¹ To a certain degree, the characteristics of China's new culture movement resembled those of the European Renaissance, namely: (a) both faced semi-medieval economic and social conditions; (b) both faced the vernacular problem; (c) both expressed the need to emancipate the individual from the bondage of traditional ideas, institutions and customs. See Tse-tsung, Chow, The May Fourth Movement, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1960, pp. 338–9.Google Scholar

² Huang remarked that ‘the basic ideals of world thought must be related to the life of the average man. The method seems to consist in using simple (plain) and simplified language and literature for wide dissemination of the ideas among the people. Have we not seen that historians regard the Renaissance as the foundation of the overthrow of mediavalism in Europe?’ Ibid., p. 272.

³ Both Ch'en Tu-hsiu and Hu Shih, through their writings during the period 1915–18, expressed in Hsin ch'ing-nien (New Youth) their feelings that a Chinese Renaissance was in the making, and they pointed out the similarity between the current Chinese literary movement and the Renaissance in Europe.Google Scholar

⁴ The designation ‘New Culture Movement’ gained common usage in the half-year following the May Fourth Incident. The editor of New Tide, in 12 1919, did indicate that their movement was a ‘culture movement’.Google Scholar By the beginning of 1920, the term became popular. Ibid., p. 194.

⁵ Ibid., p. 2.

⁶ See Ch'ang-chih, Li, Welcome to the Chinese Renaissance, Chungking, 1944, p. 12.Google ScholarCited in Chow, , op. cit., p. 4.Google Scholar

⁷ Tsun-p'eng, Pao, Chung-kuo ch'ing-nienyūn-tung shih, Taipei, 1954, p. 119.Google Scholar

⁸ Chow, , op. cit., p. 5.Google Scholar

⁹ Selected Works of Li Ta-chao, Peking, 1962, p. 255.Google ScholarChow, , op. cit., p. 347.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Ibid., pp. 347–8. However, Ch'en may either have failed to recognize the social significance of the movement, or may simply have wished to stress the intellectual aspect of the movement. He not only identified the MFM with that of the NCM, but also noted that ‘the MFM had had the defect of being mainly carried on by young intellectuals and not by the working masses’. Ibid., p. 348. Actually, as we know, the movement did have a popular base, particularly in its Shanghai phase. The National Student Union, writing in 1926, remarked that the MFM was ‘the first time we engaged in a courageous popular movement’. (The italics are mine.) See Chungkuo hsüeh-sheng, No. 25, 1 May 1926, p. 167.Google Scholar

¹¹ He was also among the first to recognize several other significant aspects of the movement at this early stage; e.g., the importance of the coalition and mobilization of the various social forces to form a united front against Japanese imperialism and Peking warlordism; the importance of the intellectuals' leadership of the proletariat; and the importance of the students and teachers as the great reservoir of the Chinese revolution.

¹² Mao's interpretation of the MFM as anti-imperialist and anti-feudal may contain little that is original. Prior to 1926 (the Northward Expedition) the two terms commonly used by Chinese writers to denote the two arch-enemies of the Chinese people were: ‘brute force’ (ch'iang-ch'üan) and ‘militarism’ (wu-li wan-neng chu-i). But since 1926, the terms ‘imperialism’ and ‘feudalism’ were clearly adopted by Chinese writers to replace the old terms. Interview with Professors T'ao Hsi-sheng and Kan, Lao in Los Angeles, 5 05 1967.Google ScholarSee also Wu, Mu, ‘Wu-yueh ti-i-chou’, Chungkuo hsüeh-sheng, No. 24, 24 04 1926, p. 156;Google Scholar and Lin, Chung, ‘Wu-ssu yu Chung-kuo min-tsu yun-tung’, Chung-kuo hsüeh-sheng, No. 25, 1 05 1926, p. 177. Both writers writing in 1926 had already regarded the MFM as an anti-imperialist, anti-warlord and anti-traditional popular movement led by the students.Google Scholar

