Abstract: Since the 1990s,“postism” has become the discourse resource for Chinese neo-conservatism.Some scholars brought forward a proposal with Chinese characteristics,analyzed the modernity standpoint of neo-enlightenmentism,and answered the global challenge by reconstructing local culture.The conservative cultural connotation of postism and its deficiency caused great discontentment from the neo-enlightenment scholars,and this led to the discourse controversy between postism and neo-enlightenmentism.Postism and neo-enlightenmentism are two important answers of the intellectuals in the new era when they are faced with the complicated questions of modernization,westernization,and nationalization.During the age of globalization,it is a question for both the postism critics and the new-enlightenment scholars to establish the image of Chinese culture,to effectively speed up the process of cultural modernization,and to overcome the dilemma between culture and spirit.

Key words: postism, neo-enlightenment, modernity, neo-conservatism, Chinese characteristics