Chinese cultural conservatism after May Fourth Movement : a study on the Critical Review (Xueheng School)

Abstract

This paper is a study on the Critical Review or Xueheng and its role in the Chinese intellectual debate in and around the May Fourth period. This study continues to examine Chinese Cultural Conservatism in modern China and its effort to seek an alternative Chinese modernity. It will take Xueheng School as an example of Chinese Cultural Conservatism after the May Fourth period to examine how and why Chinese intellectuals defined Chinese modernity from a conservative perspective. This paper will explore how Xueheng School pursued the alternative Chinese modernity, and what cultural foundations underpinning Chinese Cultural Conservatism. This paper will explore three intellectual currents that compose the cultural bases of Xueheng's Chinese Cultural Conservatism: national essence from he native, New Humanism from the West, and the anti-modernity trend globally. National essence performs the outlook of Xueheng's Cultural Conservatism. Humanism consists of the theoretical support of Xueheng's arguments. Antimodernity forms the core of Xueheng’s thoughts. This thesis argues that, the idea of national essence and interpreted New' Humanism compose the cultural foundations of Xueheng's Cultural Conservatism. Both of them comprise the anti-modernity nature of Xueheng School, which contributes to Chinese modernity as another major force seeking an alternative modernity.