Six Generations of Modern Chinese Intellectuals

Two types of characters dominate the short stories of Lu Xun: peasants and intellectuals. The former have been the subject of much historical attention in the context of the peasant-based revolution of the twentieth century. The latter, although a major force in shaping the course of modern Chinese history, have not yet been analyzed fully or fairly in recent historiography. In Western scholarship on modern China, the problem of intellectuals has often been approached from an individual, biographical perspective. Larger issues have often been lost in a concern for the psychology and the thought of particular intellectuals. In China, intellectuals have often been scolded, blamed for their political shortcomings. Their contribution to revolution and to the development of culture in the modern period has not been evaluated objectively. The generational overview attempted here in very schematic form is part of our attempt to rectify the shortcomings of intellectual history in both China and the West. Furthermore, because the problem of intellectuals remains so important in China and the world today, we hope that this incipient effort will contribute to a clarification of the issues at hand.