The book categorizes the debates on the direction of Chinese culture at that time into three schools. 

It criticizes the limitations of the first two schools, which either clung to tradition or took a compromising stance, and advocates for  Westernization to thoroughly restructure Chinese social structure. The author argues that culture is an indivisible whole and that only by comprehensively introducing Western systems, technology, and values can China achieve a modern transformation in politics, economy, and education.