New Youth

Chen Duxiu founded Youth Magazine (Chinese:《青年杂志》) (later renamed New Youth) in 1915 in Shanghai, with the initial aim of spreading new thoughts and cultures—especially Western ideals of democracy and science—in order to promote the modernization of Chinese society.{{Cite journal |last=Ash |first=Alec |date=6 September 2009 |title=China's New New Youth |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/chinabeatarchive/626/ |url-status=live |journal=The China Beat Blog Archive 2008–2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612103436/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/chinabeatarchive/626/ |archive-date=12 June 2020 |access-date=17 July 2020}} He created the magazine with the hope that young people would express their opinions and thoughts to help save China, and that authors could offer new thoughts for young people at that time.Ash, Alec. “China’s New Youth.” China Beat Archive, 2009, http://www.thechinabeat.org/. He also sought to advocate for a literary revolution by promoting the use of vernacular Chinese instead of classical Chinese, making literature more accessible to the general public. Another factor in his founding of the magazine was his desire to enlighten the youth; he considered them as the future of the nation, and he therefore wanted to foster in them a sense of patriotism and social responsibility. Chen also aimed to critique feudal traditions and promote individual freedom and equality, driving social reform and progress.

Chen approached Wang Mengzhou, the manager of the publishing house Yadong Library, with the idea of the magazine.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Ying |title=Red Ink: A History of Printing and Politics in China |publisher=Royal Collins Press |year=2024 |isbn=9781487812737}}{{Rp|pages=19-22}} The library could not fund the magazine, and Wang therefore suggested that Chen approach Qunyi Publishing House to print and publish the magazine.{{Rp|page=22}} Qunyi Publishing House agreed to do so and paid Chen 200 yuan per month for manuscripts and editing.{{Rp|page=22}}

In September 1916 Youth Magazine was renamed New Youth after the Shanghai YMCA complained that the name was too similar to their own.{{Rp|page=22}} Historians have inferred from this that "the word 'new' was added to match the name with its advocacy of new ideas and culture."{{Cite book |last=Xiao Chaoran |title=Bei jing da xue yu wu si yun dong |date=1995 |publisher=Bei jing da xue chu ban she |isbn=978-7-301-02904-6 |edition=2 |location=Bei jing}} Chen Duxiu agreed to the name change, possibly to avoid conflict, or to give the magazine a fresh and distinctive identity that aligned with its mission of promoting new thoughts and culture.

The term "youth" was not originally part of the Chinese lexicon. It was introduced by missionaries around the turn of the 20th century. The YMCA, which was established globally in 1844 and introduced to China in 1876, had a significant influence on the use of the term. The YMCA's focus on youth work and publications aimed at educating and influencing young people underscored the term's adoption in Chinese society.a) 吕明涛."《青年》杂志与《青年杂志》." 书屋 .08(2005):63–66.

New Youth's headquarters moved to Beijing in January 1917 when Chen was appointed Chairman of the Chinese Literature Department at Peking University.{{Cite web|last=Xia|first=Chen|date=15 September 2015|title=New Youth magazine's former office restored in Beijing|url=http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2015-09/15/content_36590525.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014184413/http://china.org.cn/arts/2015-09/15/content_36590525.htm|archive-date=14 October 2015|access-date=17 July 2020|website=China.org.cn}} The team of editors and authors gradually expanded. In Volume 3 of the magazine, senior scholars such as Zhang Shizhao, Cai Yuanpei, and Qian Xuantong were added to the group of authors. There were also contributions from young students such as Yun Daiying, Mao Zedong, Chang Naide, and Huang Lingshuang. In August 1917, after the publication of the third volume of New Youth, Qunyi Publishing House found it difficult to continue publishing because of the magazine's limited distribution and poor sales, and suspended publication.{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Qi sheng |title=Ge ming yu fan ge ming: she hui wen hua shi ye xia de min guo zheng zhi |date=2010 |publisher=She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she |isbn=978-7-5097-1237-5 |location=Bei jing}} After Chen Duxiu's vigorous negotiation, the publishing house reluctantly agreed to renew the publication at the end of the year.{{Cite book |last1=Tang |first1=Baolin |title=Chen Du xiu nian pu: 1879–1942 |last2=Lin |first2=Maosheng |date=1988 |publisher=Shang hai ren min chu ban she |isbn=978-7-208-00088-9 |location=Shang hai}} In January 1918, New Youth was republished after a 4-month hiatus. Contributors to Volume 4 included Zhou Zuoren, Shen Yinmo, Shen Jianshi, Chen Daqi and Wang Xingqiong. Volume 6 was edited by Chen Duxiu, Qian Xuantong, Gao Yihan, Hu Shih, Li Dazhao, Shen Yinmo, all of whom were professors at Peking University. Thus, New Youth was transformed from a local publication dominated by writers from Anhui to a "national" publication dominated by Peking University professors. Those editors initiated the New Culture Movement, promoting science, democracy, and Vernacular Chinese literature.

