Background: the New Culture Movement
After the 1911 revolution the Republic was weak, and many thinkers believed that China’s deeper problem was in ideas and habits. In 1915 Chen Duxiu began the magazine New Youth (Xin Qingnian). Writers such as Hu Shih, Lu Xun and Li Dazhao joined. This is the New Culture Movement.
- "Mr. Democracy" and "Mr. Science": the movement said China needed democracy and science.
- Everyday language: they urged writers to use the spoken language (baihua) instead of difficult classical Chinese, so more people could read and write.
- Questioning old habits: they asked hard questions about family customs, the position of women and the old exam-based learning.
Beijing University, led by Cai Yuanpei, became a centre of these ideas. A generation of students was ready to act.
Course of May Fourth
China joined World War I on the side of the Allies in 1917 and sent labourers to Europe. People hoped that the peace talks would return the German rights in Shandong. But at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 the powers agreed to give them to Japan, and some Chinese officials had earlier agreed to deals with Japan.
On 4 May 1919 more than 3,000 students from 13 Beijing colleges gathered at Tiananmen and marched through the city. Their slogans called to defend China’s rights abroad and to punish traitors at home. Some students went to the house of an official, Cao Rulin, and set fire to it; police arrested dozens of students.
The arrests caused a wave of support. Students in many cities boycotted classes. From 5 June workers in Shanghai went on strike and shopkeepers closed their shops, so the movement became national. The government released the students, dismissed three officials (Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang and Lu Zongyu), and China’s delegation in Paris did not sign the Treaty of Versailles.
Significance of May Fourth
May Fourth is usually seen as a turning point:
- A mass patriotic movement: students, shopkeepers and workers acted together for the first time on a national issue.
- Workers on the stage: the Shanghai strike showed that city workers could be a political force.
- New ideas spread: everyday writing, new schools of thought and ideas such as Marxism, anarchism and liberalism became widely read.
- New organisations: some intellectuals, such as Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, helped found the Communist Party of China in 1921. The Guomindang was reorganised with help from Sun Yat-sen in 1924.
Historians debate how much each part owed to the New Culture Movement or to the protest, but all agree that it changed the direction of modern Chinese politics and culture.
Try it
Make a "three layers" chart in your notebook: the layer of ideas (1915), the layer of anger (May 1919), and the layer of action. Colour each layer and add one date to each. Then press the three buttons in the 3D to see the results.
Key formulas and definitions
- Dates: 1915 New Youth; 4 May 1919 student march; 5 June 1919 Shanghai strikes; 1921 Communist Party founded.
- Key people: Chen Duxiu, Hu Shih, Lu Xun, Li Dazhao, Cai Yuanpei.
- Key terms: baihua = everyday written language; New Culture = a movement of new ideas.
- Numbers: over 3,000 students; 13 colleges; 3 officials dismissed.
Worked examples
1. Why did the Shandong decision cause so much anger?
China had been on the winning side in the war and expected its territory to be returned, but Germany’s rights went to Japan. People saw it as an insult to China’s independence.
2. Name two results of the May Fourth protests.
Three officials were dismissed and the Chinese delegation did not sign the peace treaty. Also workers and merchants joined politics and new ideas spread.
3. How did the New Culture Movement prepare for May Fourth?
It raised new ideas such as democracy and national responsibility and gave students the habit of discussion and action, so they were ready to act when the Shandong decision came.
Common mistakes
- Saying May Fourth began the Communist Party directly. It created conditions; the Party was founded in 1921.
- Mixing the date 4 May 1919 (students) with 5 June 1919 (workers’ strikes).
- Thinking the New Culture Movement started in 1919. It began about 1915.
- Saying China signed the Treaty of Versailles. Its delegation refused to sign.