Self-cultivation,sanctification,and revolution: Understanding the radicalization of a May Fourth moralist

Abstract

The interweaving and competition between “national salvation” and “enlightenment” and “politics” and “culture” after the May Fourth Movement are important for understanding early modern Chinese history. The student societies established by modern Chinese intellectuals during the May Fourth Movement facilitated the spread of the New Culture Movement and laid the organizational foundation for the Communist Party of China, which helped communism take root in China. The Liqun Book Society, started by Yun Daiying, was one such organization that “linked” local society and modern cultural and political ideas. Understanding the organizational principles, structures, ethics, identities, and beliefs of its key members is significant to the understanding of the localization of social changes. Existing studies present Yun as a moralist influenced by Confucian ethics. However, following this line of thought, it is difficult to understand why he turned from a moderate moralist activist into a radical revolutionary. This paper argues that Yun's radicalization comes from the combination of Wang Yangming's School of Mind and Christian socialism, which enabled him to develop a moral cognition common with communists and an inherent affinity with Bolshevism. The dilemma of his moral commitment impelled him to participate in mass political activities to implement his unfinished moral ideals in a new way. Yun's early experience reflects the moral confusion of intellectuals with Confucian backgrounds when facing the modern political order in the transitional era and their expectations when reconciling between “morality” and “politics”. This helps one understand the moral preferences of the Chinese communist revolution and the modern transformation of Confucian China.