This year marks the 100th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement. However, as long as we trace the historical context established by modern culture in China, we must relive the value and significance of the "May Fourth" New Culture Movement, which has shaped the basic concepts and logic of modern Chinese culture. As an important part of the new culture, the influence of the "May Fourth" literature and art on later generations is equally profound.

Literary and artistic discovery of "people"

The "May Fourth" Movement originated in the national crisis and the demise of national power. First of all, it was a movement to arouse the hearts of the people committed to saving the nation. But at a deeper level, the people were aroused to lay a cultural and psychological foundation for the birth of modern China. For the modern transformation of a nation, the establishment of "people" is the most basic premise. Without the modernization in this regard,, everything in modern society and culture cannot be discussed. In China's long feudal society, there were no shortage of advanced thinkers to put forward ideas, such as focusing on people, and there were works like Tang Xianzu's "Peony Pavilion" singing human liberation, but it did not dominate the mainstream. The feudal culture, in essence, lacked respect for the "people". Therefore, the human selfdiscovery and self-liberation became important themes of literature and art during the Movement. As Yu Dafu said, "The greatest success of the Movement' is the first to be regarded as discovery of the 'individual'." As a movement to discover "people", the achievements of the "May Fourth" are mostly discussed by the witnesses. Wang Yunsheng, the former editor-in-chief of Ta Kung Pao, once said, "I was a young man in the 'May Fourth' era. It began to enlighten my patriotism, and made me contact the new culture, 'May Fourth's grace for me is profound. And its influence on my soul is indelible for life." Obviously, this kind of unforgettable influence is the establishment of self-personality born from the depths of the heart.

Even after one hundred years, we can still read the sincere and ardent voice of the predecessors in the literary works of the May Fourth period. In the famous The Madman's Diary , Lu Xun screamed "Save the Child" and said by the madman's mouth, "You have changed immediately, and sincerely changed! You must know that, in the future, it could not tolerate cannibalism." Zhou Zuoren strongly advocated "human literature" and said that "to talk about humanity, to love human beings, you must first make yourself qualified and occupy the position", and record and study the problems of life. In different art fields, the emphasis on "people" is also easily discovered. Xu Gongmei said frankly in his article "The Meaning of Modern Drama" that "What is modern drama? Simply speaking, it is 'drama about human'."

It is worth mentioning that the literary artist's emphasis on "people" at that time was to create a new civilization for China that conformed to the modern trend. Hu Shi mentioned in an article that to look at the civilization of a country, it is necessary to examine how the children and women are treated. In view of the "May Fourth", we shall find that Chinese literature and art, from this period, genuinely focus on women and children in the sense of "people". In the case of Hu Shi, he introduced Ibsenism to China by translating A Doll's House . Since then, the heroine, Nora, has become a symbol of women's liberation in the "May Fourth" era. Later, the heroines of many dramas, such as Ouyang Yuqian's Spirit, Pan Jinlian, Shi Pingmei's Who's Sin it is , and Bai Wei's Fighting the Ghost Tower always reflect the shadow of Nora. In reality, countless young women have found the courage and confidence to pursue self-liberation in the bang of Nora's shutting the door. The Chinese women's movement started to embrace a new era. Since then, the literary and artistic works that have portrayed women as male ties have lost the rationality of existence. To this day, Nora's topic is still resounding when discussing women's rights and equality between men and women. In the music industry at the time, Li Jinhui and others were paying attention to and advocating for children's music. In 1920, Li's first children's song and dance drama "Sparrow and Child" was completed. Later, he created several children's plays, such as "Grape Fairy" and "Little Sheep Save the Mother". These works use the myths or fairy tales that children are familiar with, and are entrusted with the enthusiasm of the literary and art workers in the "May Fourth" period to spread new culture and cultivate a new generation.

