8. The May the Fourth Movement

What was the May the Fourth movement?

a series of strikes and protests against China

What was the trigger cause of the May the Fourth movement?

• a clause in the Treaty of Versailles which stated that what had been German controlled areas in Shandong province in China were to be given to the Japanese. 

• Many ordinary Chinese people were furious about this.  A key principle emphasised at the peace negotiations had been that of self-determination – allowing people with a shared race, history and culture to rule themselves.  Giving parts of China to Japan violated that principle and made the Chinese, who had supported the allies in the war, feel that they did not count.

What happened on May 4th 1919 and what followed??

• Students from Beijing University led a protest to Tiananmen Square. They called on the government to resist what they saw as the humiliation of China by refusing to sign the Treaty of Versailles. 

• Soon protests and strikes followed in other cities.  The Chinese government felt obliged to listen to their people and refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.  

What were the outcomes of the May 4th Movement?

• The fact that the Chinese government did not sign the Treaty of Versailles

• a set of ideas known as the New Tide.  Those who adopted the New Tide, emphasised the importance of freedom, democracy and equal rights and rejected everything they felt had held China back in the past, especially the ideas and practices of the Qing dynasty.  The ideas of the New Tide inspired the Chinese revolutionary groups who fought for unity and independence from the 1920s onwards.