Between Problems (Wenti) and – Isms (Zhuyi), a Hundred Years Since

Abstract

Since the last change at the top of the Communist Party of China, a shift can be noticed from the declarative pragmatism of the reform period of Deng Xiaoping to a reappraisal of ideology. The debate on the importance of zhuyi, “isms”, in art and aesthetics is only one of the most prominent forms of this shift. From this starting point, the paper reaches back to 1919, when Chinese intellectual circles first witnessed a heated debate about the relation between pragmatist and ideological approaches. The debate followed the article “More Study of Problems, Less Talk of ‘Isms’” published by Hu Shi in the Weekly Review in July 1919. Hu’s arguments in favour of pragmatism are opposed by Li Dazhao and other members of the nascent communist movement. The paper analyses this debate between members of the May Fourth generation and its echoes in following decades until the present day.