Influenced by the 1917 Russian October Revolution, New Youth increasingly began to promote Marxism, becoming progressively more aligned with the Chinese Communist Party. The trend accelerated after the departure of Hu Shih, who later became Education Minister of the Republic of China. Beginning with the September 1, 1920 issue, New Youth began to openly support communism when its editorial office was moved back to Shanghai.Xia, Chen. “New Youth Magazine’s Former Office Restored in Beijing,” China.org.cn, 2015. http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2015-09/15/content_36590525.htm In 1921, Chen Duxiu became a cofounder of the Chinese Communist Party"China’s New Youth: On the Prowl for.” China Temper, 2024, https://chinatemper.com/the-series/chinas-new-youth and with the June 1923 issue, New Youth became the official Chinese Communist Party theoretical journal. New Youth was shut down in 1926 by the Nationalist government, but over its history influenced thousands of Chinese young people, including many leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chen Duxiu established New Youth in response to the failure of the Anhui Common Speech Journal, which published for only two years. After that, Chen divided his time between Japan and China as the Qing Dynasty lost power, waiting for an opportunity to engage in Chinese politics.Chapter 7: New Youth: Chen Duxiu, Wealth and Power, 2024, https://sites.asiasociety.org/chinawealthpower/chapters/chen-duxiu/ Three years after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, Chen Duxiu founded New Youth, also serving as its editor in its early years.{{Cite book|last=Ebrey|first=Patricia Buckely|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1996|isbn=0-521-43519-6|location=London|page=267}} The magazine's editorial policies clearly reflected his personal values by supporting the new and growing vernacular literature movement and the revolution against established societal norms, Confucian values, and the use of Classical Chinese. Chen was the leader of the May Fourth Movement student demonstrations in 1919 and was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party.

File:Former Editorial Office of the New Youth.jpg

Chen published "A Letter to Youth" (Chinese: 敬告青年) in the first issue of September 15, 1915.{{cite journal |last1=Yuchen |first1=Chang |title=From New Woodcut to the No Name Group: Resistance, Medium and Message in 20th-Century China |journal=Art in Print |date=2016 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=10–14 |jstor=26408640 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26408640 |access-date=21 February 2023 |issn=2330-5606}} The letter issued six challenges:

• Be independent and not enslaved (Chinese: 自由的而非奴隶的)
• Be progressive and not conservative (Chinese: 进步的而非保守的)
• Be in the forefront and not lagging behind (Chinese: 进取的而非退隐的)
• Be internationalist and not isolationist (Chinese: 世界的而非锁国的)
• Be practical and not rhetorical (Chinese: 实利的而非虚文的)
• Be scientific and not superstitious (Chinese: 科学的而非想象的)

The letter further emphasized the urgency of pursuing science and liberty in order to remove the twin chains of feudalism and ignorance from the general population.

Chen Hengzhe ({{zh|t=陳衡哲|s=陈衡哲}}; 1890 – 1976) was the first Chinese female professor at Peking University and the country's first professor of Western history. She was among the first ten women to study overseas on government scholarships, graduating from Vassar College and the University of Chicago. She was the first Chinese person to publish a history of the Western world that was not translated from a foreign language.Gimpel, Denise. Chen Hengzhe: A Life Between Orthodoxies, 2015. She wrote the first published work of vernacular Chinese fiction: her short story "One Day" (Chinese: 一日), published 1917 in an overseas student quarterly (Chinese:《留美学生季报》). This was a year before the publication of Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman", which has often been incorrectly credited as the first vernacular Chinese fiction. Her short story "Little Raindrop" (Chinese: 小雨点), published in September 1920 in the eighth volume of New Youth, was the first Chinese children's story to be published in the new style. She also published a collection of her works entitled Raindrops in 1928.

