Not a “Loudspeaker”: Reevaluating Qian Xuantong's Role in the May Fourth New Culture Movement

Abstract

Abstract: Qian Xuantong borrowed and transformed the Confucian classics and philology during the New Culture Movement to integrate Chinese traditional knowledge into the May Fourth ideological revolution, literary revolution, and Chinese written character revolution. Firstly, Qian Xuantong transformed the resources of Confucian classics from figures like Zhang Taiyan and Kang Youwei, reducing them to mere historical materials and denying the value of all Confucian classics. Such an approach enabled the rejection of Chinese traditional culture from within the Confucian classics, significantly strengthening the May Fourth ideology. Secondly, as a philologist, Qian Xuantong employed the principles of philology, phonetics, and exegesis to validate the rationality of the May Fourth vernacular writing concept during the literary revolution. Thirdly, in promoting the May Fourth Chinese written character revolution, he utilized Chinese philological resources to demonstrate the academic rationality and historical inevitability of “switching to alphabetic writing,” thus achieving a radical modern transformation of Chinese written characters. Qian Xuantong leveraged Chinese academic resources to propel the development of the New Culture Movement, offering a novel methodology for the May Fourth Movement and establishing an independent and unique “voice.”

Key words: The New Culture Movement, Confucian classics, philology, Qian Xuantong's voice

Wang Xiaohui. Not a “Loudspeaker”: Reevaluating Qian Xuantong's Role in the May Fourth New Culture Movement[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2024, 44(3): 162-172.

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