Toward a Humanist Interpretation of Tradition:
The Hermeneutics of the “Critical Review Group” (Xueheng pai)

Q. Edward Wang
Rowan University

During the May Fourth/New Culture Movement of the 1920s, a radical turn occurred in Chinese intellectual culture, characterized by the attempt made by some well-known cultural figures, such as Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, and Fu Sinian, at reinterpreting the Chinese tradition in light of the presence of Western science. Their effort gave rise to a new genre of historical writing that was both nationalist and scientific. At the same time, the “Critical Review Group,” led by Wu Mi, Mei Guangdi, and Tang Yongtong, seemed to have followed an opposite route in search of China’s modernity. While both looking back at the past, Hu Shi and his followers’ searched for scientific elements whereas the Critical Review Group tried to reemphasize its humanist value. The group’s interest in negotiating between the “old” and the “new,” the native and the foreign, and humanities and science, or the “fusion of horizons,” not only demonstrated a distinct and viable alternative to the prevailing interpretation of tradition during the May Fourth era, revealing the multi-facetedness of its legacy, but also presented a real yet ultimately unrealized possibility of communicating with Western scholars in pursuing a cross-cultural hermeneutic understanding of one’s cultural past in modern times.