Attacked under its own banner The New Culture Movement changed the course of modern Chinese cultural history, but was powerless to prevent China's division into warlord fiefdoms or the warlord-dominated Beijing government's abdication of authority and national dignity. The New Youth also debated endlessly on the direction China should take, and splits arose between the leading figures of the May Fourth Movement.
新文化運動改變了近代中國文化走勢，對軍閥割據、北洋政府喪權辱國的局面卻無力回天，新青年也為中國往那裡去爭論不休，五四領導人物因此分裂。