MAY FOURTH MOVEMENT

INTRODUCTION
The May Fourth Movement was an intellectual and reformist movement that
reached its peak in 1919. This movement was initiated mainly by university
students angry at China’s treatment at the hands of Western powers. They
were particularly outraged by the treatment of Shandong province, which was
given to the Japanese after World War I.
THE “NEW CULTURE”
1. At the forefront of this was the New Culture movement began in China
around 1916. The movement articulated the contempt for traditional
Chinese culture felt by many Chinese intellectuals. These intellectuals
blame traditional Chinese values for the dramatic and rapid fall of China
into a subordinate international position and maintained that it
prevented China from matching the industrial and military development
of Japan and the West and thus were prone to be a victim of
imperialism.
2. Beginning in the mid-1910s, exponents of New Culture argued that
Confucianism and classical philosophy had little relevance or value in
20th-century China. For China to survive and prosper, it had to adapt and
embrace modern ideas and values.
3. The New Culture Movement launched withering attacks on
Confucianism and outdated social values like hierarchy, paternalism,
obedience and unquestioning respect. New Culture writers supported
the introduction of Western social and political concepts and values,
including democracy, republicanism, self-determination, equality and
individual liberties.
CAUSES:
1. RISE OF NATIONALISM- Sentiments of nationalism and national self-
determination appealed to Chinese intellectuals. Moreover, rolling
events of epochal significance were occurring in different parts of the
world: the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917; the socialist revolts in
Finland, Germany, Austria and Hungary and the rice riots in Japan in
1918. In contrast, China was plagued by chaos and warlordism. Chinese
 intellectuals felt deeply committed to reviving their civil war-torn
country.
2. EMERGENCE OF NEW INTELLECTUAL- Scholars like Yiian-p'ei and Hu
Shih received a classical education in their youth. These new
intellectuals were products of a transitional period-all thoroughly
grounded in Chinese classical studies and yet well acquainted with
Western civilization. When they returned home, they functioned as
leaven in transforming China's literary and intellectual personality.

3. The Treaty of Versailles- The “May Fourth Movement” was triggered by

the draft Treaty of Versailles. Yuan Shikai‘s government had supported
the Allies in the war, on the condition that foreign influence in China
would be abolished. In 1919, China had no effective national
government, meaning that Chinese negotiators in France found it
difficult to push their claims. Chinese interests were consequently
overlooked in the Versailles treaty, which handed Germany’s sphere of
influence in Shandong over to the Japanese.
Angered by China’s shoddy treatment in Paris encouraged many professors
and radical students at Beijing University began to mobilise. They drafted a
manifesto condemning the Versailles treaty and the government
representatives who failed to prevent it.
OUTCOME
After the May Fourth movement, modern western patriotism and the
conception of an independent, socialist -state developed rapidly in China. Mass
movement, propaganda, and organisation were considered justifiable
techniques for their struggle against politics and warlordism. Therefore, the
movement can be regarded as a turning point where China brought a new
wave of socio-political and intellectual movements to combat twentieth-
century imperialism.