Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, answered the accusation that Peking University "reversed Confucius and Mencius" and "shoveled ethics", and explained this way: "New Youth magazine occasionally criticized Confucius' theory, but also attacked Confucius' theory with the help of Confucius' theory. At first, it was not directly opposed to Confucius. "Confucius was a great thinker and educator in ancient China. Many great athletes in the New Culture Movement were deeply educated by Confucianism, so we can't help but know that Confucianism has some merits. Therefore, I think that even if there is a saying of "completely denying Confucius' theory", it should not be the original idea before the New Culture Movement, but during the movement, the defenders of Confucianism strongly opposed it and had to take tit-for-tat measures.
So, what should we think of this radical measure? I think it is really necessary to "overcorrect" under the background of anti-sealing at that time. Culture has the characteristics of integrity, and its advantages and disadvantages are mixed together. At that time, Yuan Shikai and others set off a countercurrent of "respecting Confucius" to serve autocracy. Under the background of the low tide of the revolution after the failure of the Revolution of 1911, if Confucius' theory is not completely denied and separated from it, it will be difficult to achieve a thorough ideological anti-sealing effect. Later generations think that the evaluation of "criticizing and inheriting Confucius' theory is more difficult to reduce opposition and better declare bourgeois ideology and culture" can only be a good idea, which could not be realized at that time. Under the premise that anti-sealing becomes the main task, it is not only necessary but also the only feasible way to completely deny it.