The publishing status of New Youth

One of the most important publications in the history of the "May 4th" New Culture Movement and modern Chinese literature and cultural thought. Chen Duxiu was deeply stimulated by the changes in China's current situation after the failure of the "second revolution". He believed that it was meaningless to engage in political revolution in China, and that if he wanted to "save China and build peace, we must first carry out an ideological revolution." After hard work, Shanghai Qunyi Publishing House agreed to publish "Youth Magazine" edited by Chen. On September 1, 1916, "Youth Magazine" was renamed "New Youth" and published. Chen Duxiu published the article "New Youth" in the first issue of the revised "New Youth", calling on young people to become new youth. He proposed that the standards for new youth are: physiologically strong; psychologically, they should eradicate the idea of ??becoming an official and making money; they should develop their own personality internally and contribute to the group externally; they should create happiness by their own efforts and not harm their personal happiness. national society.

Li Dazhao published an article "Youth", in which he exposed the harm brought by the feudal system to China, and emphasized the need to place hope in the rebirth of a youthful China; he called on young people to break through the snares of past history and destroy the shackles of outdated doctrines. , work hard based on reason, move forward without looking back, turn away from the darkness and face the light, and create happiness for world civilization and mankind. On January 15, 1916, Chen Duxiu published an article of 1916 in Youth Magazine, Volume 1, No. 5, calling on the Chinese people to repent, reform, and renew their efforts, with a new personality, a new country, a new society, and A new family, a new nation. At the same time, he refuted Gangchang Mingjiao and called on young people to strive for three goals: to regard themselves as conquerors and not as conquered; to respect the independent personality of individuals and not to be the appendage of others; to engage in national movements and not be limited to party movements.

"Youth Magazine" was renamed "New Youth" from the second volume (September 1916), and since then it has become a central publication for anti-feudal and advocating democratic revolution. On October 1, Chen Duxiu published an article "Refuting Kang Youwei's Letter to the President and Prime Minister" in Volume 2, No. 2, of "New Youth" in response to Kang Youwei's argument that he wanted to make Confucianism a state religion.

The article pointed out the relationship between Confucianism and the imperial system, saying that Confucian ideas such as respecting inferiors, respecting class, and serving heaven and respecting the emperor were used by emperors of all generations. Designating Confucianism as the state religion not only violates the principle of freedom of thought, but also violates the principle of freedom of religious belief. He believed that worshiping Confucius in a democratic country was as absurd as advocating that autocracy worship Washington and Rousseau.

In early 1917, Chen Duxiu was appointed dean of liberal arts at Peking University, and the editorial department moved from Shanghai to Beijing. In January 1918, Chen Duxiu convened a meeting of the editorial board of New Youth. It is announced that from the first issue of Volume 4, the submission regulations have been cancelled. All writing and translation are jointly performed by the editorial staff. A collective system is adopted. Every time an issue is published, an editorial meeting is held to discuss the next issue. of manuscripts. Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Zhou Zuoren, Hu Shi, and Shen Yinmo joined the editorial department. Starting from July, "New Youth" adopted a rotating editorial approach, with Chen Duxiu taking overall responsibility.

The editorial department was reorganized and expanded. Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Hu Shi, Shen Yinmo, Gao Yihan, Zhou Zuoren and others participated in the editing work. At one time, a rotating editing method was implemented to adapt to the needs of the situation.

In December, "New Youth" fans founded a weekly magazine "Weekly Review" in the form of a newspaper. On April 18, Hu Shi, who had been criticized for advocating literary revolution, once again published an article "On the Literary Revolution of Construction" in New Youth. He said in the article: The only purpose of my construction of new literature theory is only ten characters: literature in the Chinese language, literature in the Chinese language. The literary revolution we advocate is only to create a national-language literature for China. Only with the literature of the national language can we have the literary national language. Only with the literary national language can our national language be regarded as the real national language.

Why has there been no real living classical Chinese literature in China for two thousand years? This is because the literature produced by the literati in these two thousand years was all done in dead languages. Dead words can never produce living literature. Therefore, I think that those of us who advocate new literature should try our best to produce vernacular literature, and try to use the vernacular of "Water Margin" and "Dream of Red Mansions"; if it is not enough, we can use today's vernacular to supplement it; if we have to use classical Chinese, we can Use classical Chinese to subsidize. If you do this, you will never have to worry about not having a standard vernacular. The vernacular used in China's future new literature will be China's standard Mandarin in the future. The person who created China's future vernacular literature is the person who formulated the standard Mandarin.

