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Students in Beijing rallied during the May Fourth Movement.
The 'May Fourth Movement' () was an anti-
imperialist, cultural, and political movement in early modern
China. Beginning on
May 4,
1919, it marked the upsurge of
Chinese nationalism, and a re-evaluation of Chinese cultural institutions, such as
Confucianism. The movement grew out of dissatisfaction with the
Treaty of Versailles settlement, termed the
Shandong Problem. Coming out of the
New Culture Movement, the end result was a drastic change in society that fueled the birth of the
Communist Party of China.
Background
Following the
Xinhai Revolution in
1911, the
Qing Dynasty was overthrown. This marked the end of thousands of years of powerful imperial rule, and theoretically ushered a new era in which political power rested with the people. However, the reality was that China was a fragmented nation dominated by
warlords, who were more concerned with their own political powers and private armies than national interests. The Chinese
Beiyang government was occupied with suppressing internal affairs, and did little to counter the influence exerted by imperialist foreign powers. The Beiyang government made various concessions to foreigners in order to gain monetary and military support against their rivals. This, together with the continuing tangled warfare among warlords, led to great suffering among the population.
Furthermore, the development of the
New Culture Movement promoted the questioning and re-appraisal of millennia-old Chinese values. Defeats by foreign powers and the presence of
spheres of influence only further inflamed the sense of
nationalism among the people.
Cause and outbreak
China had entered
World War I on the side of the Allied
Triple Entente in 1917 with the condition that all
German spheres of influence, such as
Shandong, would be returned to China. That year, 140,000 Chinese laborers (as a part of the
British army, the Chinese Labor Corp) were sent to
France[1]. Instead of rewarding China for its contribution to the Allies’ victory, the
Versailles Treaty of April, 1919, awarded
Shandong Province to
Japan.
The representatives of the Chinese government put forth the following requests:
# the abolition of all privileges in China of foreign powers, such as
extraterritoriality;
# the cancelling of the "
Twenty-One Demands" with the Japanese; and
# the return to China of the territory of
Shandong, which
Japan had taken from
Germany during World War I.
The Western Allies dominated the meeting and paid little heed to the Chinese representatives' demands.
Britain and
France were primarily interested in punishing
Germany. Although the
United States promoted
Woodrow Wilson's utopian
Fourteen Points and the ideals of
self-determination at the conference, Wilson abandoned most of these ideals in the face of stubborn resistance by
David Lloyd George and
Georges Clemenceau. American advocacy of
self-determination at the
League of Nations was attractive to Chinese intellectuals, but the failure of the
United States to follow through was seen as a betrayal. Chinese diplomatic failure at the
Paris Peace Conference became the incident that touched off the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, and became known as the "
Shandong Problem".
Protest
On the morning of May 4th, 1919 student representatives from thirteen different local universities met in
Peking and drafted five resolutions.
# Opposed the granting of Shandong to the Japanese under former German concessions.
# Draw awareness of China's precarious position to the masses in China.
# Recommend a large-scale gathering in Peking.
# Promote the creation of a Peking student union
# Hold a demonstration that afternoon in protest to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. (Spence 1999, pg299)
On the afternoon of May 4th over 3000 students of
Peking University and other schools gathered together in front of
Tiananmen and held a demonstration. The general opinion is that the Chinese government was "spineless"
1. They voiced their anger at the Allied betrayal of China and the government's inability to secure Chinese interests in the conference.
They shouted out such slogans as "Struggle for the sovereignty externally, get rid of the national traitors at home", "Do away with the '
Twenty-One Demands'", "Don't sign the
Versailles Treaty". They demanded punishment to figures as
Cao Rulin,
Zhang Zongxiang, and
Lu Zongyu, who held important posts as diplomats. The enraged students even burnt down Cao Rulin's house. The Beiyang government suppressed the demonstration and arrested many students, with one student dying in the event
1.
The next day, students in
Beijing as a whole went on strike, and students in other parts of the country responded one after another. From early June, in order to support the students' struggle, workers and businessmen in
Shanghai also went on strike. The center of the movement moved from Beijing to Shanghai. In addition to students and intellectuals, the lower class was also very angry at the current state of affairs, such as mistreatment of workers and perpetual poverty of small peasants. Under intense public outcry, the Beiyang government had to release the arrested students and dismiss
Cao Rulin,
Zhang Zongxiang and
Lu Zongyu from their posts. Also, the Chinese representatives in
Paris refused to sign on the peace treaty: the May Fourth Movement won the initial victory. However, this move was more symbolic than anything else. Japan still retained control of the
Shandong Peninsula and the islands in the Pacific it had obtained during
World War I.
