Promoting “Low Culture”: The Origins of the Modern Chinese Folklore Movement

Abstract

The Modern Chinese Folklore Movement in the first half of the twentieth century was a literary movement, but it was also profoundly political and social. A new generation of intellectuals that participated in the movement believed that their efforts could “save” the Chinese nation by rediscovering traditions and enlightening the common people during a period of great upheaval. This article examines the origins of the Folklore Movement based out of Beijing University between 1918 and 1926 in the context of a crisis of Chinese nationhood and the New Culture Movement. It addresses Chinese intellectuals’ struggles during the national crisis that came after WWI, their decision to study folklore as a means of connecting to the common people, and the influence of domestic political power on this nationalist intellectual movement. Specifically, this article probes why this movement rose to prominence in the early twentieth century, how folklore researchers advanced it, and why it ultimately came to a standstill in Beijing.