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Practice
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TheXueheng School (simplified Chinese:学衡派;traditional Chinese:學衡派;pinyin:Xuéhéngpài),[1] also known as theHsueh-Heng School[2][3][4] or theCritical Review group,[5][6] was a majorschool of thought against theNew Culture Movement in China. Active in the 1920s and 1930s, the school founded and published the academic journal ofThe Critical Review, also known byXueheng in Chinese, and was named after the journal. The school was impacted by theNew Humanism ofIrving Babbitt, amid the crisis of modernity debates after theFirst World War. Thus, the school went against full westernization of China, but rather promote careful, selective absorption ofwestern culture.[7]
TheShandong Problem after theFirst World War irritated the general public in China, leading to theMay Fourth Movement and promoting theNew Culture Movement. WhileChen Duxiu andHu Shih severely criticized and denied the Chinese culture and blamed it as the root cause of China's falling behind inmodernization in the journalLa Jeunesse, their ideas were not accepted by many Chinese students who were then studying in theUnited States.Irving Babbitt, who taught atHarvard University from 1912 to 1933, due to his respect to Oriental cultures and values, was well-regarded among the Chinese students. According to Wu Mi,Babbitt's Chinese students at Harvard includedMei Guangdi,Wu Mi,Tang Yongtong,Zhang Xinhai,Lou Guanglai,Lin Yutang,Liang Shiqiu andGuo Binhe.[8]
Invited by Mei Guangdi, Wu Mi returned from the United States and began teaching comparative literature at National Southeastern University in Nanjing, China in the fall of 1921. With further support fromLiu Boming, Wu and Mei founded the Department of Western Literature at Southeastern and invited their like-minded colleagues at Harvard to teach at Southeastern. Together, they founded and published the journal ofThe Critical Review in 1922, which headquartered at Wu Mi's residence in Nanjing where these group of scholars met regularly and was published byChung-hua Shu-chü. Any who published in the journal were considered a member of the group, which initially were mostly students and faculty at Southeastern. Mei Guangdi, Wu Mi,Hu Xiansu, Liu Boming andLiu Yizheng were top authors in the journal.[8]
However, with the death of Liu Boming in November 1923, the Department of Western Literature was closed by the university in April 1924, leading to separation of the group. Mei Guangdi came to teach at Harvard while Hu Xiansu also came there to do a PhD inbotany. Wu Mi went to teach atNortheastern University, followed by Miao Fenglin and Jing Changji. As only a few members wrote for the journal, the journal gradually became totally controlled by Wu Mi. Since Wu Mi began to teach atTsinghua University in 1925, the faculty ofTsinghua Academy of Chinese Learning, includingWang Guowei,Chen Yinke andLiang Qichao also join the group.[8]
In 1932, the group members became unsatisfied with Wu's monopoly over the journal and demanded the journal to be published by Zhongshan Publishing House, which was newly founded byZhang Qiyun in Nanjing, which led to Wu's resignation. Miao Fenglin was appointed as the new editor-in-chief. In 1933,Liu Yizheng,Zhang Qiyun andMiao Fenglin at Southeastern decided to abandonThe Critical Review and founded a new journal namedGuofeng. Journal of Historical geography run by Liu Yizheng and his students at Southeastern, and Thoughts and Times founded byZhang Qiyun atZhejiang University were also considered to be associated with the group.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)