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The Buzzword ‘New Culture Movement’: Intellectual marketing strategies in China in the 1910s and 1920s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2017

ELISABETH FORSTER
ELISABETH FORSTER*
Affiliation:
Institute for Chinese Studies, University of Freiburg, Germany Email: elisabeth.forster@sinologie.uni-freiburg.de
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Abstract

This article argues that China's New Culture Movement was not a movement, but a buzzword. It was coined by little-known intellectuals in the summer of 1919 and then used by them to sell their own, long-standing agendas. Even though they declared famous intellectuals such as Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu to be the movement's ‘centre’ and inspiration, some of them were as, if not more, important in shaping the discourses surrounding the expression ‘New Culture Movement’. Drawing upon newspapers, journals, and conference reports, this article shows this using the example of two case studies, both of which marketed their agendas as ‘New Culture Movement’: the Jiangsu Educational Association, which was a political-educational group in Jiangsu; and Chinese Christian intellectuals around the Apologetic Group in Beijing.

Regarding the New Culture Movement as a buzzword addresses some puzzles about it. It explains why it has proven difficult to agree on a starting and endpoint for the New Culture Movement. It also illustrates why such a huge variety of ideas, whose complexity has become ever more evident in recent scholarship, was subsumed under the one headline of ‘New Culture Movement’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 1253 - 1282
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

This article is based on a chapter of my doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford, funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Edwin Arnold Scholarship of University College. I would like to thank my supervisor, Peter Ditmanson, for his invaluable help with my work. I am also grateful to Liu Qian, Margaret Hillenbrand, Leigh Jenco, Rana Mitter, and the reviewers of this article for their very helpful advice.

References

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4 I would like to thank Rana Mitter for his input on this formulation.

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13 ‘Apologetic Group’ was the group's own chosen translation.

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22 On the Weekly Review and Construction (Jianshe), see Ouyang, J., ‘Guomindang yu xin wenhua yundong—yi “Xingqi pinglun”, “Jianshe” wei zhongxin’ [‘The Nationalist Party and the New Culture Movement—with a focus on the Weekly Review and Construction’], Nanjing daxue xuebao [Journal of Nanjing University], vol. 1, 2009, pp. 72–84 Google Scholar; Quanguo baokan suoyin, qikan daohang [National Index of Chinese Newspapers and Periodicals, Guided Navigation], database, http://www.cnbksy.com/shlib_tsdc/originNavSearch.do, [accessed 16 August 2017].

23 Hu, ‘Gaoji zhongxue gonggong bi xiu de guoyu kecheng gangyao’.

24 Shenbao 1872–1949 [Shanghai news 1872–1949], database, http://shunpao.egreenapple.com, [accessed 19 August 2017]; Quanguo baokan suoyin [National index of Chinese newspapers and periodicals database, http://www.cnbksy.com, [accessed 16 August 2017].

25 Ouyang, ‘Guomindang yu xin wenhua yundong’, p. 73; R. G. Wagner, ‘The canonization of May Fourth’, in Doleželová-Velingerová and Král, The Appropriation of Cultural Capital, p. 71.

26 ‘Sun Zhongshan di Yue hou zhi zhuzhi’ [‘Sun Yat-sen's views after his arrival in Guangdong’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 25 July 1917.

27 ‘Wannan zhi jiaoyu zhuang shuo’ [‘The situation of education in southern Anhui’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 1 June 1914.

28 Ouyang, ‘Guomindang yu xin wenhua yundong’, p. 73; J. Xian, ‘Xin wenhua yundong de wuqi’ [‘The weapons of the New Culture Movement’], Xingqi pinglun [The Weekly Review], vol. 13, 31 August 1919, p. 4.

29 Zhu, D., ‘Ni yu tongxiang mou jun taolun xin wenhua yundong shixing fangfa shu’ [‘Pretending to discuss ways to implement the New Culture Movement with someone from my native village’], Jiangsu shengli di er nüzi shifan xuexiao xiaoyou hui huikan [Alumnae of the Second Women's Normal School of Jiangsu Province], vol. 9, November 1919, pp. 36–8Google Scholar; Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui, ‘Zhi zhongdeng yishang ge xuexiao tongzhi dingqi juxing yanshuo jingjin hui shu’ [‘Letter to all [educational institutions] from middle-school level and above, informing them that a date has been chosen to conduct the lecture competition’], Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui yuebao [Jiangsu Educational Association Monthly Report], October 1919, p. 25; Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui, ‘Kaihui jilu’ [‘Meeting minutes’], Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui yuebao [Jiangsu Educational Association Monthly Report], October 1919, p. 45; ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui dingqi zai Ning kaihui’ [‘The lecture competition is scheduled to be held in Nanjing’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 31 October 1919; ‘Xin wenhua yundong zhi jieshi’ [‘Explanation of the New Culture Movement’], Xinghua [The Chinese Christian Advocate], vol. 16, no. 44, 12 November 1919, pp. 28–9.

