Hu Shi and Lu Xun: Pioneers of Modern Chinese Literature

This chapter argues that classical and modern Chinese literatures are of different language systems, and chooses Hu Shi and Lu Xun as two representative modern writers who opened up a new and modern page for Chinese poetry and a new chapter for Chinese fiction. The chapter concludes that it is the baihua system with its own discursive pattern and structure that determines the modern characteristics of modern Chinese literature, which is the conclusion of the book: it is nothing but the modern Chinese language (baihua) that shapes modern China in terms of its literature, culture, history, and even social system.