Liu Yan and Hu Zhaoyang: The "Second Integration" and the Emergence of Marxist Atheism in Modern China
Reviewing the scholarly historiography of Chinese and foreign atheism requires seat a re-examination of the spiritualist critique movement that took place in modern China between 1918 and 1919, which used New Youth (Xin Qingnian) as its primary battleground to wage a courageous struggle against ideas of ghosts and gods. The victory of New Culture advocates, represented by Chen Duxiu, in criticizing "spiritualism" (灵学, lingxue) and shattering the "images of ghosts" was the result of Chinese people autonomously scouring away layers of thick dust and dirt to consciously choose advanced ideological weapons. The New Youth critique of spiritualism contained genes of patriotism, struggle against theistic thought, and the inclusive absorption of foreign cultures—all found within fine traditional Chinese culture. The process demonstrated that these traditional cultural genes converged with the people-centered, scientific, and open nature of Marxist atheism, thereby "sweeping the threshold" for the entry of Marxist atheism into China and providing an effective "assist" for the ideological development and progress of modern Chinese people.
I. The Modern Trend of Spiritualism and the New Youth Critique
Modern China was a period of intense ideological and belief-driven differentiation as people sought to explain and transform the world. Spiritualism, which entered China during the late Qing and early Republican periods, was an erroneous trend that used the name of science as a pretext to advocate for ideas of ghosts and spirits and feudal superstition. The spiritualist critique of 1918–1919, centered at New Youth, was undoubtedly a scientific voice of atheistic thought daring to struggle against the concept of ghosts and gods; it is an indispensable link in studying the history of the development of Chinese atheism, particularly the emergence of Marxist atheism.
(1) The Blend of Chinese and Western Spiritualist Trends and Their Pseudo-Scientific Veil
Western spiritualism refers to a discipline that uses scientific experiments to study mysterious mental phenomena related to the spirit, mainly involving the survival of the soul, out-of-body experiences, psychokinesis, spiritual healing, spirit photography, telepathy, and sorcery. Research into spiritualism originated in the West; the Society for Psychical Research was first established in the UK in 1882, followed by the American Society for Psychical Research in 1885. In 1901, the British and American societies merged into the American Society for Psychical Research. Western spiritualist research was committed to proving the existence of the soul and sought to achieve so-called "spiritual resonance" through various experiments. However, in reality, as time passed and science progressed, "the discipline it studies has never had, and never will have, a consensus." This means that even in the birthplace of spiritualist thought, no unified conclusion regarding the study of the soul was ever formed.
Although "spiritualism" (lingxue) was an imported product, the traditional Chinese view of the soul has existed since ancient times as one of the core concepts of religious belief. "In the late Paleolithic period, the Upper Cave Man (Shandingdong [1] man) at Zhoukoudian, Beijing, scattered hematite powder around corpses," likely believing "that the souls of the deceased could thereby obtain peace." Grave goods appeared as early as the Yangshao Culture [2], and the soul-view remained the most essential and core content of traditional Chinese funeral culture for thousands of years thereafter. Since most schools of soul-theory believed that the soul is immortal after death and can be resurrected through various means, superstitious practices such as "summoning the soul" (zhaohun), "quieting the soul" (anhun), "returning the soul" (huanhun), and "capturing the soul" (shouhun) were prevalent among the people. The traditional Chinese view of the soul utilized an idealist worldview as its ideological core and mysticism—characterized by utilitarian arts of divination and numerology—as its external manifestation, carrying an inherent, Indescribable sense of the ghostly. As Sino-Western cultural exchange deepened in the modern era, Western spiritualism, cloaked in the guise of psychology and experimentalism, combined with indigenous soul superstitions, making spiritualism a fashionable trend in the early Republican period.
Modern China saw numerous spiritualist research groups such as the Shanghai Spiritualist Society, the Spiritualist Research Society, the Foresight Research Society, the China Psychical Research Society, the Hypnosis Association, the Abnormal Psychology Society, the Hypnosis Training Center, and the China Mental Research Society. The China Psychical Club, founded in Japan in 1910, was China’s earliest organization for psychical study. The Shanghai Spiritualist Society, founded in 1917, became a vital organization for the dissemination of modern spiritualism in China. It advocated ideas such as "immortality of the soul" and "coexistence of ghosts and gods," conducting superstitious activities like planchette writing (fuji [3]) and spirit photography under the banner of science through the "Altar of Abundant Virtue" (Shengdetan) and the journal Spiritualist Collectanea (Lingxue Congzhi). At its peak, the Society established branch altars and associations in dozens of provinces, cities, and counties, including Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Changsha. The Shanghai Spiritualist Society "not only analogized spiritualism to science but also believed it could 'compensate' for the deficiencies of science and 'expand' the boundaries of science," thereby fostering a social atmosphere where spiritualism was equated to "science."