He also said that there are about three steps in the order of creating new literature: tools, methods, and creation. Our tool is the vernacular. You should hurry up and prepare this indispensable tool.

Method one is to read more exemplary vernacular literature.

The second method is to use vernacular to do various literature. Anyone who is aspiring to create new literature should swear not to write in classical Chinese; whether he is writing correspondence, composing poetry, translating books, taking notes, writing newspaper articles, compiling school lectures, writing epitaphs for the dead, or writing memorials for the living, they should all write in the vernacular. Do.

He also said that the serious problem of Chinese literature is the lack of materials. There are only three kinds of novel materials in modern times:

One is officialdom, one is prostitutes, and the other is literature that is not an official but an official, not a prostitute but a prostitute? Secondly, new literary creation should get more creative techniques. How can we acquire some brilliant literary methods? That is to quickly translate more Western literary masterpieces to serve as our models. Western literary methods are indeed much more complete and superior than our literature, and we must take examples.

Only by obtaining these effective methods can we create our new literature. On July 15, Mr. Hu Shi published an article on the issue of chastity in New Youth, severely criticizing recent newspaper articles praising chaste women who committed suicide by sacrificing their husbands. He said that Chinese men ask their wives to keep chastity for them, but they openly engage in prostitution. Isn't this the most unfair thing?

He also said, I have three levels of concern about the chastity issue of Chinese people. Opinion.

First, this issue is not a matter of course.

Second, I think chastity is the mutual morality between men and women.

Third, I am absolutely opposed to laws that praise chastity. On December 15, Zhou Zuoren published an article "Human Literature" in "New Youth" magazine, proposing his views on new literature. He said: The new literature we should promote now is human literature. What should be rejected is inhuman literature. We believe that all human life instincts are beautiful and good and should be fully satisfied. Any customary system that violates human nature and is unnatural should be excluded from correction.

He believes that human literature should be humanitarian. He said: The humanitarianism I am talking about is not the so-called philanthropy in the world, but a kind of individualistic humanism. The humanitarianism I talk about starts from the individual. If you want to be humane and love mankind, you must first qualify yourself as a human being and occupy your position as a human being. If we don't know how to love ourselves, how can we love others as we love ourselves?

He believes that writing based on humanism and recording and studying various issues in life is called human literature.

Zhou Zuoren’s literary thoughts had a profound impact on the literary revolution. At that time, Hu Shi mainly emphasized the revolution in the language form of literature, and Li Dazhao mainly talked about the literary revolution from a social and political perspective. Therefore, there was little systematic elaboration on the specific inner spirit that new literature should have. Zhengjiong Zhou Zuoren published several articles in succession, which gave the new literature a true inner soul. If Lu Xun used his own literary creation practice to point out the way for new literature creation for future generations, then it can be said that Zhou Zuoren pointed out the direction for the initial stage of new literature in theory. In January 1919, "New Youth" published Li Dazhao's speech "The Victory of the Common People". Li Dazhao pointed out that the victory of World War I was the victory of justice over power by the imperialist countries and the Beiyang warlord government at that time. He pointed out: What was defeated this time was not the force of the United Nations, but the new spirit of mankind around the world. It is not for the warlords or capitalist governments of that country, but for the common people of the whole world. We celebrate, not for that country or some people in that country, but for the common people of the whole world. We celebrate, not for some people in that country or country, but for the common people all over the world. Not to celebrate the defeat of the Germans, but to celebrate the defeat of world imperialism. This war has two consequences: one is political and the other is social. The result of politics is the failure of bigism and the victory of democracy. The social outcome is the defeat of capitalism and the victory of laborism. It turns out that the real cause of this war is the development of capitalism. Since democratic laborism has won, from now on everyone in the world will become a common people and therefore a worker. We should have several awareness of the new trends in this world:

First, we must know that the birth of a new life must go through a lot of pain and many dangers. Only through the labor and pain of mother's pregnancy can she have the life of her son. The creation of this new era is equally difficult. This kind of difficulty is what we must go through in the process of evolution. Do not be afraid or avoid it.

