Hu Shi and the Critical Review group

Abstract

When discussing modern Chinese thought, it is customary to place Critical Review and New Youth in a dichotomous relationship. This paper argues the opposite, emphasizing the “connection” between the two. Specifically, through the debate between Hu Shi and the key members of the Critical Review group—Mei Guangdi and Wu Mi—at a wedding banquet held at the YMCA in Nanjing on December 1, 1923, this paper points out that there was no lack of “friendship” between them despite their opposing views, for, with the exception of a few in the group who criticized the use of vernacular Chinese, Mei and Wu approved of cultural reform. That is, Hu Shi and the Critical Review members were highly complementary in their understanding of the “new” and the “old”; the latter was only disapproval of the radical form of New Culture. However, unlike Hu Shi who emphasized the equal importance of elites and non-elites in National Studies, the Critical Review scholars stressed the role of the elites and the connection between traditional Chinese thought and New Humanism.