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"God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown."
-- Nietzsche

With the recent death of Deng Xiaoping, China is about to enter a new era. The remainder of the revolutionary old guard is gone. As a result of this change, the debate on modernity may once again fire up. Should China continue its current path toward achieving status as a modern nation by building up a strong nationalistic sentiment backed by a 'benevolent dictatorship' of the communist party, or adapt a more liberal system with more emphasis given to the rights of individuals?. Liberalism and its relationship with individualism is a very abstract concept, which has a wide range of meanings. In this paper, I will discuss what some of the leading Chinese intellectuals' attitudes towards "liberalism" and how it differs from nationalism.

Which path should China take in order to modernize itself? This is a question which arose during the aftermath of the Opium war. The first answer to the modernity question was a mixture of Chinese essence and Western learning--in other words, taking only science and technology from the West, but not adopting Western culture, political theory or philosophies such as nationalism or individualism. The Sino-Japanese War of 1895 showed that such an approach was a failure, because the Chinese leadership during that time failed to understand the power modern nation-states can possess. The Chinese nation during that time was only beginning to learn about modern nationalism and the capability and power it holds.

China's defeat in that war appears inevitable for many reasons. Since the Meiji reform, Japan had become a modern state in which a nationalistic consciousness bonded the government and people into a unified body. Therefore, the Japanese nation could act behind a single objective. The war was fought with the wholly consolidated might of the Japanese nation. In China, the state polity was still basically pre-modern, with the government and people forming separate entities. The war hardly affected the people at all, where as in China, the war was fought mostly by Li Hung-Chang who was the most powerful Chang official during that time. In addition, there was no clear demarcation of authority, no unity of command, and no nationwide mobilization in China. "Western observers pithily described the war as one between Li and Japan." (Hsu 1975:418) To make matters worse, Li did not have authority over other Chinese military organizations such as the Nanyang and the two fleets at Guangdong and Fujin. In short, victory was impossible for China because China's lack of the ability to use its national power. Li's regional forces were pitted against the entire might of the Japanese empire. The war showed that simply adopting Western technology without changes in the government structure, people's idea of the a national government, or a total mobilization of national military organizations is ineffective. China can not win a modern all our nation-state war without support from its people. The sentiment that would allow China's citizens to unite and support a national quest is nationalism.

For many Chinese in the early 20th century, a new ideology was needed to replace the so-called outdated Confucianism. In the eyes of most of the educated youth, the Republican revolution of 1911 bought nothing but despair. They could plainly see that the Chinese people were still submitting themselves to would-be emperors and warlords. These ambitious warlords were by no means acting for the best interest of China. The acceptance of the twenty-one demands under the pressure of the Japanese government and the possibility of losing the Shan-Dong Peninsula in the Paris Peace Conference were perfect examples. During the May Fourth movement, the search for that new ideology was intensified by the young and despaired Chinese intellectuals. The question about China's path toward modernity was once again asked and debated. Should China select nationalism or another Western concept which favors individualism and general education of the populace--namely liberalism?