Volume 18, Issue 1, 2021
Examples of Formations and Variations of World Literatures
Yi Li, Qian Xiaoyu
Pages 71-79
The Xueheng School (学衡派), Babbitt's New Humanism, and the May Fourth Movement (五四新文学运动)
In "The Xueheng School (学衡派), Babbitt's New Humanism, and the May Fourth Movement (五四新文学运动)" Li Yi discusses modern Chinese literary history. On the one hand, it is known that scholars have been discussing key figures of the May Fourth Movement by positioning the Xueheng School to the opposite side of the former. Hence in scholarship and criticism the location of the Xueheng School as a restoration group of feudalism resulted in understanding the School as hindering the development of modern culture. However, since the 1990s the Xueheng School inspired interest in the concept of restoring ancient Chinese thought. Some scholars even repeat the ideas of the Xueheng School and regard the efforts of Xueheng scholars as overall and profound cultural pursuits which would diminish some of the extreme ideas of the May Fourth Movement. Li argues that neither of the two views on the Xueheng School are accurate and discusses the Xueheng School's achievements in view of Irving Babbitt's idea of "New Humanism."