ABSTRACT
The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 intensified the sour relationship between Chinese revolutionaries and Christian missionaries at a time when many aspiring Chinese were doing soul searching for a new horizon of their country. As a result of the unfortunate incident, both domestic and expatriate Christians felt uneasy about their religious practice and many were treated with mistrust because of their foreign connections. However, roughly during the early days of the May Fourth aftermath, Wang Guowei published his Renjian cihua in 1926, a seminal work on Chinese lyric criticism and a work that offers a critical frame to the understanding of Chinese thinking and aesthetics. On the eve of the foreign powers coveting the various interests in China, there was a Japanese writer who intended to come to China to realize his romantic dream on this side of the shore.
