Hurried choices in chaotic times
According to Chang Hao, an Academia Sinica academician, there were two currents in May Fourth thought. One promoted rationality, but had an undercurrent of romanticism. The other advocated taking on real issues, but was anxious to embrace all kinds of "isms." As a result, he says, "Utopian thinking was pervasive in the May Fourth Movement."
Academician David Wang has written: "The 'public clamor' represented May Fourth's greatest awakening." To Wang, the spirit of that "clamor" expressed itself in doubts about authority. He says, "Taking Lu Xun as representative of May Fourth, his greatest gift was giving us the courage to engage in dialogue, the courage to question tradition, authority, and iconic figures."
But the May Fourth era was an impatient one. Intellectuals had almost no time in which to mull or question the new ways of thinking before the urgency of the mission to "save the nation" compelled them to make decisions. Or, as Yu put it: "Not enough thought went into May Fourth thought."
Academician Wang Fan-shen cites Fu Ssu-nien as a case in point. Fu was a leader of the May Fourth Movement, served as president of National Taiwan University, and even composed an ode to the Russian revolution. Wang also mentions Luo Jialun, who wrote in the "Manifesto of All the Students of Beijing" that the nation was dead and urged his compatriots to arise. Luo was also among the Marxist Li Dazhao's favorite students at Peking University. "To the May Fourth intellectuals, who were new to Western thought, democracy in the US and the UK and revolution in Russia alike represented 'freedom and democracy,' explains Wang. "The historical background to the May Fourth era made the thinking of the intellectuals not nearly so black and white as those of us who came later might imagine."
"Though the May Fourth intellectuals attacked tradition, they themselves never escaped the traditional monistic mode of thought," says Lin. "They believed they'd win the war just by taking pen in hand and writing up a few scrolls." So was the May Fourth "clamor" a matter of substance or just of form? That's still open to debate.
As Yu wrote in "Intellectuals and Bachelors," the great confusion of the intellectuals enabled the rise of the CPC. May Fourth was impassioned, but that fervor turned towards inchoate notions of national salvation and awakening, setting China on the course it was to follow for the next 100 years. Reflecting on these events, one can't help but sigh with regret.
Contemporary Taiwan is far more diverse than May Fourth China, with an abundance of media outlets, competing views, and schools of thought. But the question we face is, are today's intellectuals more confident in their thinking, or even more perplexed? Are they becoming more fervent in their concern for our nation and society, or more indifferent?