Chen Duxiu

Home > People > History > Chinese and Taiwanese History: Biographies

Chen Duxiu or Ch'en Tu-hsiu , 1879–1942, Chinese educator and Communist party leader. He was active in the republican revolution of 1911 and was forced to flee to Japan after taking part in the abortive "second revolution" of 1913 against Yüan Shih-kai . In 1915 he founded the journal New Youth in Shanghai. Articles by Ch'en, Li Dazhao , Hu Shih , and others encouraged Chinese youth to create a new culture free from Confucianism. He was dean of the school of arts and sciences of Beijing Univ. from Jan., 1917, until forced to resign under conservative pressure in Mar., 1919. Ch'en was converted to Marxism in the period following the student-led intellectual revolution known as the May Fourth Movement (1919). He founded (1920) two Marxist groups, and in 1921 representatives of these groups met with representatives of groups organized by Li Dazhao (neither Chen nor Li were present) to found the Communist party. He was dismissed from party leadership and withdrew from the party in 1927 over his opposition to the Comintern -ordered policy of armed insurrection.

Chen Duxiu ( Chen Tu-hsiu) (b. 8 Oct. 1879, d. 27 May 1942). Chinese Communist leader Born at An-ch'ing (Anhwei Province) of wealthy parents, he sat the civil service (chü-jen) examination before going to Japan to further his studies. He responded to the 1911 Revolution by founding the New Culture Movement, which he promoted with the nationwide magazine, The New Youth. This offered a platform for a large number of intellectuals and thinkers urging enlightened progress. In 1917, he was appointed dean of the college of letters at Beijing University. He became increasingly critical of republican institutions, which were riven with factionalism and corruption. He turned towards Marxism-Leninism, and became a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He built up an independent and effective organization and provided widely accepted autocratic but moderate leadership, until the withdrawal of Stalin's support. He was dismissed in 1927, and expelled from the party in 1929. He became a Trotskyist, but was imprisoned 1932–7, after which he retired.