“Running counter to what contemporaries valued”—The intellectual shift of Liu Boming of the May Fourth period

Abstract

“May Fourth” was a historical period of transitions, from individualism to socialism, and from “new youth” to “progressive youth.” Instructors and students at Peking University were leaders of these trends. In contrast with Peking University, Liu Boming 劉伯明, a leader at Nanjing Higher Normal School-National Southeastern University, experienced an intellectual shift “running counter to what contemporaries valued.” Soon after the May Fourth incident, Liu Boming supported and guided his students to establish social consciousness and concern for social affairs; however, starting in 1920, sensitive to the unexpected changes taking place among students and within intellectual circles, Liu Boming turned toward advocacy of spiritual development, focusing on creating a simple, reserved academic atmosphere at Nanjing Higher Normal School-National Southeastern University. Although Liu Boming’s ideas and practices could not change the direction in which trends were moving in that period, they represented another side of May Fourth, reflecting the complexity of society and culture during the May Fourth period.