Direction establishment of literary "popularization"

Popularization is a distinctive feature of literature and art during the "May Fourth" period. In fact, a trend of literary and popularization was brewing prior to the movement. In 1917, Hu Shi's Attempting Discussion of Literary Reformwas published in "New Youth", proposing the famous "Eight-Points Doctrine" First: have substance in speech. Second: no imitating ancient people. Third: pay attention to grammar. Fourth: no sentimental nonsense. Fifth: no cliché. Sixth: no classic codes. Seventh: no antithesis sentence. Eighth: do not avoid the common words." In the Literary Revolution, Chen Duxiu also proposed to defeat aristocratic literature, mountain literature and classical literature, establish a simple national literature, fresh realistic literature and popular social literature. The "art revolution" he advocated is essentially to build a popular art. The literary and art-oriented thinking for the people went through the entire "May Fourth" period, and we can find its echoes in many art categories. For example, in the field of fine arts, Lin Fengmian clearly stated: "Defeat the art of the aristocratic minority! Defeat private and non-grassrooted art! Promote the art of creating the era! Promote creative art representing the times!" Gao Jianfu also paid special attention to the popularization of art, pointing out: "Art must be popularized, people should be artistic, and art is dedicated to be applied and appreciated by the people." In the field of drama, Zheng Zhenduo believes that the dramas that China needed at that time should be "civilian", "and must be: the color with social problems and the spirit of revolution". In the practice of drama creation, it is the popularity of "dramas about social problems" in the "May Fourth" period. Hu Shi's Lifetime Events reflects the issue of marriage and love. Chen Dabei's Ms. Orchid reflects the ethical change. Wang Zhongxian's Good Son reflects the poverty of the society at that time. Hong Shen's Yama Zhaoshows the reality of the warlord's melee. Turning to the music sector, Li Jinhui established the "Moon Concert" in Beijing in 1920, proposing that the concert should "highly hold the banner of civilian music, just like the moon and the sky, which can be appreciated by all." Liu Tianhua, committed to the improvement of national music, also said, "I hope that the gentlemen who advocate music should not only sing high-profile, and should also take into account the general public. Otherwise, it is not the initial wish of artists that music is the toy of the nobility".

Popularization is an idea and a developmental logic that imply the tools and methods of self-realization of ideas. One of them is the advocacy of vernacular and its widespread use in literary and artistic creation. Hu Shi said in the article "What is literature" that good literature must satisfy three conditions, the first is "to understand clearly." He also said that "dead writing produces no living literature. To create a living literature, there must be living tools. We must first raise this tool and make it recognized for Chinese literature, making it completely replace the old tool that is half or completely dead. With these new tools, we can talk about new ideas and spirits and so on." In the art category that was closely related to the language and words, the drama from the West did not need to be mentioned, and it naturally refused the pretense of "ancient Chinese words". In the music circle, Xiao Youmei, Li Jinhui, Zhao Yuanren and others have used the vernacular texts that are easy to understand. Li Jinhui once said, "I will never get the forgiveness of the 'highly appreciative' and 'music experts', because they are still reluctant to follow the inherent 'music pattern' and do not want to match the perfect accord; and 'Creating words' strives to be close to ordinary vernacular, 'music arrangement' strives to be close to the usual tone, hoping that the 'lyrics' of the musicals are similar to the 'dialogue' of dialogue dramas on a every day manner, and the people’s 'singing' and 'speaking' on the stage can be understood equally." More directly and eloquently reflecting the popularization of the "May Fourth" literature and art, perhaps, is the rise of the folklore movement. As Zhong Jingwen said, the folklore movement "is an integral part of the magnificent new cultural movement at the time." For the literary artists of the Movement, "folk" shoulders the meaning of spiritual home. Peking University's ballad collection activities were in full swing and extended to the overall study of "folk". Just like Gu Jiegang said, the "popular art" buried for thousands of years should be excavated layer by layer. The writer Yu Pingbo put forward the "express deep feelings with most common words" and called for "poetry to be fully popularized." "We must write poems for civilians, the most important thing to learn is to realize the life of civilians." "My heart is coming back! Return from the common world!"

In the later construction and narrative of the "May Fourth" literary tradition, popularization is undoubtedly one of the most powerful voices. In 1938, Mao Zedong proposed in the speech at Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts "to go to the masses." In 1940, he also summarized the new-democratic culture as "the culture of the masses, the nation and the science" in "New Democracy." "It should serve more than 90% of the workers and peasants in the entire nation and gradually become their culture." In 1942, Mao Zedong once again discussed the issue of popularization of literature and art in Yanan's speech on the literary and art forum, and used this as a benchmark to plan the development path of Chinese literature and art. After the founding of New China, its popularization became the national literary policy. Today, with the transformation of the economic system and the changes in the social structure, the connotation of the "mass" has been different from the "May Fourth" period and even the first 30 years after the founding of New China, but the popularization of literature and art is still the precious wealth left for us from the "May Fourth" Movement, which has the importance of navigation orientation in the process of promoting the healthy development of socialist literature and art.

