Introduction -- Evolution in Ideology and Culture after the Opium Wars and up to the Westernization Movement -- The Leading Roles of Reform and Revolution in the Socio-Cultural Trends of the Final Years of the Qing Dynasty -- Initial Shaping of Social Public Cultural Spaces at the End of the Qing Dynasty -- Major Trends in Ideological and Cultural Transformation toward the End of the Qing Dynasty -- Political Disarray and Conflicts between New and Old Ideology in the First Years of the Republic -- Rise of the New Culture Movement -- The Social Foundations of the New Culture Movement -- From Cultural Movement to Political Movement -- Evolutions in the Role of Conservatism in the Transition to a Modern Culture -- Political Change and Cultural Transition.

This book examines in detail the basic trajectory of the cultural transformation and brings to light the extrinsic conditions and intrinsic mechanisms involved. It focuses on the period from after the Opium Wars to the New Culture Movement, as the New Culture Movement can be considered a pivotal phase in the cultural transformation of modern-day China. The New Culture Movement was a revolutionary eruption triggered by the accumulation of all the new qualitative cultural factors since the Opium Wars. Superficially, the movement’s goal seemed to be to overthrow the traditional culture. But in essence its true objective was to conduct an overall “screening” of that culture. The book elaborates a broad variety of points in this context, including: the ideological and cultural evolution following the Opium Wars; the pressing challenges faced by “Zhong Ti”; the initial shaping of social, public and cultural spaces and major trends in ideological and cultural transformation at the end of the Qing Dynasty; the political disarray and conflicts between the new and old ideology in the first years of the Republic; the rise of the New Culture Movement; and the role of conservatism in the transition to a modern culture.