30 Ouyang, ‘Guomindang yu xin wenhua yundong’, p. 73; Chen, D., ‘Xin wenhua yundong shi shenme?’ [‘What is the New Culture Movement?’], Xin qingnian [New Youth], vol. 7, no. 5, April 1920, pp. 1–6 Google Scholar.

31 Ye, ‘Ji Beijing daxue shiye shi (xu)’.

32 Letter by Lu Xun from 1 January 1918, cited in Chen, S., Bei xin shuju yu Zhongguo xiandai wenxue [New Northern Press and China's Contemporary Literature], Shanghai sanlin wenhua chuanbo youxian gongsi, Shanghai, 2008, p. 20 Google Scholar.

33 Fu, S., ‘Wen yan heyi caoyi’ [‘The integration of written and spoken language’], in Fu Sinian quanji [Collected Works of Fu Sinian], Vol. Four, Lianjing chuban shiye gongsi, Taibei, 1980, p. 1066 Google Scholar. Fu Sinian (1896–1950) was one of the Beijing University students who had joined Hu Shi's and Chen Duxiu's cause.

34 Ibid., p. 1070.

35 S. Lin, ‘Yaomeng’ [‘Nightmare’], in Canchun [Last Days of Spring], R. Zhange (ed.), Jilin shying chuban she, Changehun, 1996, pp. 214–16; S. Lin, ‘Jing sheng’ [‘Scholar Jing’], in Zhongguo xiandai sixiang shi ziliao jianbian [Concise Edition of Historical Materials on Contemporary Chinese Thought], Vol. One, S. Cai (ed.), Zhejiang renmin chuban she, Hangzhou, 1982, pp. 488–90; S. Lin, ‘Da daxuetang xiaozhang Cai Heqing taishi shu’ [‘Reply to the chancellor of the university, Hanlin scholar Cai Heqing’], in Lin Shu wenxuan [Selected Works of Lin Shu], C. Xu (ed.), Baihua wenyi chuban she, Tianjin 2006, pp. 106–12.

36 G. Wang, Chen Duxiu Nianpu 1879–1942 [A Chronology of the Life of Chen Duxiu, 1879–1942], Chongqing chuban she, Chongqing, 1987, p. 64.

37 W. Xin, ‘Riben dui wo xin sixiang shishi zhi tongqing’ [‘Japan's sympathy for the loss of power of our new intellectual tide’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 25 April 1919.

38 Y. Shuang, ‘Daxue xiaozhang wenti zhi guoqu, xianzai, weilai’ [‘Past, present and future of the problems with the university's chancellor’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 13 May 1919.

39 I have written in more detail about the debates and the newspaper coverage during the May Fourth demonstrations in Forster, E., ‘From academic nitpicking to a “New Culture Movement”: how newspapers turned academic debates into the center of “May Fourth”’, Frontiers of History in China, vol. 9, no. 4, 2014, pp. 534–57Google Scholar.

40 Jing, ‘Gao xin wenhua yundong de tongzhi’, pp. 31–2.

41 Ye, ‘Ji Beijing daxue shiye shi (xu)’.

42 P. de Vargas, ‘Some elements in the Chinese Renaissance’ (Manuscript), Beijing, 15 February 1922, p. 14, Container 221, Lewis Nathaniel Chase Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. On de Vargas, see Egan, S. C., A Latterday Confucian: Reminiscences of William Hung (1893–1980), Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1987, p. 91 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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46 ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui dingqi zai Ning kaihui’; ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui yanti zhi jieshi’ [‘Explanation of the topic of the lecture competition’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 2 November 1919.

47 ‘Chengzhong xiao zhi xin xun: xianzai xiaoyou Hu Shi zhi tongnian keyi’ [‘News from Chengzhong School: discovery and publication of childhood essays by our alumnus Hu Shi’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 22 December 1922.

48 ‘Xiju jia huanyan Hu Shizhi: Hu yun hui Jing hou zuo changshi juben’ [‘Actors give a banquet in Hu Shizhi's honour: Hu consents to write a trial script after his return to Beijing’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 20 November 1923.

49 G. Jing, ‘Dumen xuejie xiaoxi’ [‘News from academia in the capital’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 5 November 1919.

50 Y. Ye, ‘Ji Beijing daxue shiye shi’ [‘Remembering Beijing University's opening ceremony for the new academic year’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 14 September 1920.

51 Ibid.

52 Johnston, R. F., Twilight in the Forbidden City, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011, p. 275 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Ibid.

54 Wagner, ‘The canonization of May Fourth’, pp. 75–9.

55 Z. C. Koo and S. L. Chang, ‘This “chest protector” newly invented in America . . .’, Yingyu zhoubao [English Language Weekly], 154, 1918, p. 1172.

56 ‘Shijie tang shi yu Riben canxun’ [‘The global sugar market and the destruction of Japanese silkworms’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 29 April 1919.

57 ‘Yuandong yundong hui ji Beibu yundong hui gaiqi’ [‘Change of dates for the Far Eastern Sports Festival and the Northern Sports Festival’], Beijing gaodeng shifan xuexiao zhoubao [Beijing Higher Normal School Weekly], vol. 49, 1918, p. 11.

