Abstract: At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, many people with lofty ideals participated in the discussion how to save the nation. In the surging tide of saving the nation and the people at that time, a major ideological trend of saving the nation by sports was formed. By the time of the May Fourth Movement, Chen Duxiu raised the two banners of science and democracy, and set off a wave of enlightenment to criticize the dross of traditional Chinese culture and learn advanced culture from the West. Chen Duxiu and the young Mao Zedong explored the unprecedented profound and rich ideological resources for the ideology of saving the nation by sports respectively from the perspective of criticizing the ideology of emphasizing literacy over military exercise in the traditional culture and from the perspective of criticizing the conception of advocatingtranquilityrather than motion.

Key words: saving the country by sports, sports thought, emphasizing literacy, advocating tranquility, sports history