Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t6.6

v2.c15.s2.t6.6

Hu returned to China in 1917 and was appointed as professor at Peking University. Already famous for his radical views, he passionately pursued his modernist agenda and played a leadership role in the May Fourth Movement of 1919. For his promotion and establishment of vernacular Chinese as the written script, he was widely recognised as the Father of Literary Revolution. A liberal democrat, he emphasised on the reorganisation of Chinese society and polity on the twin plank of what he called - “Mr Science” and “Mr Democracy.” His strong faith in individualism in the form of freedom of will, and the regenerative spirit of Chinese culture on one hand and abhorrence for the abstract discussion of ‘isms’ on the other, separated him from the Communists. His critical article on ‘The Indianisation of Chinese culture’ was written in the same spirit and in the search of anti-modernist strains that inhibited modernisation of China.