Regarding membership, the core members or associates of the Shanghai Spiritualist Society were primarily well-known social figures and prestigious intellectuals. The president was Yu Fu, manager of the Shanghai Wenming Book Company; the educator Lu Feikui and the medical scientist Ding Fubao were members; and the translator Yan Fu was an associate. The participation of numerous experts and scholars undoubtedly added "scientific" credibility to the spiritualist analogy. Structurally, the Shanghai Spiritualist Society took "enlightening the spirit and researching academic principles" as its mission. By mimicking the Western scientific model of departmentalization, it established positions for researching the I Ching (Book of Changes), mathematics, and religion, thus dressing its religious superstitions in the garb of science. Methodologically, experimental means used by Western spiritualism to confirm the survival of the soul were borrowed and combined with indigenous Chinese planchette writing, creating the illusion that spiritualism was verified by scientific experiments. This catered to the public's reverence and pursuit of science during the New Culture Movement. Simultaneously, supporters of spiritualism argued that Western science suffered from the limitation of emphasizing matter over spirit; they claimed spiritualist research could "remedy" this defect and attempted to incorporate spiritualism into the scientific system, thereby "expanding" the boundaries of science.
(2) The Course of the New Youth Critique of Spiritualism (1918–1919)
While the rise of modern spiritualism reflected a shift and differentiation in the thoughts and beliefs of early Republican intellectuals—where some pinned their hopes for national salvation on morality, spirit, or religion, attempting to realize the demand of "saving the nation through spiritualism"—its essence of promoting religious ghosts and feudal superstition was diametrically opposed to the scientific propositions of the New Culture Movement. It "became a turbid stream in the Chinese intellectual world during the May Fourth period," making a struggle between science and pseudo-science, and between atheism and theism, inevitable.
From May 1918 to April 1919, New Youth launched three concentrated critiques against the spiritualist trend. In January 1918, the inaugural issue of Spiritualist Collectanea was published: "In the first volume of the first issue, besides several articles on ghosts, there were several articles on humans. Among them, Mr. Ding Fubao’s 'My Ideal Theory of Ghosts' and Mr. Yu Fu’s 'The Letter from Wu Zhihui' seemed most instrumental in supporting 'spiritualism'." In response to the ghost theories advocated since the journal's inception and the superstitious activities of the Altar of Abundant Virtue, the first concentrated critique of spiritualism was formed, centered in the fifth issue of the fourth volume of New Youth, published on May 15, 1918. Chen Duxiu, Liu Bannong, Chen Daqi, and others wrote articles and correspondences to launch the critique. Among them, Chen Daqi’s "Refuting 'Spiritualism'" used scientific truth to reveal the absurdity of planchette writing; Chen Duxiu’s "Questioning the Theory of ghosts" directly refuted spiritualist demonology; Liu Bannong pointed out the absurdity of using planchette writing to inquire about phonology; and Qian Xuantong criticized various stories of sages, immortals, Buddhas, ghosts, and gods found in Spiritualist Collectanea.
The second climax of the critique occurred in the second issue of the fifth volume of New Youth, published on August 15, 1918. The fierce attacks by the aforementioned New Culture advocates caused great dissatisfaction among spiritualist supporters. Yi Yixuan published "A Reply to Mr. Chen Duxiu’s 'Questioning the Theory of Ghosts'" in New Youth, refuting point-by-point Chen Duxiu’s eight "unintelligible points" regarding the existence of ghosts. Yi insisted that ghosts have form but no substance, fabricated the theory of "ghosts residing in the netherworld" and "spiritual power seeing ghosts," and used the names of philosophical ontology and scientific experiments to "prove" the existence of ghosts and gods. Liu Shuya subsequently wrote "Challenging Mr. Yi Yixuan" to support Chen Duxiu’s atheism, similarly dismantling the eight flaws in Yi Yixuan’s argument. Along with Chen Duxiu’s "On the Destruction of Idols" and "Addendum to Yi Yixuan’s Reply to 'Questioning the Theory of Ghosts'" published in the same issue, as well as Yi Baisha’s "The Non-Existence of Ghosts in the Hundred Schools of Thought" and Chen Duxiu’s "Random Thoughts (No. 12)" from the previous issue, another confrontation between atheism and ghost theories was formed.
