Wenxue gailiang chuyi

work by Hu Shih

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July 15, 2026

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"Wenxue gailiang chuyi" (Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform) was a pivotal essay published in 1917 by Hu Shih in the magazine New Youth. This work advocated for a significant shift in Chinese literature, proposing the abandonment of the classical written language in favor of the vernacular, or spoken Chinese. Hu Shih argued that the traditional literary style was a barrier to mass literacy and the expression of modern ideas.

The essay was a cornerstone of the broader New Culture Movement, which aimed to reform Chinese society and culture. Hu Shih's call for a literary renaissance, written in a more accessible language, inspired a generation of writers and intellectuals. This movement ultimately led to the official adoption of the vernacular as the national language in 1922, profoundly impacting Chinese literature and education.

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Chinese literature
May Fourth period
…at Columbia University, entitled “Wenxue gailiang chuyi” (“Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform”) was published in Xinqingnian (New Youth), a radical monthly magazine published in Beijing. In it Hu called for a new national literature written not in the classical language but in the vernacular, the living “national language” (guoyu).…
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…at Columbia University, entitled “Wenxue gailiang chuyi” (“Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform”) was published in Xinqingnian (New Youth), a radical monthly magazine published in Beijing. In it Hu called for a new national literature written not in the classical language but in the vernacular, the living “national language” (guoyu).…
Read More

Hu Shih
Reforms of language and education.
Early in 1917, Hu’s “Wen-hsüeh kai-liang ch’u-i” (“Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform”) was published in Hsin ch’ing-nien (“New Youth”), an influential magazine established by Chen Duxiu (Ch’en Tu-hsiu), Hu’s colleague at Peking University, who was to become one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. In this article…
Read More
Early in 1917, Hu’s “Wen-hsüeh kai-liang ch’u-i” (“Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform”) was published in Hsin ch’ing-nien (“New Youth”), an influential magazine established by Chen Duxiu (Ch’en Tu-hsiu), Hu’s colleague at Peking University, who was to become one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. In this article…
Read More