Hu Shih ({{zh|胡適}}; 1891 – 1962) was a highly influential Chinese intellectual of the 20th century. He frequently published speeches at Peking University, amongst other venues. Over his lifetime, Hu authored 44 books and numerous articles, establishing significant influence. Hu promoted family planning, female equality, free marriage, and reproductive freedom.China’s Great Liberal of the 20th Century – Hu Shih Founders of Modern Chinese Language,” Hong Kong, 2023, https://asiasociety.org/hong-kong/events/chinas-great-liberal-20th-century-hu-shih-founder-modern-chinese-language He was one of the early editors of New Youth and published a landmark article "Essay on Creating a Revolutionary `New Literature" (Chinese: 建设的文学革命论) in the April 18, 1918 issue. He wrote that the mission of this language revolution is "a literature of the national language (Guoyu, Chinese: 国語), a national language of literature" (Original Text: 国语的文学，文学的国语。). Hu then went on to reason that for thousands of years, the written language was bound by scholars using Classical Chinese, a dead language. The vernacular, on the other hand, is living and adapts to the age. He urged authors to write in the vernacular in order to describe life as it is, reasoning that Chinese literature had a limited range of subject matter because it used a dead language. Using a living language would therefore open up a wealth of material for writers. He also argued that large-scale translations of western works would both increase the range of Chinese literature and serve as examples to emulate. This was a seminal and prescient essay about the modern Chinese language. Hu Shih was an important figure in the transformation of the modern Chinese written and printed language.{{Cite book|last=Ebrey|first=Patricia Buckely|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1996|isbn=0-521-43519-6|location=London|page=270}}

In the July 15 issue, Hu published an essay entitled, "Chastity" (Chinese: 贞操问题). In the traditional Chinese context, this refers not only to virginity before marriage, but specifically to women remaining chaste before they marry and after their husband's death (Chinese: 守贞). He wrote that this is an unequal and illogical view of life, that there is no natural or moral law upholding such a practice, that chastity is a mutual value for both men and women, and that he vigorously opposes any legislation favoring traditional practices on chastity. (There was a movement to introduce traditional Confucian value systems into law at the time.) Hu Shih also wrote a short play on the subject (see Drama section below).

Hu Shih's views were quite radical for the time, which was only a short six years after the overthrow of the Chinese imperial system. The Xinhai Revolution, as it was called, created two branches in the 1920s: the Nationalist (Kuomintang) and Chinese communist parties. Hu tried to focus the editorial policy on literature. Chen Duxiu and others insisted on addressing social and political issues. Hu was a lifelong establishment figure in the Nationalist government and left La Jeunesse when its communist direction became clear.

File:A Madman's Diary - Lu Xun.JPG

Lu Xun ({{zh|魯迅}}; 1881 – 1936) was an important contributor to the magazine. His first short story, "Diary of a Madman" (Chinese: 狂人日记), was inspired by Nikolai Gogol's story of the same name, and was published in 1918. The short story was a new form in Chinese literature at that time, and this was one of the first published. "Diary of a Madman" records a scholar's growing suspicion that the Confucian classics brainwash people into cannibalism. Lu Xun symbolized the cruel and inhumane nature of traditional Chinese society's structure in this manner. Despite being a harsh metaphor, it was not seen as exceptional; many indictments of the old society were equally scathing. The madness in the story not only indicates a self-consciousness that is radically modern in breaking with a tradition, but also demarcates an oppositional and new symbolic practice and order.Tang, Xiaobing. Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman” and a Chinese Modernism, Cambridge, 2020 "Diary of a Madman" was republished in Lu's first collection, A Call to Arms (Chinese: 呐喊), which also included his most well known novella, The True Story of Ah Q (Chinese: 阿Q正传). Other fiction by Lu Xun published in La Jeunesse includes "Kong Yiji" (Chinese: 孔乙己) and "Medicine" (Chinese: 药).