On December 15, 1918, New Youth published an article by a reader named Mo Deng titled "A Study of Ghost Images," which argued that spirit photography and "thoughtography" (念写, nianxie) were real and represented the capture of human radiation by science and technology. In response, Wang Xinggong and Chen Daqi used knowledge of chemistry and physics to counter-attack. Subsequently, these three debated the issue of "ghost images and telepathy" in the correspondence column of New Youth on April 15, 1919. Mo Deng used as evidence the accuracy of a "lame fortuneteller" he had witnessed in Macau, insisting that ghost images could communicate with humans. Wang Xinggong, using materialist monism as a weapon, argued that Mo Deng’s view that the "human mind can aggregate matter" had "no reason for existence in science." Chen Daqi pointed out bluntly that the lame fortuneteller mentioned by Mo Deng was "merely good at observing facial expressions and words (察言观色, chá yán guān sè); there was no real telepathy," thus forming the third climax of the New Youth critique of spiritualism. Thereafter, New Youth began to disseminate Marxist doctrine, and articles criticizing spiritualism gradually decreased.
The three concentrated critiques of spiritualism by New Youth between 1918 and 1919 defended the dignity of science and enlightened the national character (see Table 1). The hypocritical nature of the Shanghai Spiritualist Society—using the name of science to promote religious and feudal superstition—became recognized by the public; the society's membership declined, and Spiritualist Collectanea suffered serious publication delays. This year-long contest between spiritualism and anti-spiritualism ultimately ended in the victory of atheism, creating the ideological conditions for the emergence of Marxist atheism in modern China.
II. The New Youth Critique of Spiritualism Provided the Cultural Soil for the Emergence of Marxist Atheism
The New Culture Movement, with New Youth as its base, was an ideological and cultural movement initiated by advanced modern Chinese intellectuals. This movement both criticized and inherited traditional Chinese culture: it criticized the feudal ethics, codes, and autocratic politics that did not meet the needs of the times, while inheriting the true spirit of traditional culture—such as love for country, family, and people—which enhances the cohesion and centripetal force of the Chinese nation. The New Youth critique of spiritualism contained genes of fine traditional Chinese culture, including the spirit of patriotism, the tradition of struggling against theism, and an inclusive attitude toward foreign cultures. This critique movement manifested these traditional genes and provided fertile cultural soil for the emergence of Marxist atheism.
(1) The Anti-Imperialist and Anti-Feudal Nature of the New Youth Critique was a Manifestation of Patriotism
Patriotism is a precious spiritual treasure within fine traditional Chinese culture. "In the long river of the Chinese nation's development over thousands of years, patriotism has always been the stirring main theme and a powerful force inspiring the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to seek self-improvement." The spirit of patriotism is rooted in the self-sufficient production methods of agrarian society, the political concept of the "integration of family and state" (jiaguo tonggou), "universal unification" (tianxia yitong), and the moral culture of "cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world" (xiushen qijia zhiguo pingtianxia). Throughout history, this has manifested as unwavering loyalty to the country, a concern for the nation and its people, unyielding national integrity, and heroic sacrifices. As an important component of fine traditional Chinese culture, patriotism has been stripped of the "loyalty to the monarch" ethics and "feudal code" (gangchang) culture of the old society. Especially under the background of Western aggression in modern China, it became the spiritual force to unite the people in search of complete national independence and liberation. Essentially, the spiritualist critique of 1918–1919 was an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal political struggle under semi-colonial and semi-feudal conditions, highlighting the ancient gene of patriotism.
Since the Opium War, Western colonial aggression against China was not only reflected in ceded territories and indemnities but also in cultural invasion and ideological control. Supporters of spiritualism proposed the fallacy of "saving the nation through spiritualism" and "saving the nation through ghosts and gods"—claims that were completely contrary to social progress and happened to cater to the intentions of Western powers. An advertisement for the Shanghai Spiritualist Society brazenly claimed: "I hear that Western philosophers study the science of spiritual intelligence and write mysterious books at a pace of a thousand miles a day. This Society rises to respond to them." This indicates that Chinese spiritualism was closely linked to Western idealism and religious theology, serving as a Chinese variant of Western spiritualism to deceive and anesthetize the Chinese people. This ran counter to the New Culture Movement’s advocacy of "saving the nation through science." In response, Liu Shuya accused spiritualism of being nothing more than "borrowing the words of Western scholars to varnish one's own theories" and "using philosophical jargon to decorate demonology," stating that "in an era of flourishing science, such things that delude the world and deceive the people cannot be tolerated." Lu Xun scathingly attacked the Shanghai Spiritualist Society: "A bunch of muddleheaded bugs in Shanghai... ignoring human affairs and flocking to the way of ghosts; as it is said, when a state is about to perish, it listens to the gods!" Thus, the New Youth critique of spiritualism possessed, in a certain sense, the characteristic of resisting imperialist cultural control.
