An Artistic "Breakthrough" and a Cultural "Uprising":A Review of the Relationship between the Literary Theories in 1980s and the Cultural Enlightenment during May 4th Movement

During the New Culture Movement around 1919,a group of writers attempted to enlighten the Chinese people through the introduction and advocacy of such Western concepts as democracy,science,equality and freedom,but the gap between their literary theories and practice resulted in failure of their mission.In the 1980s,some writers attempted to complete the mission of their predecessors,but they soon found themselves,being away from the spirit of modern enlightenment in their writings,inevitably fall,and soon they were challenged and deconstructed by the materialism prevalent in the 1990s.The process of enlightenment is,nonetheless,not completed,as each era calls for the support of traditional humanism.