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Li Dazhao ({{zh|t=李大釗|s=李大钊}}; 1889 – 1927), had played an important role in the New Culture Movement and would soon become a cofounder of the Chinese Communist Party.{{Cite book|last=Song|first=Mingwei|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXvnDwAAQBAJ&q=Young+China:+National+Rejuvenation+and+the+Bildungsroman&pg=PP3|title=Young China: National Rejuvenation and the Bildungsroman, 1900–1959|date=2020 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-1-68417-560-4|language=en}} He was the magazine's chief collaborator with the Chinese Communist Party,{{Cite web|last=Chow|first=Tse-tsung|title=Chen Duxiu|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chen-Duxiu#ref234360|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601172309/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chen-Duxiu|archive-date=1 June 2020|access-date=17 July 2020|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}} and published, among other things, an introduction to Marxist theory in the May 1919 issue of New Youth.{{Cite book|last=Ebrey|first=Patricia Buckely|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1996|isbn=0-521-43519-6|location=London|page=272}} In it, he argued that China, while not possessing a significant urban proletariat, could be viewed as an entire nation that had been exploited by capitalist imperialist countries. In April 1927, the 38-year-old Li was arrested and then killed by a warlord in Peking University{{Clarify|reason=Was the warlord part of the University or just happened to kill him there? Wasn't he in prison after the arrest?|date=July 2025}}.{{Cite web |title=Li Dazhao {{!}} Peking University Library |url=https://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/bggk/bgjs/lishiyange/lidazhao |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=www.lib.pku.edu.cn}}

Mao Zedong ({{zh|t=毛泽东|s=毛澤東}}; 1893 – 1976), the founding father of the People's Republic of China, contributed articles against the oppression of women under Confucianism and on the importance of physical fitness to the magazine in his youth. "The well-known quotation of Mao Zedong (1893–1976), cited above, which compares young people to the morning sun, claimed for youth the authority to define the nation’s future and endowed it with all the power to make changes that would revolutionize society."{{Cite book|last=Song|first=Mingwei|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXvnDwAAQBAJ&q=new+youth+Movement++mingwei&pg=PP3|title=Young China: National Rejuvenation and the Bildungsroman, 1900–1959|date=2020|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-1-68417-560-4|language=en}}

File:北京大学初期教师合影。左起：刘半农、沈尹默、陈大齐、马裕藻、张凤举、周作人、李玄伯.jpg

Liu Bannong ({{zh|s=刘半农|t=劉半農}}; 1891 – 1934) was an important contributor to the magazine starting from 1916, invited by Chen Duxiu.{{Cite journal|last=Hockx |first=Michel|date=2000-01-01|title=Liu Bannong and the forms of new poetry|url=https://commons.ln.edu.hk/jmlc/vol3/iss2/5|journal=Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese 現代中文文學學報|volume=3|issue=2|issn=1026-5120}} His article "My View on Literary Reform: What is literature?" ({{Lang|zh|我之文學改良觀}}) was published in La Jeunesse in 1917. In it, he made suggestions on both the content and the form of literary reform.

The ideas behind Hu Shi's literary revolution were rooted in his various personal experiences. Initially, it was the pamphlets from Zhong Wen'ao, a secretary at Tsinghua University's student supervision office, that sparked his thoughts on Chinese script reform. In 1915, he discussed the issue of romanizing Chinese characters with his friend Zhao Yuanren. However, Hu believed that Chinese characters, as an educational medium, could not be abolished, leading him to propose that teaching methods be improved. The real motivation for Hu to consider replacing classical Chinese with vernacular Chinese came from his discussions with friends like Mei Guangdi and Ren Shuyong at Ithaca from the summer of 1915 to August 1916. These debates made Hu more radical, leading him to propose the slogan "literary revolution," which he first mentioned in a poem in 1915. Despite opposition from Mei and others, Hu became more convinced of the potential of vernacular literature and decided to stop writing in classical Chinese, focusing instead on vernacular poetry.ii. Zhang Wenlu. "The Birth of 'A Modest Proposal for Literary Reform'." Journal of Literature and History, no. 12, 2014, pp. 77–80.