To maintain control over the masses’ thoughts and steal the fruits of the 1911 Revolution, the Beiyang Government [4] continuously unleashed a reactionary tide of archaism. Actions such as Yuan Shikai’s attempt to proclaim himself emperor and Zhang Xun’s restoration [5] fully demonstrated the ambition of feudal remnants to desperately preserve their political rule, with feudal superstitions regarding ghosts and gods serving as their customary ruse for ideological control. The claims of the Spiritualism sect (Língxué pài), such as "if the doctrine of ghosts and gods does not spread, the life of the nation will be cut short," catered to the needs of the old feudal forces.
In response to the supernatural ideas and superstitious activities of the Shanghai Spiritualist Society, Chen Duxiu and others moved beyond their previous limitations—where struggles against theism remained on the professional surface and within academic theory—to launch a direct assault on the "divine right of kings" and feudal autocracy. Writing in A Treatise on the Supernatural (Língyì lùn), Liu Shuya pointed out that "governments of various countries in recent times think that this traditional belief in the supernatural is most conducive to maintaining their own power," and that "the throne and the altar must mutually protect and support one another." In On the Destruction of Idols (Ǒuxiàng pòhuài lùn), Chen Duxiu directly stated that monarchs since ancient times could only confuse the masses into superstitiously worshipping them by using "gods" to mold themselves into idols. Only thus could they implement their rule, yet once their nations collapsed, they became even more pitiable than commoners. This endowed the critique of Spiritualism in New Youth with the epochal significance of opposing feudalism.
(2) The critique of Spiritualism in New Youth as a continuation of the historical struggle between atheism and theism
The 1918–1919 critique of Spiritualism in New Youth represented the continuation and development of the struggle between ancient Chinese atheism and theism—and between materialism and idealism—under new historical conditions. Superstitions such as the theory of "Heaven’s Mandate" (tiānmìng), ghost-god theory, the theory of the immortality of the soul (shén bùmiè lùn), as well as divination, fortune-telling, and divine sorcery, have always been the content of the struggle between atheism and theism.
During the pre-Qin period, surrounding the question of whether "Heaven" was a god with personal will, idealism and materialism engaged in debate on the philosophical front of the late Spring and Autumn period. By the Qin and Han dynasties, representative atheists such as Yang Xiong, Huan Tan, and Wang Chong, starting from a position of proto-materialism, launched a counter-offensive against theological teleology, primarily criticizing apocryphal theology (chènwěi shénxué) and divine alchemy. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Fan Zhen, a typical representative of atheism, inherited the atheist thoughts of his predecessors. He refuted the Buddhist theory of karmic retribution with the theory of "contingent primordial energy" (yuánqì zìrán lùn) and criticized the theory of the soul's immortality with "monism of form and spirit" (xíngshén yīyuán lùn) and the idea that "the form is the substance and the spirit is the function" (xíngzhì shényòng), marking a peak in the struggle since the pre-Qin and Han eras. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, atheists represented by Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan struggled against the idealistic "Mandate of Heaven" via the relationship between Heaven and Man. By the Song, Yuan, and Ming eras, the development of natural sciences such as mathematics, medicine, and astronomy enriched atheist thought; "atheization" fundamentally weakened the theoretical basis of the theological "other world," pushing the development of atheism to another climax.
After 1840, the struggle between atheism and theism became more complex. Atheists not only continued to fight traditional religious ideas of ghosts and gods but also faced challenges from Christian theology. The classes involved in atheism included not only representatives of the enlightened landlord class like Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan, but also the bourgeoisie represented by Tan Sitong and Sun Yat-sen. The critique of Spiritualism in New Youth pushed this modern struggle to its peak, becoming an indispensable part of the historical lineage of atheism versus theism. The contest between the two involves long-term duration, variability, profundity, realism, and scientificity, providing profound theoretical references and rich experience for the modern anti-Spiritualism debate.
