"Another important historical factor is the fact that this already very simple religion was further simplified and purified by the early philosophers of ancient China. Our first great philosopher was a founder of naturalism; and our second great philosopher was an agnostic"
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Hu Shih is doing two things at once: building a usable past and quietly detonating a pious one. By calling an “already very simple religion” in China “further simplified and purified” by early philosophers, he recasts philosophy as a kind of cultural hygiene project. “Purified” is the loaded word. It implies there was something cluttered, superstitious, or politically convenient that needed stripping away. The move flatters modern sensibilities: China’s intellectual pedigree, he suggests, isn’t anchored in revelation or priestcraft but in a tradition that prizes clarity, this-worldliness, and skepticism.
The phrasing also smuggles in a polemic about modernity. Writing as a leading figure of the May Fourth era, Hu is speaking to a China under pressure to explain itself against Western narratives that equated “progress” with Christianity, metaphysics, and European-style secularization. His counterargument: China had secular impulses early, organically, without importing a foreign theology just to outgrow it later.
The “founder of naturalism” and “an agnostic” lines aren’t neutral descriptions; they’re strategic labels designed to make ancient thinkers legible in modern terms. Hu wants to claim that Chinese civilization’s best inheritance is methodological: look at nature, doubt claims you can’t test, keep religion thin enough not to bully public life. The subtext is reformist and slightly combative: if China is to modernize, it needn’t apologize for lacking a strong theistic tradition. It should lean into that absence as an advantage.
The phrasing also smuggles in a polemic about modernity. Writing as a leading figure of the May Fourth era, Hu is speaking to a China under pressure to explain itself against Western narratives that equated “progress” with Christianity, metaphysics, and European-style secularization. His counterargument: China had secular impulses early, organically, without importing a foreign theology just to outgrow it later.
The “founder of naturalism” and “an agnostic” lines aren’t neutral descriptions; they’re strategic labels designed to make ancient thinkers legible in modern terms. Hu wants to claim that Chinese civilization’s best inheritance is methodological: look at nature, doubt claims you can’t test, keep religion thin enough not to bully public life. The subtext is reformist and slightly combative: if China is to modernize, it needn’t apologize for lacking a strong theistic tradition. It should lean into that absence as an advantage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
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