Second, it should be noted that this trend can only be embraced, not rejected. We should be prepared to adapt to this trend and not resist it. The history of mankind is a record of the same psychological manifestations. A change in one heart is a symptom of a change in the hearts of the whole world. The occurrence of an event is a harbinger of a world turmoil. The French Revolution of 1789 was the forerunner of revolutions in other countries in the nineteenth century. The Russian Revolution of 1919 was the forerunner of the world revolution in the twentieth century.

Third, please note that in this peace meeting, conspiratorial politicians holding bigism will never be allowed to speak there, and no one will be allowed to lead... .The stench of doctrine may be overwhelming...the conditions for the foundation of doctrine are established. Even if it does happen, that kind of person's proposal and those conditions are definitely invalid. I am afraid that for this meeting to be successful, there must be a majority of people who advocate justice and breaking down national boundaries.

Fourth, it is important to note that the world in the future will become a world of labor. We should use this trend as an opportunity to turn everyone into a worker, and we should not use this trend as an opportunity to turn everyone into a robber. Anyone who does not work for food is a robber. We Chinese people are greedy and lazy. We are either robbers or beggars. We always try not to work ourselves, but to rob other people's food and beg for other people's food. When the world becomes a big factory, with jobs for everyone to work and food for everyone to eat, how can a greedy and lazy nation like ours have a foothold? According to this, if we want to be a common people in the world, we should be a common people in the world. a worker. On January 15, Chen Duxiu's "Reply to the Original Crime Case" was published in New Youth, Volume 6, No. 1. The article points out: There are two types of people who criticize the original intention in society:

The first is those who love the original intention, and the other is those who oppose the original intention.

Second, what people criticize is nothing more than destroying old ethics, destroying old art, destroying old religion, destroying old literature, and destroying old politics. These are the crimes.

Our colleagues at this website speak frankly about these crimes. However, I am not guilty in the first place, but just because I support the two gentlemen Democraacy and Science, I have to oppose Confucianism, etiquette, chastity, old ethics, and old politics. If you want to support Mr. Nasai, you have to oppose old art and old religion. We now believe that these two are the only ones who are advanced. They will not refuse any pressure from the government, attacks, laughter or scolding from the society, even beheading and bleeding. The article also said: After three years of publication, thirty volumes of this magazine have been published; all the words spoken are very ordinary, but the society is making a fuss and criticizing it from all sides. Needless to say, the old characters are just young students who are cooing. , also regards "New Youth" as a kind of heresy, a monster, a deviant heresy, and a rebellion beyond the Holy Spirit.

In June, Chen Duxiu was arrested, and New Youth was forced to suspend publication for five months. From the first issue of Volume 7 published on December 1 of the same year, it was still edited by Chen Duxiu alone. On January 15, 1919, Lu Xun's "Forty Thoughts" was published in New Youth, Volume 6, No. 1, calling for the liberation of children. The article said: There is a poem sent from an unknown boy, titled "Love". The boy wrote: I am a poor Chinese. love! I don't know what you are.

I have parents who teach me and treat me well; I treat them well, too. I have brothers and sisters who used to play with me when they were young, and when they grew up they competed with me and treated me very well. I also treated them well. But no one has ever loved me, and I have never loved him.

I was nineteen years old, and my parents asked me for a wife. In the past few years, the two of us have been in harmony. So this marriage was entirely based on other people's ideas and arrangements: they joked about it for a day, and it was our covenant for a hundred years. It's like two animals listening to their master's orders: Hey, you just live together!

Love, pitifully, I don't know what you are!

Lu Xun said: This is the vapor of blood, the true voice of a person who wakes up.

What is love? I don’t know either. Chinese men and women usually live in pairs or in groups of one man and many women. I don’t know who knows.

But I have never heard a cry of distress before. Even if you are depressed, you will be wrong when you shout: young and old, shaking their heads and cursing together.

We can scream like a yellow warbler, or like a quail. We don’t need to imitate the voice of the man who just stepped out of his private nest and said: China’s morality is first.

We also want to cry out the sorrow of having no love and the sorrow of having nothing to love. We have to wait until the old accounts are settled. How to cancel old accounts? I say, completely liberate our children! On September 1, "New Youth" published the "Declaration of Transformation of the Chinese Women's Federation" in Volume 9, Issue 5. The "Declaration" pointed out: Recently, the gospel of liberation has been blown to the East. Even the Chinese women who have been oppressed by the Yin and Yang Confucianism and have lost their spiritual breath have also got a little fresh air and want to raise their heads and make a little request. Defeating the enemy is where we humans can be optimistic. It is the responsibility of our Chinese Women's Federation to unite the women in China who demand liberation and make our voices stronger day by day. The "Declaration" is divided into 10 articles, including the requirement to attend all schools and receive the same education as men; the requirement that women have the right to vote, the right to be elected and the right to engage in all other political activities; and that men and women have equal pay for equal work, etc.