For instance, the Eastern Han thinker Wang Chong’s monistic natural view of qi [6] and his view on form and spirit—maintaining that "when a person dies, the blood vessels are exhausted; when exhausted, the essence and qi are extinguished; when extinguished, the physical body decays; and when decayed, it becomes ash and earth"—along with his "ghostless theory" stating that "any ghosts between heaven and earth are not created by the spirits of the dead, but are the result of human thoughts and imaginings," had a far-reaching influence on subsequent atheist thought. During the 1918–1919 critique, ancient materialistic atheism became a target of the Spiritualism sect's attacks. Yi Yixuan declared that Wang Chong’s ghostless theory was "not worth refuting" and accused Chen Duxiu of "stealing" the "theory of ghosts' clothing" from Wang Chong's Lunheng [7], asking "why fall into the old ruts of the ancients?"
Facing Yi Yixuan’s provocation and skepticism, Yi Baisha and Liu Shuya highly affirmed Wang Chong’s status in Chinese history. They believed he "distinguished the absence of ghosts through physical laws" and that his "intellectual scholarship was not only rare in ancient China but also had few equals in modern Europe." Liu Shuya retorted: "Why is Mr. Chen’s theory and Wang Chong’s ‘Ordering Ghosts’ (Dìngguǐ) chapter not worth refuting? Why doesn't Master Yi try to refute it himself?" The fact that ancient Chinese atheism provided spiritual strength and ideological weapons for the New Youth critique proves from another angle that the latter was the continuation and development of the historical struggle.
(3) The theories and tools of the New Youth critique as an inheritance of the quality of inclusiveness
Chinese civilization possesses outstanding inclusiveness. There are profound historical reasons for the formation of the quality of "incorporating things of diverse nature" (jiānyóng bìngxù) within fine traditional Chinese culture. For a long period, ancient China’s economy led the world. Under the influence of a "culture of tolerance" represented by "seeking common ground while reserving differences" and "harmony without uniformity," foreign trade and cultural exchanges were frequent. Typical examples include the formation of the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road [8], as well as the introduction and localization of Buddhism. Inclusiveness has always been a characteristic of fine traditional Chinese culture and a vital reason for the continuity of Chinese civilization over millennia. Since ancient times, the goal and result of Chinese civilization’s "tolerance" (róng) has been "integration" (róng): respecting differences and embracing diversity while seeking consensus, increasing commonality, promoting integration, and maintaining its own exuberant vitality through deep exchange, collision, and cooperation.
Supporters of Spiritualism in the late Qing used idealism as their theoretical basis, combining the experimental content of Western spiritualism—such as "telepathy" and "spirit photography"—with indigenous superstitions regarding the soul. The New Culture Movement "used the opponent's spear to strike their shield" [9]. The theories and tools used by New Youth in criticizing Spiritualism involved both the inheritance of ancient atheism and the absorption of Western imports like Darwinian evolution, Haeckel’s monism, and knowledge from physics, chemistry, and medicine. This manifested the inclusive quality of fine traditional Chinese culture.
The atheist thought displayed by proponents during the New Youth critique can be called a new stage in the development of Chinese atheism. This atheism was built on the foundation of natural science and mechanical materialism, taking the critique of Christian theology as its task. In particular, it used natural scientific achievements—such as biological evolution, cell theory, and the law of conservation of energy—as intellectual weapons to theoretically negate the existence of God and the creation of the world. Based on astronomy, it used scientific means to prove the materiality of the world and the formation of the solar system, thereby negating the mystery of "Heaven" and discarding the explanations of "Heaven" held by ancient proto-atheists. Simultaneously, it raised human agency to a new level of understanding, using modern phenomenology of spirit, human physiology, and anatomy to provide new explanations of spirit and consciousness. It demonstrated that the human brain is the material organ that produces consciousness, thereby proving the scientific validity of the "extinction of spirit upon the death of the form."
The 1918–1919 critique centered on New Youth occurred between the Russian October Revolution and China’s May Fourth Movement. During this process, architects of the New Culture Movement represented by Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu began to disseminate Marxism. In October 1918, Li Dazhao published The Victory of the Common People (Shùmín de shènglì) and The Victory of Bolshevism (Bolshevism de shènglì) in New Youth, pointing out that China should follow the path of the October Revolution. In April 1919, Chen Duxiu showed strong socialist tendencies in his articles Rigid Bonds and Orthodox Teachings (Gāngcháng míngjiào) and The Twentieth-Century Russian Revolution. Following the climax of the third critique of Spiritualism in Volume 6, Issue 4 of New Youth, Volume 6, Issue 5 became a special issue for introducing Marxist theory, represented by Li Dazhao’s My Marxist Views (Wǒ de Mǎkèsī zhǔyì guān) and Gu Zhaoxiong’s Marxist Theory. Thereafter, the enlightened atheist thought of the modern bourgeoisie was gradually replaced by Marxist atheism, which is based on the historical materialist worldview.
