Abstract: WANG Yuan-hua was a son of the May 4^th period and a revolutionary intellectual of the December 9^th Movement. In his youth, he joined in the revolution not only because of the stimuli of the crisis of national subjugation and genocide, but also because of his heroic personality that pursued freedom and his sympathy for common people. Russian literature in the 19^th century and Romain Rolland helped to form the undertone of his thought, that is, humanism. By reading Hegel in the mid-1950s, he gained the ability of rational reflection besides the power of will and emotion. With the inspiration from GU Zhun and his reflection on Hegel in the 1990s, WANG's concept of reason and research methodology experienced a transformation from rationalism to empiricism. This was also related to his reflection on the studies of the Song Dynasty and returning to the studies of the Qing Dynasty. What contributed to this shift of reason, besides external historical factors, was the belief in humanism that WANG had persisted for all his life.

Key words: WANG Yuan-hua, humanism, heroism, philosophy of Hegel, rationalism, empiricism