The failure of the Revolution of 1911 and the establishment of the rule of the Northern Warlords plunged people into deep despair, frustration and hesitation. Some advanced intellectuals in China believe that the depravity of China citizens' nature and behavior is "the root cause of national subjugation and extinction". Therefore, to save the nation fundamentally, we must transform China's national character. They were determined to launch a new enlightenment movement to liberate people from the shackles of feudal ideas, that is, ignorance, which was later called the New Culture Movement.

19 15 In September, Chen Duxiu founded Youth magazine in Shanghai. In his publication, he declared that "it is the bounden duty of this ambition to transform young people's minds and guide their cultivation, not to criticize current politics." At this time, Chen Duxiu focused on ideological change, because he thought that reforming national character was the premise of political change.

19 15 In September, Chen Duxiu founded Youth magazine (later renamed New Youth), which sounded the horn of the New Culture Movement. The New Culture Movement held high the banner of democracy and science and launched an unprecedented violent impact on feudal ideology and culture. The historical significance of the New Culture Movement lies in that it is an unprecedented enlightenment movement in the history of China, which set off the ideological emancipation trend of Marxism in China.

The basic contents of the New Culture Movement before the May 4th Movement were: advocating democracy and science, and opposing autocracy and superstition; Advocate individual liberation and oppose feudal ethics; Advocate new literature, oppose old literature, and implement the Cultural Revolution. Advocates of the New Culture Movement did not deny all the traditional cultures in China because they criticized Confucianism. First of all, they pointed out that Confucianism does not mean all Chinese studies. Secondly, they did not deny the historical role of Confucianism; Third, they didn't make Confucius' theory useless. They criticize Confucianism in order to point out that Confucianism is fundamentally unsuitable for modern life, oppose the ideological imprisonment of Confucianism, shake the absolute authority of Confucianism, and make people dare to break through the cage of feudal thought. Advocates of the New Culture Movement set off a wave of ideological emancipation in society.

The significance of the New Culture Movement before the May 4th Movement was that it dealt an unprecedented blow to feudal absolutism and ethics, vigorously advocated democracy and science, stimulated people's democratic consciousness, and opened the floodgates for various foreign thoughts to be introduced into China.

The limitations of the New Culture Movement before the May 4th Movement are as follows: the advocates of the New Culture Movement criticized Confucianism in order to clear the way for China to develop capitalism; Give priority to transforming national character; At that time, many things did not have the critical spirit of Marxism, and the methods used were generally bourgeois methods.