III. The Critique of Spiritualism in New Youth Created the Preconditions for the Emergence of Marxist Atheism
On June 2, 2023, at the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture have different sources, but there is a high degree of compatibility between them. Only with compatibility can there be organic integration." As an organic component of Marxism, Marxist atheism shares its fundamental nature. The concepts presented in the New Youth critique—valuing humans over gods, materialistic tendencies, anti-pseudoscientific attitudes, and inclusiveness—share a certain compatibility with the people-centered stance, theoretical foundation, and the scientific and open characteristics of Marxist atheism. This compatibility made the combination of Marxist atheism and fine traditional Chinese culture possible, forming the prerequisite for the emergence of Marxist atheism in China.
(1) The concept of valuing humans over gods is compatible with the people-centered stance of Marxist atheism
"Marxism is a theory of the people; it created for the first time an ideological system for the people to achieve their own liberation." Marxist atheism, as a constituent of Marxist theory, advocates for a people-centered approach, opposes all forms of deity worship, and emphasizes that "man makes religion, religion does not make man." It holds that man is the highest essence of man and demands that man be liberated from the slavery of gods to achieve a "return of man to himself as a social being."
The ancient Chinese idea of "valuing humans and de-emphasizing gods" was similarly human-centered, focusing on human existence. Expressions such as "The way of Heaven is distant, while the way of man is near," "Respect ghosts and gods but keep them at a distance" [10], "If you cannot service men, how can you serve ghosts? ... If you do not know about life, how can you know about death?" [11] and "Constraint the Mandate of Heaven and utilize it" all emphasized human value, human power, and the meaning of life. Although Marxist anthropological theory and the humanistic spirit of fine traditional Chinese culture differ in their time of emergence and specific content, both proceed from the human being and emphasize the subjective status of humans in the world and history. The content contained in the New Youth critique of Spiritualism includes both a longing for the ideological liberation of man and a pursuit of physical liberation. The anti-Spiritualists' understanding and critique of supernatural claims are close to the idea in Marxist atheism that views religious theology as an alienation of ideology, striving to break through this alienation to achieve historical progress synchronized with the awakening of human reason.
During the critique of Spiritualism, the Spiritualists propagated Buddhist karmic cycles. On the day the "Altar of Abundant Virtue" (Shèngdé tán) opened, they claimed to have invited 180 "deities, immortals, Buddhas," and "ghost-immortals" to join the festivities, rendering their religious superstitious behavior self-evident. In particular, Yu Fu’s elaboration on the farce of deceased figures like Lu Deming, Li Deng, and Jiang Yong descending through planchette writing (jiàngjī) to answer Wu Zhihui’s questions on phonology had the "greatest power to delude people." Chen Daqi pointed out sharply: "The nature of the Chinese people is to enjoy being slaves to the ancients, to take pride in being slaves, and to feel shame in breaking free from the shackles of the ancients." The Spiritualists' reverence for ghosts and gods was exactly an exploitation of this servility. Chen Duxiu went further in Querying the Existence of Ghosts (Yǒuguǐ lùn zhìyí) by exposing that the "spiritual realm," which Spiritualists believed possessed "individual nationalities, languages, customs, and clothing just like the human world," was actually based on human fantasy. In On the Destruction of Idols, he concluded that religion consists of "useless and deceptive idols" and that "its fundamental spirit belongs to a belief in dependency, taking the divine will as the supreme command... all should be destroyed!" In A Treatise on the Supernatural, Liu Shuya elevated the critique of the supernatural to the level of a duty and cause "to seek happiness for the masses." Although the intellectuals of the New Culture Movement had limitations of pragmatism and utilitarianism in their critique of religious ghosts and gods, they shared commonalities with the people-centered nature of Marxist atheism in valuing human worth and seeking human liberation.
(2) The ideological basis of atheism is compatible with the theoretical foundation of Marxist atheism
Marxist atheism, by virtue of dialectical materialism and historical materialism as its fundamental theory and method, exhibits essential attributes completely different from previous forms of atheism. While the atheist thought during the New Youth critique of Spiritualism had not yet reached the height of Marxist atheism, the materialistic genes contained in traditional Chinese proto-atheism and the monistic materialist views held by anti-Spiritualists in the New Culture Movement were compatible with the Marxist atheist requirement to "use the materialist viewpoint to explain the roots of faith and religion among the masses."
