ABSTRACT
It may be asserted that, in the field of intellectual endeavour, the fate of China was decided—as between Communism and Nationalism—not just recently, but about twenty years ago. It was in the early 1930’s that Kuomintang Nationalism failed, in the judgment of educated and active Chinese, to give ideological satisfaction or mental stimulation. From that time, its fall was only deferred by increasing the strictness of its political ‘tutelage’; and by the circumstances of the Japanese aggression, which brought about a national rally and some efforts at internal peace. Meanwhile, the opposing, Marxist, party was thoroughly and systematically working, not only to gain organisational control in every political and social field, but also to cultivate the impression that it could supply the intellectual and cultural deficiency, that it could offer a full, satisfactory and progressive explanation of Chinese society and its prospects.
