Abstract:

Since the "new period" there have emerged many social ideological trends in China; so far as their major backgrounds are concerned, however, there are two trends, namely, radicalism and conservatism. The former was the mainstream of the 1980' s trend of thoughts and the latter the essential context of the 1990' s trend of thoughts. The shift from radicalism to conservatism had not only a developmental train of thoughts themselves but also realistic causes; therefore, they both had their own historical grounds. An examination of the interaction between history of ideas and history of society will help to understand social ideological trends and their future tendencies.

Key words: social trend of thoughts, radicalism, conservatism