neighbors separated by a narrow strip of water, China and Japan have periodic rises and falls in their diplomatic relationship, but there are many things the two countries share in common. China experienced great social upheaval and Japan went through World War II, but despite these different historical traumas, both resolved to assign priority to economic development. Yet how will the dramatic social changes and the fading away of tradition affect the Chinese and Japanese people, especially the thought and values of their young people. Amid dramatic social changes and turbulence in values, what are the characteristics of their young people’s attitudes and behavior? Focusing on such problems, the author of this paper spent four years carrying out indepth investigations and research on college students’ understanding of nature, ecological and environmental issues, etc. The college students in this study came from nearly 20 universities in Japan and 20 universities in China. This paper will undertake a detailed comparative analysis of the ideological and value orientations of young people in China and Japan.

Lu Xun (1881‐1936), one of the foremost thinkers and writers in modern China, has been described by the official ideology as “materialist” and “Marxist” since the year of 1949; however, Lu Xun’s thoughts are actually much more complex than these depictions. Thinking critically on religious issues, Lu Xun put forward many unique perspectives. During the earlier stage, Lu Xun valued the religious function of salvation in the aspect of “saving morals and human minds of the time”, and applied it in his practice to cultivate humanity of the people and to reconstruct belief systems of the nation; in the later stage, he focused on certain elements of religious superstitions and the negative impact of religion on the lower classes, while his later views on religion also constituted an important part of his overall criticism on Chinese traditional belief systems. It is Lu Xun’s unswerving thoughts and practices to transform national characters that hold together his early‐stage ideas on religious culture and his thoughts in the late phase.

The relationship between Li Qingzhao and Buddhism has been less concerned. Self‐titled Yi’an Jushi,it couldn’t just be the reason of self‐loftiness. From the research of existing historical data, family misfortune, seedless and the influence of friends and family were the main reasons made Li Qingzhao approached to Buddhism. From the use of her Ci‐poetry allusion, imagery and realm,we can also find Li Qingzhao’s attitude about Buddhism. And with a new view of Buddhism, the problems such as the choice of imagery, the method of rhetoric and the style of Li Qingzhao’s Ci‐poems can be interpreted in a new way. Because of her unique life experience, Li Qingzhao approached Buddhism to relief the pain of life, and organic merged Buddhist thought into her works. The sadness and beauty of Li Qingzhao’s works just come from this. So, “Li Qingzhao’s indifference to Religion” is worth discussing, and the relationship between female Buddhist literati and Buddhism is still a subject worthy of further exploration and study.