Biweekly Symposium No. 525: A Millennium After The New Culture Movement: Consciousness of the Civilization or the Culture?

Lecturer: Professor XU Jilin

Host: Professor ZHANG Shuguang, Chairman of Unirule Academic Committee

Commentators: MA Yong, REN Jiantao, SHENG Hong, ZHAO Nong

The New Culture Movement in 1915 swiped China. How to treat this movement has complex and significant implications for China today.

Professor XU Jilin thought the New Culture Movement was an enlightening movement. Two issues were addressed, that is the awareness of civilisation and of culture.

Professor XU thought there were two questions that needed to be answered. Firstly, how to integrate the good part of the civilisation into the widely recognised culture of China. Secondly, how to transform our culture into a universal one.
Professor XU concluded that China needed to reestablish itself as a player of the world with a subjective cultural identify. It should also integrate its unique culture in the framework of the universal standards.