They opposed cliched formalism in writing, and advocated the use of the modern vernacular instead of the previously dominant classical Chinese. They decried China's "cannibalistic" feudal ethical code and Confucianism, and demanded women's rights, the liberation of the individual from the family and so on.
他們反對八股、提倡白話文，高喊打倒吃人禮教、孔家店，要求婦女權利、個人從家庭中解放… …。