The Cultural Spirit of the “May Fourth Movement” and Lu Xun’s Ambivalent Thinking

The “May Fourth Movement” is undoubtedly a turning point in the history of modern Chinese society and culture. It must be acknowledged that the direction of development of Chinese culture was largely influenced by famous Chinese writer, educator and revolutionary Lu Xun (1881–1936). The structure of Lu Xun’s ideas and the influence of Lu Xun’s ideas today have shaped the ever-living “Lu Xun’s culture”. The main essence of Lu Xun’s culture is embodied in many important judgments regarding the development of the nation, society and culture. These judgments are aimed not only at the past, but also at the future and the present. Many of his thoughts were a century ahead their time. Speaking about Lu Xun’s anti-traditionalist approach to the development of new culture, one cannot ignore the rationalistic cultural spirit of the enlightenment ideology behind it. Lu Xun’s pessimism at the beginning of the “May Fourth Movement” and the subsequent bitterness can serve as a key to understanding the cultural spirit of the “May Fourth Movement” and its logical connection with Lu Xun’s culture. Analyzing Lu Xun’s criticism of China’s unrealized democracy and his skepticism about the new culture, one can see that Lu Xun’s inner mood is shrouded in a shadow of disappointment. Moreover, until the end of his days, he was accompanied by pain caused by too sober and deep perception of life. In addition, the reason for Lu Xun’s distrust is that too often, due to his decency and simplicity, he was deceived. We believe that the spiritual world of Lu Xun has always been characterized by the presence of two levels: Lu Xun is open, throwing loud calls, and Lu Xin is hidden, suffering and lonely. At the same time, his inherent sharpness stems from a deep understanding of the situation, and his bitterness comes from a firm will and an uncompromising attitude to his views. The reason for such bitterness is due to the strength and immensity of the objects of his resistance. Lu Xun’s views have enriched the thinking of China and all mankind.

Innovative or Rather Traditional? Confucianising Tragedy in May Fourth China

A key aspect of the May Fourth Movement was the critical discussion of Western tragedy. While the interest in tragedy was sparked by the assumption that China lacked an analogous genre, its interpretation and adaptation to the Chinese context suggests that a traditional ‘indigenous’ filter was applied to define its supposed ‘modernity’. Through cross-comparing Chinese conceptions of beiju 悲剧 in the May Fourth era and traditional Chinese views of bei 悲, this paper will seek to show that the Chinese reception of tragedy was informed by the rejuvenation of traditional ideas rather than the introduction of purely ‘Western’ theories.

The Failure of the May Fourth Movement and My Two Struggles

In this speech, Liu Zaifu thoroughly discusses the history of the May Fourth movement and the New Culture movement in the whole last century and the circumstances of humanity in China. In his explanation, May Fourth could be conceptualized through three different groups of concepts: the cultural May Fourth and the political May Fourth, the New Culture movement and the New Literature movement, and the masculine May Fourth and the feminine May Fourth. Liu regards the May Fourth spirit as a complete failure, in terms of six symbolic signs: (1) the mass spiritual suicide of Guo Moruo and the Creation Society, (2) the failure of humanity, (3) the elimination of individuality and personality, (4) the reversal of the enlightenment subject, (5) the devastation of the world vision, and (6) the failure of aesthetic practice. Liu also shares his two struggles. The first struggle in the 1980s was to reconstruct the subjectivity and dignity of people. After going abroad, he started the second struggle in exiling the gods, by which he endeavored to free himself from the four major spiritual chains: revolutionary thinking, the idolatry of nation, all the political ideologies, and dualistic thinking.