Abstract:

Concerning the cultural trends in the early years of the Republic of China, cultural positions were always tangled with political ones. With his cultural personality of “being mean”, CAI Yuan pei helped to create the “freedom for academic studies and intellectual disputation” in Peking University, integrating the new culture with the over 2,0000-year-old doctrine of “cultivating self” by “restraining one ’s selfishness” in Confucianism. A pure sprit of “learning for learning s sake” was created in the debates over the West versus China, the past versus the present, and the new versus the old, and the frequent changes of the governments and non stop political chaos for over a decade. Thus, there was a spectacular scene with novelty at the various levels of academic studies, styles of study, and intellectuals as both individuals and groups. In an age when intellectuals were actively or passively involved in politics, CAI i’s cultural personality made him distinct from both “politicians” and his contemporaries embracing new culture. He promoted the culture in Peking University to an unrivaled level so that the university has been reputed as the cultural symbol in the early years of the Republic of China.