Gao Yihan's Individual Ideas

As an important participant of the New Cultural Movement and one of the significant enlightenment thinker during the May 4th period,Gao Yihan had made an outstanding contributions to individual awakening.He designed a set of individual ideas system by combining Chinese traditional culture with the western liberalism.In his opinion,a true citizen of the Republic must regard utilitarianism,individualism and self-altruism as the basic orientation of the life;and at the same time they must have their own personality,independent thinking,the ability of autonomy and the attitude of consciousness as a prerequisite for their free will.When it comes to the relationship among the individual,the state and society,he thinks that the individual is the subject of constructing the state and the society,and the state and the society are the beneficial guarantee of realizing the individual freedom and the equal right.Therefore,the state should protect individuals' political and economic basic rights to meet the individual's basic demands by means of law.Gao Yihan's individual ideas is a combination of moral transformation and critical political reality so that a real democratic Republic can be built.Gao's individual ideas caused a certain response among the liberal intellectuals at that time and his thinking awakened the value of the individual to a certain extent and inspired people's enthusiasm of patriotism.And it also narrowed the cultural gap between the East and the West and promoted the process of democratization in modern China.However,there are some limitations in Gao's individual ideas.On the one hand,one of the the limitations lies in drawbacks of itself.Gao Yihan did not study the relative theory of his thought more deeply,leading to some contradictions in his theory.At the same time,his personal thoughts scattered in his commentary and political essays,so his individual ideas is not systematic enough.On the other hand,the limitation lies in the theoretical and realistic predicament.For example,the theory is sometimes out of line with reality.However,objectively speaking,Gao's individual ideas has a certain ideological value,which not only has a certain impact at that time,but also gives some reference in the present.On the one hand,Gao's individual ideas have contributed to the improvement of modern citizens' consciousness;on the other hand,it has an great effect on the realization of personal value,which is important to build the relation between individual and collective with Chinese characteristics.