Abstract: The interweaving and competition between “national salvation” and “enlightenment”，“politics” and “culture” after the May Fourth Movement are an important clue for us to understand modern Chinese history. The student societies established by Chinese modern intellectuals during the May 4th Movement provided both the communication mechanism for the spread of the New Culture Movement，and the organizational foundation for the Chinese Communist party，which helped Communism take root in China. The “Liqun（benefiting the society）Bookstore”，initiated by Yun Daiying，was such an organization that played “the linkage”between local society and modern cultural and political ideas. Understanding the organizational principles，structures，ethics，and identities and beliefs of its key members is of great significance to our understanding of the localization of social changes. Existing studies mostly present Yun Daiying as a moralist intellectual influenced by Confucian ethics. However，following this line of thought，it is difficult for us to understand why Yun Daiying turned from a moderate moralist activist into a radical revolutionary. This paper argues that Yun Daiying’s radicalization comes from the combined effect of both Wang Yang-min’s philosophy and Christian socialism，which enables him to develop a moral cognition common with communists，and an inherent affinity with Bolshevism. The dilemma of his moral commitment impels him to go for mass political activities to implement his unfinished moral ideals in a new way. Yun Daiying’s early experience shows us the moral confusion faced by intellectuals with Confucian background when facing the modern political order in the transitional era and their expectations to bridge the tension between “morality” and “politics”. This helps us to understand the moral preferences of the Chinese communist revolution，and the modern transformation of Confucian China.

Key words: morality, politics, Wang Yang-ming’s School of mind, Christian socialism, communist revolution