Although it is probably impossible to provide an incontrovertible definition of “conservatism,” the term is both convenient and useful for evaluating the thought of a special group of early twentieth century Chinese intellectuals widely known as the “Critical Review” (CR hereafter) or Xueheng school. The example of Wu Mi calls into question the prevalent view that conservatives in twentieth century China disagreed with the New Intellectuals only on the cultural level and that no serious political controversy separated these two groups of individuals. While this might be true insofar as the 1911 Revolution and the May Fourth Incident are concerned, it definitely does not hold true for more radical movements like communism. When challenged by certain schools of radical thought, particularly Marxism, that called for a thorough structural transformation of politics and society, the cultural conservatives–whether directly involved in political and social reforms like Carsun Chang (1887-1969) and Liang Shu-ming (1893-1988) or active only in scholarship like Wu Mi-all proved to be politically conservative as well.
