The Real Drivers of China's New Culture Movement

Many in China compare the New Culture Movement in the early 20th century to the enlightenment period in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the core-values promoted by these two social movements differed sharply.

The Chinese word Qi Meng, which can be roughly translated as "to become enlightened," means to dispel ignorance through education, Qin Hui, a well-known historian said. But in western culture, the ideologies that emerged from the enlightenment era attempted to replacing medieval period superstition with rational thinking.