From the May Fourth Movement to Communist

Why did China's intellectuals turn to Communism? Reflecting on China's encounters with modernity, Communism, and capitalism, Xiaoming Chen offers an explanation by using as a case study the life and work of influential Chinese writer Guo Moruo (1892-1978). Guo was dedicated to the May Fourth Movement, which sought to bring reform, republicanism, and modern Western ideas to China, but abandoned these ideals for Communism in the mid-1920s. While the hope of national salvation was a major factor in Guo's conversion, Chen suggests other reasons, including a desire to save the whole world, a goal that was consistent with the traditional Confucian call to not only "manage the state" but also "harmonize the world." Chen also argues that despite the collectivist and totalitarian outcome of the Chinese Communist movement, Marx's initial promise of ultimate individual emancipation served as a major attraction to intellectuals like Guo, who came to view Marxist Communism as the most efficient and thorough way to fulfill their dream of individual freedom.

Xiaoming Chen is Associate Professor of History at Ohio Wesleyan University

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Toward Individual Emancipation and Personal Moral/Spiritual Salvation	p. 11
From the May Fourth Individualist Rebellion to the Marxist Cause of Individual Emancipation	p. 11
A May Fourth Individualist Awakening	p. 11
From the May Fourth Individualist Awakening to a Marxist Radical Approach to Individual Emancipation	p. 31
Striving for Personal Moral/Spiritual Salvation: From a May Fourth Confucian Focus to a Communist Confucian Battle	p. 41
A May Fourth Focus	p. 41
Shifting the Focus	p. 48
Toward National Salvation	p. 53
May Fourth Love and Concern for the Motherland	p. 53
The Mid-1920s: Dedication to Saving China through Communist Revolution	p. 61
Toward the Liberation of Mankind	p. 71
A May Fourth Cosmopolitanist Ideal of Datong: A Pastoral/Primitive Paradise	p. 71
The Datong Ideal	p. 71
The Cosmopolitan World and the Individual and the Cosmopolitan World and the Nation	p. 79
The Cosmopolitanist Ideal and a "Mentality of Extremes"	p. 81
The Means to Achieve the Ideal: Leftist Radicalism to Save the World?	p. 82
The Mid-1920s: Finding a Modern "Scientific" Echo of Datong in Marxism and Committing to Revolution	p. 86
Attracted to the Marxist Cosmopolitanist Ideal	p. 86
Committing to Marxist/Leninist Revolution as the Means to Achieve the Cosmopolitanist Ideal	p. 89
Toward a Solution to Modern China's Intellectual Crisis	p. 91
A May Fourth Solution to the Intellectual Crisis	p. 92
Defending the Best of Chinese Tradition	p. 92
Combining the Best of China with Modern Western Science and Goetheanism	p. 94
A May Fourth Synthesis of the Best of the East and West as a Solution to the Intellectual Crisis	p. 97
The Mid-1920s: Solving China's Intellectual Crisis through the Combination of Confucianism and Marxism/Leninism	p. 98
Redefining the Best of the East and West	p. 98
The Formation of a Confucian/Marxist/Leninist Communist Synthesis	p. 101
Conclusion	p. 109
Notes	p. 113
Bibliography	p. 143
Index	p. 151
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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From the May Fourth Movement to Communist Revolution : Guo Moruo and the Chinese Path to Communism

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