A 5000-student demonstration in Beijing on 4 May 1919 against the Western powers' Versailles decision granting Japan rights over Shandong (Shantung). The protest crystallized nationwide aspirations for a new China, and inspired both revolutionary and gradualist strands in the New Culture Movement.
The May Fourth Movement (Traditional Chinese: 五四運動, Simplified Chinese: 五四运动, pinyin: wǔ sì yùn dòng) was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement in early modern China. Taking place 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, and the effect of the New Cultural Movement.
Background
Following the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, marking the end of 5,000 years of imperial rule and theoretically ushering in a new era during 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 the survival of their own private armies, and by foreigners, who had commercial and semi-colonial interests in China. The Chinese Beiyang government was preoccupied with suppressing internal dissent and did little to counter the influence exerted by imperialist foreign powers. Furthermore, the development of the New Cultural Movement promoted the questioning and re-appraisal of millennia-old Chinese values. In addition, defeats against foreign powers and the presence of spheres of influence only further inflamed the sense of nationalism among the Chinese people, particularly in students.
Outbreak and course of the May Fourth Movement
The Beijing government entered World War I on the side of the Allied Triple Entente in 1917, on the condition that all German spheres of influence, such as Shandong, would be returned to China. However, Japan also entered the war as an Allied power and proceeded to attack German interests in China and annexed German spheres of influence when the war ended. The representatives of the Chinese government put forth the following requests:
abolish all imperialist privileges, such as foreigners' immunity in Chinese courts, in China. cancel the "Twenty-One Demands" with the Japanese return Chinese territorial integrity 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. Although American advocacy of self-determination the League of Nations was attractive to Chinese intellectuals, the failure of the United States to follow through was seen as a betrayal. The failure in diplomacy of China at the Paris Peace Conference became the incident that touched off the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, and was known as the "Shandong Problem". The second was to draw awareness of China's precarious position to the masses in China. They voiced their anger at the Allied betrayal of China and the government's inability to secure Chinese interests in the conference.
The next day, students in Beijing as a whole went on strike, and students in other parts of the country responded one after another. The center of the movement moved from Beijing to Shanghai. Also, the Chinese representatives in Paris refused to sign on the peace treaty: the May Fourth Movement won the initial victory. It indicated that this would be an unequal treaty to which the Chinese people would not submit.
Historical significance and the New Cultural Movement
The people in the movement talked about a wide range of different topics and to a wider range of people than ever before. Introducing the Vernacular Chinese (白话), meant that people with just a little education could 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. Now people who went to school for just a couple of years could read articles, write articles themselves and participate in the movement. According to the CPC:
The May Fourth Movement was a thoroughly anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolutionary movement. The Chinese working class went up on the political stage, and functioned as the main force in the later period of the movement. Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and other intellectuals directed and promoted the development of the movement, and played leading roles in it.The May Fourth Movement covered more than 20 provinces and over 100 cities of the country.
The May Fourth Movement promoted the spreading of Marxism in China, and prepared the ideological foundation for the establishment of the Communist Party of China. The October Revolution pointed out the direction for the Chinese revolution. The May Fourth Movement, which took place after the October Socialist Revolution, was a part of the world's Proletarian Revolution.
The May Fourth Movement marked the beginning of the New Democratic Revolution 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.
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; Marxism (Leninism) 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.
Boycott of Japanese products in this periods slightly boosted the industries of China.
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