胡适

A Columbia PhD student of John Dewey, Hu's 1917 essay 《文学改良刍议》 in 《新青年》 called for replacing classical Chinese with 白话文 in literature, arguably the single most influential Chinese essay of the 20th century. He later served as ROC ambassador to the US 1938-1942.

Hu's liberal, pragmatist stance made him a target under Mao (the 1954-55 胡适思想批判 campaign produced millions of words of state-sponsored criticism) but a hero in Taiwan, where he headed 中央研究院 until his death. Post-1980s mainland rehabilitation has made his name safe again in Chinese classrooms.