Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2020

The National Religion Movement and the Turn of Modern Discourse

(Abstract)

Xue Yuqin and Liu Zhengwei

The process by which modern China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society was also the process by which national and social discourse made a turn from a feudal to a modern form. The period from the late Qing and early Republic to the May 4th Movement was the highest tide of modern discourse reconstruction. As the shaping movement of the new discourse system, the national religion movement found a classic reflection in Ma Xiangbo’s words and deeds. It involved the complex relationship between traditional and transitional culture, ancient and modern society, and classical and modern scholarship. Taking the national religion movement as a guiding thread, this paper reveals the interaction of culture, politics, and thought in the process of discourse transformation in the late Qing and early Republican period, thus highlighting some laws and essence in the process of discourse transformation and construction in early modern China.