On January 1, 1917, Volume 2, Number 5, Hu Shi published "Wen xue gai liang chu yi", which put "not avoiding vulgar words and phrases" at the end, with the purpose of "solemnly putting forward my proposition of vernacular literature",{{Cite book |title=Jian she li lun ji |date=2003 |publisher=Shang hai wen yi chu ban she |isbn=978-7-5321-2512-8 |editor-last=Hu |editor-first=Shi |edition=Ying yin ben; di 1 ban |series=Zhong guo xin wen xue da xi / Zhao Jia bi zhu bian |location=Shang hai |editor-last2=Cai |editor-first2=Yuanpei}} and ultimately came to the conclusion that "vernacular literature will be the authentic literature of China",{{Cite journal |last=Hu |first=Shi |date=1917 |title=Wen xue gai liang chu yi文学改良刍议 |journal=New Youth |volume=2 |issue=5}} which became the "fuse" that ignited the "Literary Revolution". Wen xue gai liang chu yi was published in New Youth, Vol. 2, No. 5, and the correspondence between Hu and Chen in Vol. 2, No. 2, already reveals the mystery. Hu Shih's letter briefly mentions his proposed literary revolution, which "must begin with eight things:" not to use diction, not to use stereotyped phrases, not to speak of counterpoints, not to avoid vulgar words and phrases, to emphasize the structure of grammar, not to make a sickly speech or be excessively sentimental, not to use classical expressions, and to be meaningful.{{Cite journal |last=Hu shi |first=Chen Duxiu |date=1917 |title=Tong xin通信 |journal=New Youth |volume=2 |issue=2}} He had some doubts about the fifth and eighth items, but said "The rest of the six things, they all join hands in admiration".

On May 15, 1918, Volume 4, Number 5, Lu Xun published his first vernacular fiction, "A Madman's Diary" in New Youth. Lu Xun's works in New Youth are mainly a critique of nationalism, a loving compassion for distorted life, and a sense of self-torture and self-sacrifice. In these levels of expression, an extremely vivid discourse of self-examination is formed.{{Cite journal |last=Sun |first=Yu |date=2019 |title=The discourse mode of new cultural people in May Fourth Movement – taking New Youth in 1918 and 1919 as an example |url= |journal=Wen Yi Zheng Ming |volume=05 |via=CNKI}} A Madman's Diary aesthetically creates a rhetoric of freedom contrary to the eight-legged literary style, introducing elements of modernity into the expression of the mother tongue in strangeness and tearing.{{Cite journal |last=Gao |first=Dongyuan |date=2016 |title=The contemporary significance of Lu Xun's consciousness of "mutual subjectivity" |url= |journal=Tan Suo Yu Zheng Ming |volume=07 |via=CNKI}} Rather than closing off the mother tongue, it reopens the door to it. Traditional meaningful forms wormed their way to life under its pen.

"An Open Letter to the Youth" is the inaugural work of "Youth Magazine." In this article, Chen Duxiu expresses his earnest hopes for the youth, emphasizing their crucial role in the nation's survival and urging them to be conscious and courageous in their endeavors. He advocates for the equal importance of science and human rights, marking the beginning of the New Culture Movement and sounding its clarion call. Chen critiques Confucianism and other feudal theories and morals, while promoting democracy and opposing feudal autocracy. He champions a scientific attitude, rejects superstition, and underscores the need to use scientific rationality to address social issues, arguing that superstition is a root cause of national decline. Chen propositions aim to dismantle traditional beliefs, establish independent and autonomous character, and drive social progress.i. 丁小丽."对《敬告青年》《〈新青年〉罪案答辩书》的研读." 世纪桥 .02(2016):12–13. {{doi|10.16654/j.cnki.cn23-1464/d.2016.02.004}}.

