Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t4.5

v2.c10.s2.t4.5

While in Japan, Guo Moruo came in contact with the Japanese Marxist Kawakami, and it may be said that both the doctrine of Marxism and the May Fourth new literature movement had a pronounced effect on his future course of thinking and action. From this time onwards, he changed himself from being a liberal democrat to a committed Marxist. In 1921, Guo Moruo, along with other patriotic writers like Yu Dafu and Cheng Fengwu formed the "Creation Society' with an avowed objective of promoting new vernacular literature in China. They brought out two periodicals, the “Creation Quarterly (Chuang-zao Ji-kan创造季刊) and the “Creation weekly” (chuang-zao zhoubao创造周报), both of which initially aimed at propagating western romanticism and individualism to varying extent, while upholding the prime motto of “art for art sake” in their literary pursuits. However, after the May 30^th Incident of Shanghai in 1925, and the consequent nation-wide anti-imperialist agitation, the main focus and orientation of the magazines shifted towards the growth of proletarian revolutionary literature.