58 ‘Xibao yi dian’ [‘Translated telegrams from Western newspapers’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 27 April 1919.

59 ‘Meiguo funü xuanju quan yundong zhi chenggong’ [‘The success of the American suffragette movement’], Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany], vol. 15, no. 3, 1918, p. 55.

60 Luoluo, ‘Meiguo zhi jinjiu yundong’ [‘The American prohibition movement’], Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany], vol. 15, no. 1, 1918, pp. 70–2.

61 ‘Meng shi reng wu huanhe xiwang’ [‘Still no hope for a relaxation in the Mongolian issue’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 29 April 1919.

62 ‘Zhongguo ge tongxunshe dian’ [‘Telegrams from all departments in China’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 28 April 1919.

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65 The newspaper Shanghai News did not rate the Mongolian independence movement under Semenov of 1919 as good, since it was about independence from China, ‘Mengren bei you zhi fengyun’ [‘The seduction of the Mongols’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 29 March 1919. For details on this Mongolian independence movement, see Paine, Imperial Rivals, pp. 316–25.

66 Wagner, ‘The canonization of May Fourth’, p. 83.

67 Ibid., p. 70.

68 Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui, ‘Zhi zhongdeng yishang ge xuexiao tongzhi dingqi juxing yanshuo jingjin hui shu’, p. 25.

69 ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui di er ci kaihui ji’ [‘Record of the second lecture competition’], Shenbao [Shanghai News], Shanghai, 25 December 1919; ibid., p. 23.

70 ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui yanti zhi jieshi’; ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui di er ci kaihui ji’.

71 ‘Xin wenhua yundong zhi jieshi’.

72 ‘Yanshuo jingjin hui dingqi zai Ning kaihui’.

73 They were all in the Chinese Society for Vocational Education. See Cai, Z. and Xie, Z., Pudong mingren shujian baitong [Collection of Letters by Famous People of Pudong], Shanghai yuandong chuban she, Shanghai, 2010, p. 158 Google Scholar.

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77 Jiaoyubu, ‘Tongsu jiaoyu yanjiu hui zhangcheng’ [‘Regulations for the Popular Education Research Society’], in Zhonghua minguo jiaoyu fagui xuanbian [Anthology of Education Laws and Regulations of the Republic of China], Jiangsu jiaoyu chuban she, Nanjing, 2005, p. 531; Bailey, P. J., Reform the People: Changing Attitudes towards Popular Education in Early Twentieth-Century China, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1990, p. 187 Google Scholar.

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80 Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui, ‘Cheng jiaoyu zongzhang zuzhi Zhonghua xin jiaoyu she wen’ [‘Petition to the minister of education regarding the foundation of the Chinese New Education Society’], Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui yuebao [Jiangsu Educational Association Monthly Report], January 1919, p. 2.

81 J. Li (ed.), ‘Duyin tongyi hui Zhili daibiao Wang Pu deng cheng jiaoyu bu qing banxing zhuyin zimu wen’ [‘Petition to the ministry of education from Wang Pu, etc., representative of the Commission for the Unification of Pronunciation, requesting the promotion of Bopomofo’], in Guoyu xue jiangyi [Lecture Notes on the Study of the National Language], Shangwu yinshu guan, Shanghai, 1919, p. xia 19.

82 Gu, Qing mo Min chu Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui yanjiu, p. 215.

83 Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui, ‘Cheng Qi shengzhang chenshu taolun xuechao hou jiuji fangfa wen’ [‘Petition to provincial governor Qi, reporting and discussing rescue methods after the student protests’], Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui yuebao [Jiangsu Educational Association Monthly Report], September 1919, p. 6.

84 Ibid., pp. 6–7.

85 ‘Zhonghua zhiye jiaoyu she xuanyan shu’ [‘Manifesto of the Chinese Society for Vocational Education’], Dongfang zazhi [Eastern Miscellany], vol. 14, no. 7, 1917, p. 165.

86 Yeh, Shanghai Splendor, p. 39.

87 Y. Qi, ‘Qi shengzhang pi’ [‘Approval by Provincial Governor Qi’], Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui yuebao [Jiangsu Educational Association Monthly Report], September 1919, p. 9.

88 Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui, ‘Zhi zhongdeng yishang ge xuexiao tongzhi dingqi juxing yanshuo jingjin hui shu’, p. 25.

89 Ibid.

90 Ibid.

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94 ‘Copyright page’, Shengming [Life], vol. 1, no. 1, 1 June 1920.

95 ‘Advertisement of the Life Journal’, Shengming [Life], vol. 2, no. 2, 15 October 1922.

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98 B. Xu, ‘Jidujiao xin sichao’ [‘The new intellectual tide of Christianity’], Shengming [Life], vol. 1, no. 1, 1 June 1920, p. 1.

99 Ibid.

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101 Liu, ‘Xin wenhua yundong zhong jidujiao xuanjiaoshi de zeren’, 22 June 1921, p. 11.

102 Ibid., p. 12.

103 Ibid.

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