By the transition between the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the sprouts of materialist thought appeared within the system of religious theology. The I Ching (Book of Changes) and the "Great Plan" (Hongfan) [12] selected natural substances such as heaven, earth, water, and fire from real life to explain the origins, development, and transformation of all things in the world. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Laozi elevated the naive materialism of elemental theory to the level of the "theory of original qi" (yuanqi). During the Warring States Period, Xunzi made a breakthrough by using materialism to explain "Heaven" (tian), dialectically analyzing the relationship between perceptual and rational knowledge, and establishing atheism represented by materialism. Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty pointed out that the natural significance of Heaven lies in the physical substance composed of yuanqi, conducting a comprehensive and systematic critique of traditional theories of Mandate of Heaven. Fan Zhen of the Southern Qi and Liang Dynasties proposed the view that the spirit is generated from the physical body, enriching the epistemological content of ancient naive atheism. Zhang Zai and Wang Tingxiang of the Song and Ming Dynasties overcame the limitations of Fan Zhen, Liu Zongyuan, and Liu Yuxi, who had neglected the critique of the Buddhist theological worldview. Through the ontology of "original qi"—where "the void is nothing but qi"—they liquidated the religious worldview of Buddhist "idealism" (wei xin), marking another theoretical achievement of ancient naive atheism.
In the critique of spiritualism in New Youth, Yi Yixuan, a supporter of spiritualism, not only declared the existence of ghosts but went so far as to claim that ghosts "occupy no spatial position" and reside in a "nether realm," a thought typical of spirit-matter dualism. Chen Duxiu argued that by toppling dualism, the theoretical foundation of spiritualism would collapse of its own accord; as long as ghosts have a material form or material motion, science can certainly explain them clearly. Conversely, if ghosts have no form or substance, the so-called "netherworld of ghosts" is a hallucination. Liu Shuya also emphasized in his "On the Supernatural" (Lingyi lun) that "the intellectual circles of today’s China are similar to those of the European Middle Ages; except for materialist monism, there is no other effective medicine." Wang Xinggong, in his article "A Reply to 'The Appearance of Ghosts and Telepathy,'" used materialist monism to negate the energy-monism held by Mo Di and others through an analysis and explanation of atomic weight. The materialist monism used by the pioneers of the New Culture Movement in the anti-spiritualist debate was the materialist thought found in modern natural science. Although it was not yet guided by systematic dialectical materialism, it served as a catalyst for the further introduction and understanding of Marxist atheism.
(III) The alignment between the anti-pseudoscience attitude and the scientific characteristics of Marxist atheism
The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out: "We must treat science with a scientific attitude and pursue truth with the spirit of truth." Marxism's pursuit of truth is built upon scientific theory. Similarly, Marxist atheism possesses a scientific character; that is, it conducts a comprehensive study of religion based on economic, social, and other fields, arriving at the scientific positioning that religion belongs to the superstructure and is determined by the economic base. Although the word "science" (kexue) appeared in modern China, "investigating things to extend knowledge" (gewu zhizhi) [13] is an important concept in ancient Chinese philosophy. "Investigating things" (gewu) means exploring the ultimate principles of things with a spirit of getting to the bottom of the matter; "extending knowledge" (zhizhi) means extrapolating the knowledge already obtained through investigation to achieve the goal of mastering the ultimate laws of all things. Its significance lies in seeking truth and wisdom by observing natural phenomena and excavating the deep levels of the human inner world. In the Chinese educational system, gewu zhizhi is a basic method of learning and an attitude toward pursuing knowledge and expanding one's horizons. Modern spiritualism was pseudoscientific, fundamentally at odds with the spirit of seeking truth in fine traditional Chinese culture, and diametrically opposed to the "science" advocated by the New Culture Movement. The exposure of superstitious behaviors such as "planchette writing" (fuji) [14] and "spirit photography" in the New Youth critique of spiritualism from 1918 to 1919 demonstrated an alignment with the scientific qualities of Marxist atheism.