In 1919, Vol. 6, No. 1, Chen Duxiu published "Zui an zhi da bian shu", and the "Da bian shu", which contained the following passage about Democracy (Mr. De) and Science (Mr. Sai):

"My fellow-citizens were originally innocent, but it was only because of their support for Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science that they committed these monstrous sins. To support Mr. De one has to oppose Confucianism, ritual, chastity, old ethics, and old politics; to support Mr. Sai, one has to oppose old art and old religion; to support Mr. De and Mr. Sai, one has to oppose the national essence and old literature. If you think about it carefully and calmly, do you know if there are any other crimes in this magazine apart from supporting Mr. De and Mr. Sai? If not, please do not to make special difficulties for this magazine, but to have the strength and courage to oppose Mr. De and Mr. Sai is the only way to be considered a good man, the only way to be considered fundamental."{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Duxiu |date=1919 |title=Ben zhi zui an zhi Da bian shu本志罪案之答辩书 |journal=New Youth |volume=6 |issue=1}}

Though perhaps most famous for publishing short fiction, La Jeunesse also published vernacular poetry and drama. Hu Shih's "Marriage" (Chinese: 终身大事) was one of the first dramas written in the new literature style. Published in the March 1919 issue (Volume 6 Number 3), this one-act play highlights the problems of traditional marriages arranged by parents. The female protagonist eventually leaves her family to escape the marriage in the story.

Poems published included those by Li Dazao (Chinese:李大钊), Chen Duxiu (Chinese: 陈独秀), Lu Xun (Chinese: 鲁迅), Zhou Zuoren (Chinese: 周作人), Yu Pingbo (Chinese: 俞平伯), Kang Baiqing (Chinese: 康白情), Shen Jianshi (Chinese: 沈兼士), Shen Xuanlu (Chinese: 沈玄庐), Wang Jingzhi (Chinese: 汪静之), Chen Hengzhe (Chinese: 陈衡哲), Chen Jianlei (Chinese: 陈建雷), among others.

New Youth fought against the feudalistic and revivalist literati and other feudalistic literary trends. This mainly included the struggle against the feudal revivalist forces of the "Wenxuan School" (Chinese: 文选派) and the "Tongcheng School" (Chinese: 桐城派) represented by Liu Shipei and Lin Qinnan, who opposed the vernacular language and defended the literary language, and opposed the new morality and defended the old morality.{{Cite book |last=Luo |first=Zhitian |title=Quan shi zhuan yi: jin dai zhong guo de si xiang, she hui yu xue shu |publisher=Hu bei ren min chu ban she |year=1999 |isbn=9787216026192 |location=Hu bei}} Chen Duxiu wrote "Zui an zhi da bian shu", in which he frankly admitted that New Youth had "undermined propriety and religion," among other things. He believed that only Mr. De (Democracy) and Mr. Sai (Science) could save China from all the darkness in politics, morality, academics and ideology.{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Pingyuan |title=Xin qing nian wen xuan |publisher=Peking University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9787301307281 |location=Bei jing}} On behalf of the magazine, Chen Duxiu swore, "If I support these two gentlemen, I will not shirk all government oppression, social attacks and ridicule, or even the breaking of my head and the shedding of blood".{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Duxiu |date=1919 |title=Ben zhi zui an zhi da bian shu |journal=New Youth |volume=6 |issue=1}}

New Youth "at first advocated literary revolution, but later turned to communism".{{Cite book |last=Ge |first=Gongzhen |title=Zhong guo bao xue shi: cha tu zheng li ben |date=2003 |publisher=Shang hai gu ji chu ban she |isbn=978-7-5325-3373-2 |edition=Di 1 ban |location=Shang hai}} The ideological orientation of the magazine before 1918 was basically that of the old democratic revolution. The victory of the October Revolution aroused a strong interest in Marxism among the Chinese advanced elements, and the intellectuals quickly accepted and studied Marxism, using the proletarian worldview as a tool for observing the destiny of the country. The publication of New Youth, Volume 5, No. 5, published on October 15, 1918, contained Li Dazhao's "Shu min de sheng li"(Chinese: [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%BA%B6%E6%B0%91%E7%9A%84%E5%8B%9D%E5%88%A9 庶民的胜利]) and "Triumph of Bolshevism" (Chinese: [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/Bolshevism%E7%9A%84%E5%8B%9D%E5%88%A9 Bolshevism的胜利]), which produced a significant reaction among the advanced elements and progressive young students in China. {{Cite journal |last=高杨文 |first=韩姵妤 |date=2022 |title=建党前马克思主义在中国的报刊传播研究 |url= |journal=CPC Media History |volume=24 |via=CNKI}} The social trends after the May Fourth Movement, and the increasing radicalization of the academic world, made it difficult for the magazine to be confined to university campuses. On September 1, 1920 (Vol. 8, No. 1), it was reorganized as the organ of the Shanghai Initiation Group of the Chinese Communist Party.

