First, previous academic studies on Gu Hongming mainly focused on his different opinions and conflict views. Those studies although have touched Gu’s political view but have neither provided a profound and comprehensive analysis in terms of the formation and characteristics that shape his political ideas nor a systematical interaction with his political and cultural views. The article specifically discusses the composition of Gu’s thoughts and way of his thinking in terms of political consciousness and political identity, and reveals the specific mechanism and relationship pedigree between Gu’s cultural concept and his political ideas.
Second, through the collection, collation and screening of historical materials, the article studies Gu’s life and his thoughts and again explores and explains the production mechanism and details of Gu’s national identity and cultural recognition. Hence, the article analyzes the connotation of Gu’s cultural nationalism and conservatism under modern Chinese cultural zeitgeist and discusses both Gu’s significances and limitations at the same time.
Third, the article brings innovation to the comparative study between two opposing extremes of culture represented by Gu Hongming and Lu Xun. Gu’s ideological standpoint is different from Lu Xun. There is few overlap between them in cultural history, which poses a challenge to the comparative study. The article, on one hand based on their similar life experiences and similar historical backgrounds that shape their ideologies, reckons that although with quite different cultural views they can both represent Chinese mainstream ideologies and culture under the specific historical background. On the other hand, the article especially pays attention to the comparative study between their common focuses and concerns. Through connotations interpretation, ideologies analysis and causes investigation, the article summarizes both Gu’s cultural conservatism and Lu’s cultural radicalism from the perspective of “Ways of Seeing” and analyzes similarities between their different ideological composition and historical value.
