Rise of Political Intellectuals in Modern China

The May Fourth movement (1915-1923) is widely considered a watershed in the history of modern China. This book is a social history of cultural and political radicals based in China's most important hinterland city at this pivotal time, Wuhan. Current narratives of May Fourth focus on the ideological development of intellectuals in the seaboard metropoles of Beijing and Shanghai. And although scholars have pointed to the importance of the many cultural-political societies of the period, they have largely neglected to examine these associations, seeing them only as seedbeds of Chinese communism and its leaders, like Mao Zedong. This book, by contrast, portrays the everyday life of May Fourth activists in Wuhan in cultural-political societies founded by local teacher and journalist Yun Daiying (1895-1931). The book examines the ways by which radical politics developed in hinterland urban centers, from there into a nation wide movement, which ultimately provided the basis for the emergence of mass political parties, namely the Nationalist Party (Guomindang) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The book's focus on organizations, everyday life, and social networks provides a novel interpretation of where mechanisms of historical change are located. The book also highlights the importance of print culture in the provinces. It demonstrates how provincial print-culture combined with small, local organizations to create a political movement. The vantage point of Wuhan demonstrates that May Fourth radicalism developed in a dialogue between the coastal metropoles of Beijing andShanghai and hinterland urban centers. The book therefore charts the way in which seeds of political change grew from individuals, through local organizations into a nation-wide movement, and finally into mass-party politics and subsequently revolution. The book thus connects everyday experiences of activists with the cultural-political ferment which gave rise to both the Chinese Communist party and the Nationalist Party.

In sum, using Yun Diying as an example, the author has successfully explained how grassroots organizations and activities built the foundation for revolutionary parties, and his ethnographic study provides ample evidence for this ... [T]his book is very important for students of intellectuals and Chinese politics. Current intellectuals desiring reform and revolution have many lessons to learn from it., The most fascinating sections of this monograph are those that deal with the sociability of intellectual networks. Rahav recreates the highly idealistic and often endearingly pompous world of students and intellectuals to great effect ... [A] thought provoking and original analysis, that will make a valuable addition to both Chinese and intellectual history., Rahav raises theoretical problems deserving further research ... [T]his monograph is a major contribution, adding not just detail and nuance but an important new perspective on the era., it is refreshing to read Rahav's account of Yun's political activism, Among the notable strengths of this book is Rahav's thoughtful interrogation of sources such as Yun's diary (e.g., pp. 48-49) and careful recounting of how Yun graduated from social clubs to political parties. By rejecting historical teleology, Rahav offers readers a model of political leadership based on intimate relationships between intellectuals and the masses, rather than a model of confrontational struggle as per the Cultural Revolution. By examining sociability rather than ideology, Rahav explains the appeal of mass politics and the formation of social cohesion across diverse ideas in the May Fourth movement.

Shakhar Rahav is a lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Haifa. He studied for his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley with Wen-hsin Yeh and Frederic Wakeman. His research explores the role of intellectuals in politics and society in modern China. His work has been published in Chinese, Hebrew, and in English in The China Quarterly, and Twentieth Century China.