Soon the magazine moved to Guangzhou to continue publishing. In September of the same year, Chen Duxiu returned to Shanghai from Guangzhou and took charge of the work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. "New Youth" also moved back to Shanghai. On the afternoon of October 4, the French Concession police raided the editorial office of New Youth and detained Chen Duxiu and others. After being rescued by Ma Lin, Sun Yat-sen and others, Chen Duxiu and others were released on bail. "New Youth" paused for a while. On May 1, 1920, "New Youth" Volume 7, No. 6, "Labor Day Commemorative Issue" was published. Published Cai Yuanpei's inscription "Labour is sacred", Sun Yat-sen's inscription "The world is for the common good", Li Dazhao's "History of the May Day Movement", Chen Duxiu's "The Problem of Hunan Female Workers in Shanghai Housheng Cotton Mill" and other articles. At the same time, it also published the Brochure of the Chinese Workers' Union in France and surveys of labor conditions in Tangshan, Shanxi, Yangtze River and other places.

In September 1920, Volume 8, "New Youth" became the official publication of the Shanghai Communist Group. The Communist Party of China was established and once became an official publication of the Party Central Committee, edited by Chen Duxiu. Starting from Volume 8 and Issue 1, it was forced to move back to Shanghai for printing, and actually became the official publication of the Shanghai Initiation Group of the Communist Party of China.

On February 11, 1921, because Shanghai's "New Youth" magazine sold books and pictorials such as "Class Struggle" and "The Road to Freedom", the French patrol house complained that the words were violent and violated the charter of the concession. As an excuse, the "New Youth" magazine was forcibly closed.

In July 1922, it ceased publication after publishing 9 volumes and 6 issues. It will be changed to quarterly in the future. Qu Qiubai's translation of the "Overview of Leninism" part of Stalin's work "On Leninism" was published in New Youth No. 1 on April 22. On June 15, 1923, the quarterly "New Youth", a theoretical publication of the Communist Party of China, was founded in Guangzhou. It was already a purely political theoretical publication of the Central Government of the Communist Party of China. It was edited by Qu Qiubai.

The magazine's launch statement titled "New Manifesto of New Youth" pointed out: China's dark and reactionary old forces rely on world imperialism to permanently dominate. The Chinese bourgeoisie naturally relies on world capitalism and always strives for compromise. Therefore, the true revolution in China is unique to the working class that can shoulder such a great mission. There have been countless facts in Chinese society in recent years that are enough to prove this phenomenon. Even the bourgeois revolution cannot be achieved without the guidance of the working class, not to mention that the bourgeoisie is bound to stop halfway and betray itself. The true liberation of China is, after all, a matter for the working class. Therefore, the new youth’s mission is to equip China’s working people with the weapons of knowledge. The new youth have no choice but to become the compass of China's proletarian revolution. "New Youth" Quarterly is the first time that the Chinese lyrics of "The Internationale" translated by Zhai Qiubai have been published in this publication after the monthly publication of "New Youth".

In April 1925, "New Youth" introduced Jiang Guangchi's "New Dream", a collection of poetry in Russia that eulogized the October Revolution and the socialist system. It was a thunder and a beacon in the modern Chinese literary world. The following year, "New Dream" was printed and released for the third time by New Youth Society, and was changed to a horizontal version. Stop trading after 4 periods. In April, the publication was changed to an irregular periodical, with 5 issues published. On March 25, 1926, Qu Qiubai published "Class Division in the National Revolutionary Movement-Analysis of the Kuomintang Right and Nationalist Faction" in New Youth No. 3. The article pointed out: The attitude of the Lion Awakening Sect is not only the result of Zeng Qi’s ignorance and lack of learning, but also the deliberate obfuscation of facts and the intention of spreading rumors and slander. The article exposed the same reactionary purpose of the Kuomintang right wing and the nationalist faction, which is to eliminate the political consciousness of the proletariat, destroy the political power of the Communist Party, and use the general term of nation or country to deceive the proletariat and use it for their own purposes. And specializes in the leadership of the national revolution. Qu Qiubai clearly stated: The Chinese proletariat should strive to implement the national revolution and guide all civilians to participate in the national liberation struggle. China's national revolution is of course a part of the world's social revolution. The progress and victory of the revolution must unite the world's proletariat and other oppressed nations.

