Chapter 5 Section 1 May 4th to the end of 1980s: the first three discoveries of "human"

Liu Zaifu said that in modern Chinese history, there were three discoveries of human beings: The first time was the "May 4th" New Culture Movement, Mao Dun's exposition of "the discovery of man", Zhou Zuoren's exposition of "human literature", Lu Xun's cry for "save the children", and Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Fu Sinian and others The relevant discussions and so on are based on the revelation of our traditional society, life, and real inhuman conditions (injustice, cruelty, hypocrisy, and isolation); The second discovery of human beings ran through the 1920s to 1940s. It was discovered that the liberation of human beings must be based on the liberation of class and society. Etc., so resolutely attaches importance to the liberation of class and society, so that the happiness, joy and freedom of individual people become irrelevant to the extreme performers;

The third discovery of man was the reflection on the Cultural Revolution after the Cultural Revolution and the rediscovery of the reality of man. At this time, the richness and multiplicity of man were mainly discovered.Liu Zaifu said that these three discoveries of human beings are the process from non-human to human, from human to non-human, and from non-human to human. (1) An obvious feature of these three human discoveries is the emphasis on rationality, expressing the spiritual intentions of doubt, criticism, reasoning, and humanity since the May 4th New Culture Movement.Up to the present day, the concept most commonly emphasized in the "May Fourth" tradition is human nature. Although this concept was trampled on during the Cultural Revolution, it was only human nature that trampled on it.Li Zehou said, "Human nature should not be the divinity of the transcendental master, nor the animality of the sensual satisfaction. He has rationality in sensibility, society in personality, and imagination and understanding in perception and emotion." (2) "May 4th "The interpretation of human nature has always been unclear in origin and ambiguous in connotation.Although the first three human discoveries in the history of modern and contemporary Chinese literature were rational, they were not rational in the true sense, but experiential, perceptual, revealing and vague.

Interconnected with the first three discoveries of human beings, and forming a long transition between the first three discoveries of human beings and the fourth discovery of human beings, is an important branch of the "May Fourth" literary tradition: liberalism.Due to various practical reasons, liberalism has always been unable to make an objective, true and lasting voice. No matter what stage of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, discussing or in-depth thinking about the cultural elements and realistic demands of liberalism is hindered by more than its own power .This cultural context has always been weak, but it still needs to be mentioned.Hu Shi said, "The most obvious meaning of liberalism is to emphasize respect for freedom" (3). Zhu Guangqian said, "I defend liberalism in the field of literature and art," because "this freedom fully expresses the dignity of human nature" (4).Hu Qiuyuan believes that "literature and art are free and democratic until death." (5) Gu Zhun insisted on fighting for the right to freedom in more difficult times, and spoke about possible freedom.Gao Ertai's "Beauty is a Symbol of Freedom" aestheticizes the life connotation and cultural connotation of freedom.As far as its essence is concerned, on the one hand, this aestheticization is obviously a kind of persistence in discovering and developing people, but more importantly, on the one hand, it is precisely a kind of abandonment to a discerning person.In the history of China, after repeated setbacks and suppressions in the pursuit of ideals, they basically gave in, changed, and turned to the so-called pursuit of art. Seeking the right thing but not being able to do it, seeking art and beauty when doing the right thing. Say beauty.In this case, the person involved is sticking to the original idea, which is very hard work, but as far as the original topic is concerned, your speech has actually gone beyond the topic.