 During the May Fourth Movement, he was a student representative, spreading the news of student movements in Beijing.In 1919, he helped publish two magazines called "Xin Shehui" (新社會 "New Society") and "Jiuguo jiangyan zhoukan" (救國講演周報 "National Salvation Speeches Weekly").In January 1921, Zheng Zhenduo and twelve others, including Mao Dun and Ye Shengtao founded the earliest literary society of the New Literature Movement, "Wenxue yanjiu hui" (Literary Research Association 文學研究會, also known as the Literary Association), which advocated realism and opposed art for art's sake.