It was finally closed in July 1926.

"New Youth" was published during the important historical transition period from the end of China's old democratic revolution to the beginning of the new democratic revolution. With a radical attitude, it participated in the revolutionary trend against feudal cultural ideas and traditions before and after the May 4th Movement, and became an important position of the "May 4th" ideological revolution and literary revolution. The first issue of "New Youth" published the "Advice to Youth" with the nature of a publication. One article proposed six hopes to young people: "autonomous, not slave," and "scientific, not imaginary." It already contained the germination of using the two major ideas of "democracy" and "science" as weapons to oppose feudal ideas. Before and after the "May 4th" movement, the main content was to advocate democracy, science, and new literature. It published Lu Xun's short stories "Diary of a Madman", "Kong Yiji", and "Medicine", Li Dazhao's essays "The Victory of the Common People", "The Triumph of Bolshevism", Chen Duxiu's essay "Reply to the New Youth Crime Case", etc. It played an active role in promoting Marxism, opposing feudal ethics, and calling for the awakening of human nature. The magazine has published Chen Duxiu's "Refutation of Kang Youwei's Letter to the President and Prime Minister", "Constitution and Confucianism", "Confucius' Tao and Modern Life", "Refutation of Kang Youwei's Peace Conference", "Restoration and Respect for Confucius", Li Dazhao "Youth", Wu Yu's "Family System as the Basis of Despotism", "Cannibalism and Ethical Education", Lu Xun's "How We Be Fathers Now", "My View of Jie Lie" and other essays illustrate Yuan Shikai's Kang Youwei and others advocated the connection between Confucianism and Confucianism and the restoration of the monarchy system, and conducted profound criticisms of the cannibalistic nature of the feudal family system and ethics. "New Youth" published articles discussing Confucian issues, moral issues, women's issues, marriage issues, and personality liberation issues, and criticized the ignorant and superstitious theories about ghosts and gods promoted by Shanghai's "Spiritual Studies Series". In the struggle against feudal ideology and culture, "New Youth" consciously raised the two banners of democracy and science, namely Mr. De and Mr. Sai, in the progressive Chinese ideological circles for the first time, which had a huge impact at the time.

Lu Xun said: "Anyone who cares about modern Chinese literature knows that "New Youth" was the instigator who advocated 'literary reform' and later went a step further and called for a 'literary revolution'." ("< "Chinese New Literature Series" Preface to the Second Volume of Novels") "New Youth" was originally a comprehensive review journal, which did not place much emphasis on creation. In addition to introducing the works of some European realist and other genre writers, the novels and poems published were all Still in classical Chinese. In early 1917, Hu Shi's "A Brief Discussion on Literary Reform" and Chen Duxiu's "On Literary Revolution" were published, officially raising the banner of "literary revolution". "New Youth", Volume 4, Issue 1, published in early 1918, published new poetry creations by Hu Shi, Shen Yinmo, and Liu Bannong. Then in May 1918, Volume 4 and Issue 5 of the magazine were all changed to vernacular. "New Youth" became the first publication at that time to use vernacular to promote new trends of thought. This issue published Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman", which is regarded as the first vernacular short story in the history of modern Chinese literature. It is full of critical spirit of feudal society, family system, and feudal moral tradition. The emergence of this novel and subsequent publications such as "Kong Yiji", "Medicine", and "The Storm" show the actual achievements of the literary revolution. It marks that the literary revolution advocated by "New Youth" has broken through the advocacy of pure theory and embarked on a new path. the path of creative practice.

Since then, others who have published new poems in New Youth include Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Yu Pingbo, Kang Baiqing, Shen Jianshi, Shen Xuanlu, Wang Jingzhi, Chen Hengzhe, Chen Jianlei and others. In addition to Lu Xun, there was also Chen Hengzhe who published novels. "New Youth" held discussions on the issue of old dramas and published the earliest drama creation "Lifetime Events" (written by Hu Shi). The publication also opened a column of "Impressions", which specially published current reviews and short essays criticizing old ideas and culture. Lu Xun published many short essays here, which became the origin of the unique literary form of essays.