Modern Intellectuals' Understanding Of Capitalism Research Centering On The May 4^th Movement

In the modern history, Upheavals and social changes happened in that feudal natural economy, doctorial system and traditional morals were shocked by western advanced capitalist modes of production, democracy, rationalism and humanism. Modern intellectuals'conceptions changed with the social changes.Generally, intellectuals around the May 4th Movement identified themselves with capitalist democracy, and applied it as a weapon to attack backward Chinese feudal autocratic monarchy. Intellectuals greatly pushed forward the course of China's political democratization. The criticism of hypocrisy of capitalist representative system and party system directly led the advanced intellectuals around the May 4th Movement to abandon the capitalist political system. With the profound understanding of the capitalism, the intellectuals around the May 4th Movement came to clearly see the difference between the rich and the poor in the socialist society. Consequently, there were three viewpoints towards to the application of capitalist economy mode among Chinese intellectuals. Around the May 4th Movement, as to whether western or eastern culture was much better, there were two attitudes among the intellectuals. One was the criticism of traditional Chinese Confucius morals by virtue of western culture, and the other was the preservation of Chinese traditions to resist against westernization.The understanding of the capitalism is deeply typical of complication, tool, impracticality, succession and transcendentally. The reasons for these characteristics can be traced to the cognition abilities of modern intellectuals, domestically political and economical conditions, the defects of western capitalism against the boost of Soviet Union's socialism. Consequently, the understanding of capitalism by Chinese intellectuals around the May 4th Movement is the theoretical source of the exploration of China's new democratic revolution and construction.