英文摘要
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Among May Fourth scholars, Hu Shih was the first to conduct a review of modern literature. In 1922, he wrote Chinese Literature of the Past 50 Years to document the literature development between 1873-1922, showing the conscious construction and leading people to the course of modern literature. In his paper, Hu Shih discussed ancient Chinese revolution promoted by scholars in the late Qing Dynasty. He concluded that they were not rid of traditional boundaries and acknowledged the "literature revolution" since 1917 was the purposeful movement of vernacular literature. He indicated the May Fourth Movement in 1919 as the key "to nationally promote vernacular literature." With the adaption of Chinese teaching materials written in vernacular Chinese used in elementary schools in 1922, he declared this was the creation era of modern literature. Hu’s article did not aim to tie the movements in Late Qing Dynasty and May Fourth. Instead, he baldly declared the decline of ancient Chinese and the emergence of vernacular Chinese as well as the fall of late Qing Dynasty scholars and the rise of May Fourth scholars. Although in his paper, there are subjective conclusions, the perspective of literature evolutions and the description of the future of modern literature still influence us today.
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