Young China Association

The Young China Association (YCA) was one of the most important association with great influence during the May Fourth period. It assembled many elite of the young Chinese intellectual. Its principle is "Our Association dedicates itself to social service under the guidance of the scientific spirit, in order to realize our ideal of creating a Young China". Its credo is" strive, practice, enduring, and frugality". With these principles,YCA formed a group that free thinking., bravely search ouU strict self-discipline and had most calling and influence to the youth all over the country .They tried to find a way for China reform - through the developing of education, industry and commerce ,to lay a foundation for the fundamental social reform . Though the goal finally fail as a social movement, many members of YCA dedicated their whole life to the education and academic , and made a great contribution to the Chinese education, science and culture.In the thesis it was thoroughly stated and commented on the whole process of the preparing and establishment of YCA, and lay emphasis on the analyze and comment on argue and debate on theory and thinking inside the association . From the very beginning of the YCA ,its members keep on their seriously thinking and frankly debate on the problems that how to make the principle of the association more clearly and its practice more efficaciously. Some of them were inclined to choose an ism (political principle) to guide the more efficaciously political reform to Chinese sociality, but more others preferred to insist on the research on academic and theory and try to form an academic environment and tradition of free thinking in the association .In the Nanjing Conference 1921, the members with different orientation expressed themselves openly and argue violently .After that ,they go on the debate extensively in their magazine . The end of the discuss permit members to join the political activity but refuse to give an ism as a banner for the YCA to make it politicize .Many members insist on their stand of academic independence and thinking freedom. Nevertheless, the bad civil situation cannot allow them keep off from the politics, it had to express their attitude toward the situation more and more strongly. Finally, the different political chosen lead to violent and hostile dispute, thedeferent and unmediated political stand-Nationalism and Communism, madethe YCA split up. Actually, YCA were split up twice: first, split up between the members who incline political participate and who persist in the ideal of culturereform; second, between the members who took part hi the political activity-because their deferent political stand: Nationalism and Communism.Though YCA was finally split up and end, as a result of May Fourth Movement, it has a glory history. Its seeking for ideal, its theory research, its practice and struggle for social reform, and its thinking dispute for searching a correct way to change old China, were quite represent in the time, and is very valuable for research and thinking enlighten to the descendants. Moreover, as an important theory and political branch in the YCA, the nationalism, have been notice and research very few in the past long time. In the thesis, it was analyze and comment all-round first time: point out its shortcoming in the theory, and also confirm the reasonable part in its theoretical probe. These are the first try in the Mainland China.