Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t1.4

v2.c10.s2.t1.4

**Lifetime** Chen Duxiu’s father died when he was a child. He was smart and given a traditional Confucian education by his grandfather. He passed the countylevel imperial examination in 1896 and in 1897, he went to study at Qiushi Academy in Hangzhou and learned about modern Western Thoughts and culture. From 1901, he went to Japan three times, and joined an English-medium school in Tokyo in 1907 and later transferred to Waseda University. In September 1915, he founded the *Youth Magazine* (renamed as New Youth in 1916) in Shanghai. He became the Dean of Peking University in 1917. As a leading figure in the New Culture Movement, he called for a literary revolution. After the May Fourth Movement in 1919, he began to propagate Marxism. In August 1920, he founded China’s first communist group in Shanghai and began to prepare for the founding of a communist party. In July 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded, and Chen Duxiu was elected as the General Secretary. From then on to July 1927, he was a major leader of the CPC. In November 1929, he was expelled from the Party. He moved to Sichuan in 1938 and lived in poverty and poor health. He died in Jiangjin district of Chongqing. His major works are included in *Collected Works of Chen Duxiu*.