This symposium commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 in China. Seen in the politically and culturally cataclysmic transformation of modern China, the movement is pivotally important. Not only is its nature complex, equally extended are the interpretations arising from this complexity. A decade ago Chow Tse-tsung's study, in spite of its comprehensive volume, could cover only the movement's essential features. The present volume, through six speculative essays, recalls the liveliness of the movement and reopens the numerous issues which the significance of the movement continues to produce...Too numerous for fair treatment in a brief review, the issues raised [here] do speak the common theme of the interaction of culture and politics in Chinese life...This symposium is both 'reflections' and 'reevaluations.' It has opened new possibilities for students of this fundamentally significant movement.
-- D. W. Y. Kwok Philosophy East & West

The essays this symposium has collected, though under the general headline of the May Fourth Movement, deal with various topics in extremely broad scope, ranging from the problem of the beginning of modern China to the reasons for the failure of Chinese liberalism, from the literary revolution in the 1920s to the most recent Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the 1960s...These [are] thoughtful essays...This symposium is a welcome addition to the historiography of May Fourth.
-- Young-tsu Wong Modern Asian Studies

This is a stimulating volume; the conference from which it comes must have been lively...[The essays] are mature and responsible examples of what 'reflections' ought to be. The authors present many provocative arguments.
-- Robert A. Kapp Journal of the American Oriental Society