After the Cultural Revolution, the May 4th tradition of Enlightenment was resumed by the intellectuals of new era. Early 80's enlightenment tended to conspire with the national ideology, therefore, some experts apted to nominate the Enlightenment post-1984 as New Enlightenment. New Enlightenment, not only had the demand for the homogenization with the western modernization, but also had the potential character that would critically reflect it. Since 1990s, New Enlightenment has gradually lost its capablity of the criticism and diagnosis for social problems in contemporary China. Even it goes splitted,Enlightenment still has a raison d'etre as a cultural standpoint and a mode of discourse in term of social criticism and selfreflection.