Stubborn and tough literary tradition

Undoubtedly, the "May Fourth" Movement has a fierce anti-traditional color. In the field of literature and art, it even puts forward a critique of the traditional opera, and regards it as a brutal "legacy". When the smoke of history is gone, how should we correctly understand this? The author believes that Lu Xun's later passage in "Silent China" is worth pondering. He said, "The Chinese people's temperament always likes to reconcile and compromise. For example, if you say that the house is too dark, you have to open a window here. Nobody will allow it. But if you advocate removing the entire roof, they will reconcile, and be willing to open the window." It is not surprising to understand the mentality of the predecessors at that time, and the excessive rhetoric about the art revolution and criticism of the old drama.

Not only that, but when we rationally and meticulously analyze this movement in the name of anti-tradition, we will find that tradition is actually filled with a stubborn and tenacious attitude. Yu Shangyu and others who initiated the "National Drama Movement" maintained a relatively fair and objective attitude towards traditional opera. They attached importance to the artistic expression of drama and freehand expression, hoping to absorb it in the creation of new drama. Considered as "Schubert of China", Zhao Yuanren, as an outstanding representative of the "new music" creation during the movement, completed his "New Poetry Collection" in cooperation with Hu Shi and Xu Zhimo,which was praised by Xiao Youmei as "opening a new era for Chinese music". Among them, "How Could I Not Miss Him", composed by Zhao Yuanren and with lyrics written by Liu Bannong, was even more popular, considered to fully reflect the "May Fourth" youth's pursuit of freedom of love, but when we listen to this song, we will find the melody material of the main tone originated from the original screen of Peking Opera. Karl Marx once said that the most beautiful music is meaningless for the ear without music sense. In this sense, perhaps it was because Zhao Yuanren used the melody most familiar to the Chinese ears that the aesthetic and cultural significance of the song was fully publicized. In fact, in Zhao's view, the Chinese traditional music resources should be fully respected, so he always skillfully used Chinese folk songs, opera music and other elements in his creation.

The significance of tradition for the "May Fourth" literature and art is not just that, more importantly, it is about the inheritance of the literary view. On the one hand, the "May Fourth" literature and art showed a gesture of breaking with the tradition, on the other hand, it took over the baton that attached importance to the social functions of the literary, especially the educational function. The ancient Chinese always attached importance to the role of literature and art in the custom formation --"Book of Documents·Yuan Dian" records "poetry depicts ambition", "The Analects" has long suggested that "poetry can be prosperous, observed, socializing and critical." All of them is a full affirmation of the social function of the literary and art. The literary artists of the "May Fourth" period gave the literary and art with more tasks, such as transformation of national character, arousing people's hearts, shaping new people and many others. Although these tasks are different from traditional society's requirements for literature and art, both focus more on the social functions of literary and art. And their attitude of the logic of promoting the development of literature and art on the track is consistent.

There are still many topics that can be discussed about the literature and art during the Movement, the establishment of the mainstream status of realism in Chinese literature and art, the influence of Western literary thoughts, or the rise of new literary and artistic creation groups and the formation of modern literary and art communities, etc. Together, they constitute a rich and mottled picture of the "May Fourth" literature and art. However, the author believes that the discovery of "people", the direction of popularization, and continuous looming of the literary traditions, are most worthy of caring and consideration in this picture. The "May Fourth" literature and art is both a heavy and historical topic, and a profound reality topic. The subject raised by the movement on literature and art is eternal. The subject of the movement raised for "people" is also eternal. It directly points out and releases the tension contained in the deepest layer of the literary structure.

We know that when returning to the starting point, we tend to see the direction of progress more clearly. Looking back at the "May Fourth" today, rereading the predecessors' literature and art is not a nostalgia of the ancient times, or taking the old road under the classic guise, but to return to the place where modern Chinese literature and art started, to examine its internal mechanism and explore its development law so as to advocate the healthy development of Chinese literature and art under the combined resources of ancient and modern China and the West.