The Persistence And Reform Of Cultural Conservatives In The Period Of May 4th Movement

In the long river of the history of the Chinese nation,the May 4th period was only an extremly short span.However,every field of Chinese society had changed dramatically in this period led by a thunderous developing trend.Especially in the field of ideology and culture: the influx of various new cultures and new trends of thought constantly washed away the ruins of ancient China,as a result that the traditional culture was regarded as a hindrance to the progress of social development,and thus was severely criticized by the people with new culture ideology at that time Cultural conservatives,however,are a group of people who still have great enthusiasm for traditional culture when new culture was regarded as a need of that time,and cultures conflicted with each other.However,in the process of adhering to tradition,they are not blindly ‘retro' or ‘old-fashioned',and they are constantly carrying out self-salvation and reform under the forced steps of their times.The cultural conservatism of the May 4th Movement was firmly adhered to in all aspects of traditional culture:They regarded the traditional learning in the cultural tradition as a confidence in the development of the nation coming from the inside to outside;they took the continuation of the traditional morality as the measure of the rise and fall of the country;and they regardeded the traditional national spirit as the internal driving force for the development of the nation.Therefore,they believe that these should be adhered to,and also made great achievements.Of course,their adherence is not just sticking to tradition.In the trend of the times,they re-consider the direction of the development of Chinese culture,and apply the cultural achievements of the West to realize the modern transformation of traditional culture.The change of their culture started from the change of attitude towards western culture,and then evolved to reexamine the value of traditional culture and the inputing and applying of western learning,and hope to realize the reform in their way.In the new century of spiritual and cultural construction,this paper re-examines the efforts made by cultural conservatives in the May 4th period to adhere to and reform under the situation of internal and external troubles at that time,and summarizes therelevant studies in this paper.The author is more likely to separate the "westernization","restoration" and "antiquities" of the cultural conservatives in the May 4th Movement from the concepts of "westernization","restoration of the ancient times" and "conservatism" in the process of cultural evolution at that time.They pay more attention to the actual value of their thought and practice to the society at that time and the reference function to the present society,which makes their practice manifesting more cultural significance and historical value in the research.