Legacy
The New Culture Movement
The May 4th Movement basically showed that a strong Confucian tradition failed to make China a strong nation. The May 4th movement protest proved that China's position in the world had diminished. Intellectuals were in search of weaknesses and looked for ways to fix China, which was fragmented and humiliated by foreign nations
1.
Chen Duxiu was one of the key figures in starting the
New Culture Movement in 1915 publishing a journal called
New Youth. He did begin with the initial intention of promoting individual freedom, science, democracy and emancipation of women.
Another direction was the introduction of
Vernacular Chinese (白话) by
Hu Shi. In theory, the new Chinese format allowed people with little education to read texts, articles and books.
Classical Chinese, which had been the written language prior to the movement, was only known by highly educated people and mostly officials. The literary output of this time was huge: great writers of the coming years published their first works in that time, such as
Mao Dun,
Lao She,
Lu Xun and
Bing Xin. Lu Xun, was the first novelist to write articles in the vernacular language in a book titled
The True Story of Ah Q1.
A large number of Western doctrines became fashionable, particularly those which reinforced the cultural criticism and nation-building impulses of the movement. Anarchism, which had been influential earlier in the century, was largely displaced by socialism. The pragmatism of William James and John Dewey became popular, the latter through the work of
Hu Shi, who later championed
Chinese liberalism more broadly (though in an increasingly embattled position). Lu Xun was associated with the ideas of Nietzsche, which were also propagated by
Li Shicen,
Mao Dun and many other intellectuals of the time.
Birth of Chinese Communism
After the demonstrations in 1919 and their suppression the discussion became more and more political. People like
Chen Duxiu and
Li Dazhao shifted more to the Left and were among the leading founders of the 1921
Communist Party of China. Originally voluntaristic or nihilistic figures like
Li Shicen and
Zhu Qianzhi made similar turns to the Left as the 1920s led China into ever more threatening times.
According to the CPC:
The May Fourth Movement served as an intellectual turning point in China. It was the seminal event that radicalized Chinese intellectual thought. Previously Western style liberal democracy had a degree of traction amongst Chinese intellectuals. However the
Versailles Treaty was viewed as a betrayal.
Woodrow Wilson's
Fourteen Points, cloaked as they were by
moralism, were seen as Western-centrist and hypocritical.
Many in the Chinese intellectual community noted that the United States did nothing to convince the imperialist powers (most notably, Britain, France, and Japan) to adhere to the Fourteen Points, and furthermore the United States declined to join the
League of Nations; and as a result turned away from Western liberal democracy. Marxism began to take hold in Chinese intellectual thought, particular among those already on the Left. It was during this time that
communism was studied seriously by some Chinese intellectuals such as
Chen Duxiu and
Li Dazhao.
Some historians have speculated that Chinese history might have taken a different course had the United States taken a stronger position on
Woodrow Wilson's
Fourteen Points and
self-determination. The United States was not a major
imperialist power (the
Spanish-American War being the primary exception) and, having suffered little damage from
World War I, was in a position to take a strong anti-imperialist stance. However, it was unlikely, given the prevailing
isolationist mood in the United States at the time.
Other aspects
Boycott of Japanese products in this period slightly boosted the industries of China. Some Historians consider the May Fourth Movement the deciding feature of recent Chinese History. This is best expressed by Rana Mitter in his critically acclaimed Bitter Revolution.
Notes
1. Luo, Jing. [2004] (2004). Over a Cup of Tea: An Introduction to Chinese Life and Culture. University Press of America. ISBN 0761829377
References
★
Spence, Jonathan D. ''The Search for Modern China''. ISBN 0-393-30780-8 New York: Norton, 1999.
★ Chow Tse-Tsung: The May Fourth Movement. Intellectual Revolution in Modern China (Cambridge/Mass.: Harvard University), 1960.
★ Schwarcz, Vera: The Chinese enlightenment: intellectuals and the legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 (1986). Berkeley: University of California Press.
★ Zarrow, Peter, “Intellectuals, the Republic, and a new culture”, in Zarrow, Peter: China in war and revolution, 1895-1949 (New York: Routledge), 2005, 133-143.
★ Zarrow, Peter, “Politics and culture in the May Fourth Movement”, in Zarrow, Peter: China in war and revolution, 1895-1949 (New York: Routledge), 2005, 149-169.
See also
★
New Culture Movement
★
Yan'an Rectification Movement
★
History of the Republic of China
★
Warlord era
★
A Madman's Diary
★ Bitter Revolution, Rana Mitter
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