Hu Shih wrote a letter to a friend in 1923: "In the past 25 years, there have only been three magazines that can represent three eras. It can be said that three new eras have been created: one is Current Affairs Daily, one is Xinmin Congbao, and one is New Youth."{{cite book |last1=Hu |first1=Quanzhang |title=The Origin and Evolution of Modern Press and Poetic Revolution. |date=2017 |publisher=Beijing Book Co. Inc. |location=China |isbn=978-7301280560 |page=8}} The new era created by New Youth refers to the era of democratic science.

New Youth had great appeal to the young Mao Zedong, primarily due to the fact that it promoted and advocated democratic science. In 1936, Mao Zedong recalled: "I started reading this magazine (referring to New Youth) when I was studying in Normal University. I admired the articles of Hu Shih and Chen Duxiu very much. They replaced Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei who had been abandoned by me. It became my role model for a while."{{cite book |last1=Xiong |first1=Yuezhi |title=The History of Modern Democratic Ideology in China |date=1986 |publisher=Shanghai People’s Publishing House |location=China |isbn=7806811028 |page=518}}

Zheng Zhenduo recalled in Chinese New Literature Series·Literary Debate Collection·Introduction that it was a youth magazine that advocated "moral, intellectual and physical" education, and was not different from other ordinary magazines at that time. He found that, apart from asking young people to establish a correct outlook on life, there was little practical content.{{cite book |last1=Chinese Academy of Social Sciences |first1=National History Research Office |title=China in the 1910s |date=2007 |publisher=Social Science Literature Press |location=China |isbn=978-7802307902 |page=322}}

Guo Zhanbo published A History of Chinese Thought in the Last Fifty Years (Chinese: 《近五十年中国思想史》), in which he claimed that "from the New Youth, we can see the changes in his personal thought, and at the same time, we can see the changes in the world of thought at that time," {{Cite book |title=Jin wu shi nian Zhong guo si xiang shi |date=2006 |publisher=Shang hai gu ji chu ban she |isbn=978-7-5325-4141-6 |editor-last=Guo |editor-first=Zhanbo |edition=Di 1 ban, di 2 ci yin shua |series=Peng lai ge cong shu |location=Shang hai |editor-last2=Gao |editor-first2=Ruiquan}} formally confirming the self-expectation and self-positioning of the New Youth's colleagues. From then on, commenting on New Youth from the perspective of the history of ideas became the mainstream discourse in the academic world while the literary revolution, which was the most popular concern and the one with the most actual achievements, gradually faded out of the historians' view.

{{Reflist}}

• Chow, Tse-Tsung. The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960). Detailed standard study of the movement, its leaders, and its publications.
• Feng, Liping (April 1996). "Democracy and Elitism: The May Fourth Ideal of Literature". Modern China (Sage Publications, Inc.) 22 (2): 170–196. {{ISSN|0097-7004}}. {{JSTOR|189342}}.
• Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). {{ISBN|0192803417}}. Follows the New Culture generation from the 1910s through the 1980s.
• Schwarcz, Vera. The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
• {{cite encyclopedia |surname=Song |given=Mingwei |contribution=Inventing Youth in Modern China |editor-surname=Wang |editor-given=David Der-wei |editor-link=David Der-wei Wang |title=A New Literary History of Modern China |year=2017 |place=Harvard, Ma |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |pages=248–253 |url={{Google books|id=f1WsDwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} |isbn=978-0-674-97887-4}}
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China, Norton(1999). {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Viking Penguin. (1981) {{ISBN|978-0140062793}}. Attractively written essays on the men and women who promoted intellectual revolution in modern China.

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