¹³ According to Mao, during the Revolution of 1911, there was a total lack of mass participation, whereas the MFM had the support of the masses. See Tse-tung, Mao, ‘Min-chung ti ta-lien ho’, Hsiang-chiang p'ing-lun, first issue, 07 1919.Google Scholar Cited in Wu-ssu shih-ch'i ch'i-k'an chieh-shao, Peking, 1958.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Mao Tse-tung hsüan-chi, Peking, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 545.Google Scholar Also Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, New York, 1954, Vol. 3, p. 9.Google ScholarMao stated that in the Chinese democratic revolution, the intelligentsia was the first awakened element, but ‘the intelligentsia will accomplish nothing if they do not unite with the workers and the peasants’. Mao Tse-tung hsüan-chi (hereafter cited as Mao), p. 546.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Ibid., p. 692. Selected Works of Mao, p. 145.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Chow, , op. cit., pp. 350–1.Google ScholarMao, p. 689.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Mao, pp. 665–6.Google ScholarSelected Works of Mao, p. 116.Google Scholar

¹⁸ According to Mao, this new culture of the pre-May Fourth era of China was then serving the interest of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Selected Works of Mao, pp. 143–5.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Selected Works of Mao, p. 145.Google Scholar

²⁰ Chow, , op. cit., p. 352.Google Scholar

²¹ Kang, Hua, Wu-ssu yün-tung shih, Shanghai, 1951, p. 198.Google Scholar Although in this paragraph he did not define clearly what constituted the ‘mass’, it appeared that he was willing to accept a general broad view of the term ‘ch'ün-chung’ as meaning ‘people’ with the exception of the bourgeois intellectual class. Ibid., p. 197.

²² Having recognized the impact of the NCM upon the Chinese society, Sun called for thought change within his party as the first step toward bringing about successful consummation of the Republican Revolution. Sun Chung-shan ch'üan-shu, Shanghai, 1933, 2nd ed., Vol. 4, Letters, p. 27.Google ScholarPao, , op. cit., p. 119.Google Scholar

²³ Pao, , op. cit., p. 117.Google ScholarChow, , op. cit., p. 195.Google Scholar Also Wang, Y. C., Chinese Intellectuals and the West, 1872–1949, Durham, N.C., 1966, pp. 333–4.Google Scholar

²⁴ In a lecture commenting on the student strike of 1924, he said: ‘Having absorbed the idea of liberty, the students can find no place to practise it except in their schools. Insurrections and strikes followed, under the dignified guise of fighting for “liberty”. The liberty which Westerners talk about has its strict limitations and cannot be described as belonging to everyone. When young Chinese students talk about liberty, they break down all restraints. Because no one welcomes their theory in the society outside, they can only bring it back into their schools, and constant disorders result. This is abuse of freedom.’Google ScholarSee Wang, , op. cit., p. 335.Google Scholar

²⁵ Kai-shek, Chiang, China's Destiny, New York, 1947, p. 71.Google Scholar

²⁶ Chow, , op. cit., p. 343.Google Scholar

²⁷ Chiang, , op. cit., pp. 97–9.Google Scholar

²⁸ He considered the new culture ‘simple’, ‘cheap’ and ‘dangerous’. Chow, , op. cit., p. 344.Google Scholar

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Shih, Hu, ‘Twenty-eighth Anniversary of “May Fourth”‘, L'Impartial, Shanghai, 4 05 1947, p. 1.Google Scholar Chow, Ibid., p. 3.

