The Contemporary Review School And China's Modern Transformation

The Contemporary Review School was an important liberal intellectuals' group in the field of Chinese ideology and culture in mid and late 1920s.Through the study in Britain and the United States,members of The Contemporary Review School formed new values and knowledge system of British and American liberalism.Under the background of the increasingly severe national crisis since the modern times,The Contemporary Review School actively designed scheme and path of modernization which was based on their faith in the liberalism.They hoped to shape a kind of independent and tolerant personality,create a diverse and rational thinking space,establish a political order of democracy and laws,and select a free way of life through the ideological enlightenment and political improvement.In the concrete practice,the members provided actual contribution and criticism in such aspects as education,literature and academic research to advocate the values such as freedom,tolerance and people-oriented.Meanwhile,they expressed the value pursuit of democracy and the rule of law through a series of public opinion interventions.Unfortunately,due to the mismatches with China's traditional culture and the national conditions of radical revolution,and along with being depressed by the European radical traditions of political culture and Marxist ideological line,their modernization scheme which was lacking in practicality has not been chosen by history.However,as a kind of participation in the process of China's modern transformation,their scheme was of great rationality,and The Contemporary Review School was an important driving force in the movement of modern liberalism in China.On the whole,the enlightenment doctrine and the claim for political improvement also had an important realistic significance.For these reasons,The Contemporary Review School and the whole ideological trend of modern Chinese liberalism should be surveyed and lighted up.