German Romantic ideals and the revival of traditional Chinese culture in early twentieth century China

Focusing on German-educated Chinese thinkers in the Republican era, including Zong Baihua (1897-1986), He Lin (1902-1992) and Feng Zhi (1905-1993), this article explores how their intellectual journeys highlight the interaction of global forces and local reactions, the travelling and transformation of ideas, and the Chinese people's early encounter with and reaction to modern everyday life. Disheartened by the seeming deficiencies of traditional Chinese culture, and inspired by incoming German cultural resources, which were in many ways contradictory to mainstream scientism and rationalism propagated by other foreign-educated Chinese, they formulated in the 1920s their critique of not only Confucianism but also modernity. However, they developed in the following years during their sojourn in interwar Germany, where splendour walked with misery and industrial advancements met the poverty trap, a renewed appreciation for traditional Chinese cultural ideals and life strategies. They returned to China where they, after digesting the experience of waves of national crisis from the 1930s to the 1940s, spent the remaining years of their lives attempting to reaffirm the values of traditional Chinese culture.