³¹ Interview with Professor T'ang Te-kang who co-authored with Dr Hu Shih the forthcoming book Autobiography of Hu Shih, in New York, 6 02 1968.Google Scholar

³² See this author's Ph. D. thesis, 1964, The May Fourth Movement in Shanghai, University of California, Berkeley. The movement actually included the participation of intelligentsia, students from various colleges, high schools and elementary schools, young Chinese women, merchants, industrialists, workers, as well as the lumpen proletariat (e.g., beggars, sing-song girls and prostitutes).Google Scholar

³³ Chang Kuo-t'ao, one of the early Communist leaders, called the movement definitely a political movement. See his article, ‘Hsüeh-sheng yun-tung ti wo-chien’, Hsiang-tao, No. 17, 24 01 1923, p. 139.Google Scholar The National Students Union, in ‘A letter to fellow students in commemoration of the May Fourth Movement’, also unequivocably called the movement a political movement led by the Chinese students. See Chung-kuo hsüeh-sheng, No. 25, 1 05 1926, p. 169. P'an Kung-chan, an important student leader during the Shanghai May Fourth Movement, told the author in a personal interview held in his New York residence in July 1962, that he too considers the MFM purely a political movement. He noted that the movement subsided as soon as the political demands of the people were realized. Mr Pan's views were also shared by Professor Kumano Shohei, an eye witness of the Shanghai MFM. He told the author in a private interview held in his Tokyo residence in August 1965, that he also regarded the MFM as primarily a nationalistic movement in China in contrast to the NCM.Google Scholar

³⁴ Fu Ssu-nien, writing in October 1919, stated: ‘After the MFM, the social trend in China is changed. There is a large increase of the “awakened” people. Hereafter is a [new] era for social reform movement.’ Ssu-nien, Fu ‘Hsin-ch'ao chih hui-ku yü ch'ien-chan’, Hsin-ch'ao, II: 1, 1919, p. 203.Google Scholar

³⁵ However, one exception to this fact was that Ch'en Tu-hsiu's interest at this period was centred primarily on political and social affairs. The founding of the Weekly Critic was to serve Ch'en's political purpose. Chow, , op. cit., p. 7.Google Scholar

³⁶ Commenting on the Tsingtao Problem, the Editor of Shen Pao (Shanghai) wrote on 9 May 1919 in a short editorial entitled ‘The National Humiliation’: ‘We must not allow these humiliations to blemish our glorious historical past.’ (The italics are mine.) Shen Pao, 9 05 1919, p. 11.Google Scholar The Shanghai Student Union, in its proclamation issued on 9 May 1919, also stated that: ‘We students have studied the worb of our ancient sages, and have come to understand and respect their great teachings on “righteousness”. We hereby solemnly vow to live or die with the Republic of China.’ (The italics are mine.) Pao, Shen, 10 05 1919, p. 10.Google Scholar

³⁷ Ta-k'ai, Chin, ‘Wu-ssu yun-tung ti she-hui pei-ching’, Min-chu p'ing-lun, XV:, 1 05 1964, p. 202.Google Scholar

³⁸ Yuan-p'ei, Ts'ai, writing in Kuo-min in 01 1919, advised the students that their main task was ‘to love [their] country and to engage [themselves] actively in the task of saving the nation’. He pointed out that their obligations to the country were three-fold: ‘to arouse the majority [of the people] who are apathetic to national affairs; to aid the minority [of the people] who are patriotic; and to oppose any action which will betray the Nation'.Google Scholar See Yuan-p'ei, Ts'ai, ‘Prologue’, Kuo-min, I:I, 10 01 1919, p. 1.Google Scholar Hsu Te-heng, a student leader of the Peking May Fourth Movement, wrote in the same periodical calling for direct actions on the part of the Chinese people. He stated that ‘public utterances are not sufficient to influence the nation’. He pointed out that often ‘words are spoken but not heard; heard but not understood; and understood but not acted upon’. See ‘Wu so-wang yü chin-hou chih kuo-min che’, Ibid., ‘General Discourse’, p. 1. Yang Ch'ang-chi, another student writing in the same period called for ‘the awakening of the people’, but added that ‘after their awakening, they must quickly carry it through by direct action. [In this way], knowing (thought) and doing (action) become one’. See Yang Ch'ang-chi, ‘Kao hsüeh-sheng’, Ibid., p. 3.

