagandizing democracy and science, criticizing Confucianism, advocating vernacular Chinese and literary revolution are the three core propositions of the New Culture Movement. Chen Duxiu said, "If you want to support Mr. Nader, you must oppose ethics, chastity, old ethics and old politics. If you want to support Mr Nasai, you must oppose the old art and religion. If you want to support Mr. Nader and Mr. Sai, you must oppose the quintessence of Chinese culture and old literature. " As a result, many contents of our national tradition and Confucianism have been mercilessly criticized by revolutionaries.
We say that for thousands of years, the feudal rulers in China regarded Confucianism as the spiritual pillar of their reactionary rule, which poisoned the people for a long time, imprisoned their thoughts, formed national and social reforms, and brought serious harm. It is undoubtedly correct that the New Culture School regards Confucius as "Confucianism" and links Confucianism with feudal autocracy in view of feudal ethics and patriarchal clan system. Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and others think that "Confucius, thousands of years ago, the wreckage was dead; Confucius is also the amulet of emperors' autocracy. " "The morality advocated by Confucius, the ethics displayed by Confucius, and the politics advocated by Confucius all maintain the feudal system. Its scope is nothing more than the privilege and reputation of a few princes and nobles, but it does not help the happiness of most people. "Coupled with the countercurrent of Yuan Shikai's restoration, there has been a reactionary trend of thought in society that advocates Confucius' retro. So, at that time, "Down with Kongjiadian" became the slogan put forward by many scholars. This fierce attitude undoubtedly has historical rationality. The positive image of Confucius in the hearts of China people has collapsed.
The fierce non-academic attitude of the New Culture School objectively encourages the cultural destruction activities against Confucianism in reality. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the Confucian school had been formed. Confucius' thought has been circulated for thousands of years and has long been regarded as the ideology of feudal society in China. The speeches of Confucius and other Confucian representatives have long been rooted in the minds of China people, who regard the basic theory of Confucianism as the standard and constraint of moral behavior. This movement completely overthrew all these standards and the image of Confucius as a spiritual idol, which made people feel at a loss.
In fact, there are many things in Confucianism that people can learn from, which can be seen from the recent upsurge of learning the Four Books and Five Classics in society. In the near future, Confucius should be promoted to another height by people. Once again, it exists as the spiritual idol of China people.
Another aspect of the New Culture Movement criticized by modern people is its attitude towards China's traditional culture. Some people strongly believe that the New Culture Movement "is a complete anti-tradition, resulting in the fault of China's traditional culture". I think this movement lacks scientific and concrete analysis of some parts of our national traditional culture, fails to distinguish the dross and essence of our ancient culture well, and adopts a simple negative attitude towards these traditional cultures. This has caused the lack of some traditional cultures in our country, and also made some people have the psychology of worshipping foreign things and admiring foreign things. Like now, people don't pay as much attention to the traditional festivals in China as before. On the contrary, more and more people like western festivals.
In any case, the role of the new culture movement in the historical process of our country can not be ignored and is extremely important. There is a view that I think well explains the role of this movement: one of the historical contributions of the May 4th New Culture Movement is to inject strong criticism into our national thoughts, thus making anti-tradition a new tradition. For the development and creation of culture, a strong tradition is valuable, which gives us a foothold and starting point for refuge; But anti-tradition is also indispensable, which gives us the power to criticize and innovate. The key point is that no matter how many thousands of years of tradition or criticism of tradition can be interrupted. We should embrace it and synthesize it with an open mind, and let the traditional criticism become a part of our great tradition.