The spiritualists regarded planchette writing as a "scientific method" capable of proving the existence of the soul, believing that the technique proved the fact of communication with spirits. "Scientific" means such as "spirit photography," Western "hypnotism," and "thought-graphy" (nianxie) were used by spiritualists to confirm the existence of the soul, attempting to wrap spiritualism in scientific packaging. Lu Xun's critique of the spiritualists' use of the name of science to delude the people was incisive. He accused these people of "first dragging science hither and thither to mix it into ghost stories, rendering right and wrong indistinguishable, until even science takes on a demonic air." In fact, "the group of people who love telling ghost stories hate science the most" and "must think of a method to exclude it." Chen Daqi's "Repudiating Spiritualism" (Pi lingxue) reflected the progressive thought of refuting the theory of ghosts and gods from the perspectives of biology and psychology. In this article, he first clarified that planchette writing is a fraud, with the only difference being "intentional" versus "unintentional." He then revealed that the "planchette writing and other phenomena... highly praised by the spiritualists... are seen by modern psychology as purely abnormal psychological phenomena of the practitioner." "The movement of the planchette is aided by the practitioner"; it is merely an unconscious muscular movement produced by the person under psychological suggestion. At the same time, Chen Daqi analyzed and pointed out that experiments used by spiritualists to prove the existence of spirits, such as the Western "magic pendulum" and "thought-reading," were all results of subconsciousness movement. The strategy of using science to oppose the pseudoscience of spiritualism by the critics showed a process in which the understanding of science transitioned from vague to gradually clear.
(IV) The alignment between the tradition of all-inclusiveness and the open characteristics of Marxist atheism
Marxism is a constantly evolving and open theory. Marxist atheism is an inseparable part of the whole of Marxism and therefore also possesses open characteristics. On the one hand, the process of the emergence and formation of Marxist atheism fully demonstrates its openness and inclusiveness. Marxist atheism arose on the basis of Western atheist thought and through the critique of Western religious theology. Just as Marxism is an all-inclusive synthesis of German classical philosophy, English classical political economy, and French utopian socialism, atheist thoughts represented by Lucian and Lucretius during the Renaissance [15], as well as atheist thoughts based on natural science during the Enlightenment, all became important ideological sources for Marxist atheism. At the same time, Marxist atheism "completely inherited the materialist historical tradition of the 18th century in France and Feuerbach in the first half of the 19th century in Germany—that is, the materialist historical tradition of absolute atheism and resolute opposition to all religion." Subsequently, with the publication of works such as the Theses on Feuerbach, The Holy Family, The German Ideology, and the Communist Manifesto, and the critique and exposure of capitalist society at that time, Marxist atheism was eventually established on the basis of the materialist conception of history and the theory of surplus value.
On the other hand, "the history of the development of Marxism is a history in which Marx, Engels, and their successors have continuously evolved based on the development of the times, practice, and knowledge; it is a history of continuously absorbing all the excellent ideological and cultural achievements in human history to enrich itself." In its development, Marxist atheism must continuously accept and absorb advanced ideological and cultural achievements worldwide, which provides the possibility for its integration with fine traditional Chinese culture. Similarly, "all-inclusiveness" (jianrong bingxu) is where the inclusiveness of fine traditional Chinese culture lies. This characteristic not only provided scientific theories and tools for the New Youth critique of spiritualism, but its open sentiment of "the sea admitting all rivers" (hainabachuan) and "harmony without uniformity" (he'er butong) also aligned with the openness of Marxist atheism, clearing the obstacles for Chinese culture to accept and integrate with Marxist atheism. Marxist atheism is a scientific and advanced theory, capable of injecting theoretical vitality into the five-thousand-year-old Chinese culture to make it radiant with youth once again. Fine traditional Chinese culture provided the cultural soil for Marxist atheism to take root in China. The openness of Marxist atheism and the inclusiveness of fine traditional Chinese culture both express an inherent demand for all-inclusiveness, "weeding through the old to bring forth the new" (tuguxiujin), and innovative development. This alignment provided the prerequisite and foundation for the final "combination" of the two.
IV. Conclusion
The critique of spiritualism centered on New Youth from 1918 to 1919 was a typical case of "metabolism" and "renewal" in the field of modern Chinese thought and belief, as well as a landmark event that can be recorded in the annals of Chinese atheism. The many points of alignment between fine traditional Chinese culture and Marxist atheism demonstrated in this process played the role of "hearing the voice before seeing the person" in promoting the appearance of Marxist atheism in modern China. Subsequently, in the 1922 "Anti-Christian Movement," Li Dazhao and others accurately expressed the understanding of scientific atheism held by early Chinese Marxists. Furthermore, in the "Science vs. Metaphysics Debate" of 1923–1924, Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, and others used Marxist dialectical materialism and historical materialism as "magic weapons" for the debate, facilitating the formal appearance of Marxist atheism in modern China. To this day, only by adhering to scientific atheism can we fully practice the Core Socialist Values; only by adhering to scientific atheism can we realize true freedom of religious belief; only by adhering to scientific atheism can we highlight the unique advantages of fine traditional Chinese culture; and only by adhering to scientific atheism can we achieve the historical transcendence of socialist culture. This is the arduous task and inevitable requirement put forward by the New Era to ensure the continuous presence of Marxist atheism.