³⁹ Chung, , op. cit., p. 177. T'ao Hsi-sheng also concurred with this view. Personal interview with Professor T'ao in Los Angeles, 5 May 1967.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Hsi-sheng, T'ao, ‘Ts'ung Wu-ssu tao Liu-san’, Tzu-yu t'an XIII:5, 1 05 1962, p. 10.Google ScholarThe same article was also published in Chung-yang jih-pao, 6 and 7 05 1962, p. 4.Google Scholar See also Schwartz, Benjamin I., Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao, New York, 1967, pp. 17–18.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Chin, , op. cit., p. 202.Google Scholar

⁴² See page 76 and footnote No. 40.

⁴³ T'ao Hsi-sheng, then a junior in Peking University, took part in the 4 May and 3 June demonstrations in Peking. He noted that at the time of the May Fourth uprising, Hu Shih had already gone to Shanghai (to welcome John Dewey). According to T'ao, with the exception of Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei, who exhorted the students during the uprising, none of the Faculty and staff members of Peita had taken a part in the movement throughout the entire May Fourth period. In his opinion there was definitely a lack of communication between Faculty and students outside the classroom. Interview with Professor T'ao in Los Angeles, 5 May 1967. See also T'ao, , op. cit., p. 10.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Pao, , op. cit., pp. 115–17. Wu-ssu yun-tung tzu-liao t'e-chi, Nanking, 1947, pp. 6–7, 13.Google ScholarChow, , op. cit., pp. 356–7.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ T'ien-fang, Ch'eng, ‘Li-kung-tz'u ssu-nien’, Ch'üan-chi wen-hsüeh, I:7, 12 1962.Google Scholar According to Ch'eng, Sun actually endorsed Shanghai students' boycott of Japanese goods as an effective means to strangle the Japanese economy. See also T'ien-fang, Ch'eng, ‘Wo ch'u-tz'u yeh-chien Tsung-li’, Wu-ssuyun-tung tzu-liao t'e-chi, Nanking, 1947, pp. 6, 13.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Ch'eng T'ien-fang, one of the leading student leaders of the Shanghai MFM, in a personal interview with the author held in Taipei in July 1965, reiterated his viewpoint which he had previously expressed in his letter to the author dated 28 March 1963, that neither the Kuomintang nor Sun was actually behind the Shanghai movement. In fact, he said, none of the responsible officers in the Shanghai Student Union during the movement was a member of the Party. The Party endorsed the students' patriotic movement (such as the boycott of Japanese goods), but did not initiate nor promote the movement at that time.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Sun was then taking political refuge in Shanghai's French Settlement, and had to remain ostensibly inactive lest his stay in the city be revoked by the French authority. Interview with Kung-chan, P'an, New York, 07 1962.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Hua, , op. cit., pp. 200–1.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Mao, p. 693.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Hua, , op. cit., p. 160.Google ScholarCited by Chow, also, op. cit., p. 356.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Chow, , op. cit., p. 353.Google ScholarSnow, Edgar, Red Star Over China, London, 1937, p. 149.Google Scholar Also Scalapino, Robert A. and Yu, George T., The Chinese Anarchist Movement, Berkeley, 1961, p. 1.Google Scholar

⁵² Mao, p. 693.Google Scholar

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⁵⁴ Mao, p. 693.Google Scholar Also see Chiao-mu, Hu, Thirty Years of the Communist Party of China, Peking, 1959, p. 7.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Chow, , op. cit., p. 347.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Ch'ü did join the movement and was arrested and imprisoned for three days. See Hsia, T. A., ‘Ch'ü Ch'iü-pai's autobiographical writings: the making and destruction of a “Tender-hearted” Communist’, The China Quarterly, No. 25, 01–03 1966, p. 187.Google Scholar