The "May 4th Movement"' or "new culture" movement began in China around 1916, which reflected

the current soelo-political and intellectual realiza tion of China, which fought the challenges of
twentieth century Imperialism. The movement articulated the contempt for traditional Chinese
culture felt by many Chinese intellectuais. These intellectuals blamed traditional culture for the
dramatic and rapid fall of China into a subordinate internatonal position, and maintained that
China's culrural values prevented China from matching the industrial and military development of
Japan and the West and thus were prone to be a victim of impeñalism The May 4th Movement
takes its name trom the massive popular protest that took place in China in May 1919, following the
announcement of the terms of the Versailes Treaty that concluded World War 1. According to the
treaty, Germany's territor ial rights in China were not returned to the Chinese, as had been expected,
but were instead turned over to the Japanese. The outpouring of popular autrage coalesced in anew
national sm with repeated cries for a "new culture" that woudd reinstate China to its former
intemanonal posinon. The way out of China's problems, marny believed, Was to adopt Western
notons ot equaiy and democracY and to aban don the Cotudan approach which stressed
hierarchy Iin relationships and obedience. science and democracy became the code wards of the day.

The foundine of the republic had not brought peace, order, and unity. Instead, the early republican
years were characterised by moral degradation, monarchist movements, warlordism, and intensihed
forelgn Imperialism. The new intellectuals, Western-trained or Western-influenced, advocated a
radical change in the philosophical foundations of naional life. They called for a critical re-evalution
of China's cultural heritage in light oft modern Western standards, a willingness to part with those
elements that had made China weak and a determination to accept Western sclence, democracy
and culture as the foundation of a new order. At the same time they launcheda campaign to
introduce a new literature based on the vernacular language instead of classical. The intellectual
Outburst dealt a shattering biow to Contucianism.

The intellectual revolution, taking place between 1917 and 1923 hailed a New Cultural Movement
which has sometimes been described as Chinese Renaissance. May 4 Movement also witnessed a
transformation of Chinese economy from the medieval to capitallst conditfon and made similar
cultural demands, These set of historians emphasised that the movement had promoted 'a new
literature in the living language of people to take the place of the old lterature in the classical
anguage and that t was a movement ot reason versus traditon, freedom versus authority, and
glorification of life and human values versus thelr suppression' and that it was a humanist
movement led by men who knew their cultural heritage and tried to study it with the new
methodoloBY of modern historical criticism and research.

May Fourth Movement is understood in three periods: () Background 1916-17 to 1919 (ii) May
Fourth Movement of 1919 (in) Consequences and Expansion of New Cultural Movement 1919 to
1923

Background:

Accordi ng to Immanuel CY Hsu, externaly, sentiments of nationalism and democracy were

particularly strong during the World War and the Wilsonian ideals of national self-determination
I

and aboliion of secret diplomacy appealed to Chinese intellectuals. Moreover, rolling events of
epochal significance were ocurring in different parts of the world: the Boshevik 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 warlordsim. Chinese intellectuals felt
deeply committed to revive their striferidden civil war-torn countr

The intellectuals approached the task with fiercely nationalistic and patriotic sentiments, stimulated
partly by Japan's humliating Twenty-one Demands of 1915. It called tor lapanese control of
Shantung, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and the southeast of China, and the Yangtze valley. The most
sinister of all, required employment of Japanese advisers in Chinese political, financial, miltary, and
police administrations, as well as the purchase of at least 50% of China's munition from lapan.
Under the pressure ot Japanese ulhmatum, Yuan accepted the Japanese corntrol over its regions,
while put a reservation on employment of Japanese advisers. However on May 25, without the
consent of the legislature, he conchuded the treat with lapan.
In protest, the Chinese students in Japan restored hame and merchants in China organized a
widespread boycott ot Japanese g0ods. The Twenty-one Demands had the unexpected effect of
precipitating a fear of imminent extinc tion and a cansequent outburst of nationallsm.

Contributing to the rise of the new nationalism was the rapid emergence of a politically conscious
merchant class and a labour force which numbered between two and three million by 1919. The
period also witnessed an unprecedenled expansion ot Chinese Industry and commerce-especially
in the nelds ot textles, hour, mlls, SIlk, matcnes, cement, garetes, and modern banks ana joine
stock corporations. The replacement of the imperial dynasty by a new republic in 1912 marked the
Inauguaration of a new era. No longer dio the government regara industraiSts ana mercnants as
suspect; and no longer did it prohibit the formation of privale "cliques."

T*ai Yilan-p'si went to ticrmny to stuuly al the lnncrNty uf

Leipzig it 9, Four ytars laler he TEturied hhe m ne lae
in lhe republican revnluiiom anu ws appunled mininleT ol cucattn in
part

DT. Suns ovenel, a post irTl w[Rch lkc SIgncal alter 1 ian Shul-k au
Owk over ite resHkiKy.
Hu shih { IR91-19462. a scun ot the fanmoeus early Chng cholar Ilu
we (1635-17a). ibo rCCvcd a clasSIal cducathn in his yourlh.
These new intellectuns wero proiacts of
a transitional purial horonghly
Westem civilization. Liberalism., socialism. praymatism, seivnce. and demoeracy
had leR their indelible mark. When they returneal hom-(W' en
in 1915. Ts'ai in 1916, und liu in 1917-they functionsd as kaven in
transiorming the lilerary and imtllectunl persrality ot China,

uturaovemen
incia-lnteelualRealizatian
Back from Jajpan in 1915, Ch' en Tu-hviu foukeed a -Youith Only perilcal in Shanghai; the Toutk Maguzine
later renamcd ihe Aer Ynath It -wis delieateat to arousing the Ytl ih of the country to
destroy the slagnant okl traditivns and farge a new culture. In tbe tirst
issuc Ch'en ealkd um tle yong gemeratim to struggke against ihe okl and
rotten ckenis ol secny and ae relovem iheir thught
a
ennty tirvm all the
eivalzalins of the wurkl in urler
crcale onew eulhure or & hinn, Iu his imqumental ask, (bea suggested
six guilang pruneiplev: (1) la he ndepenient aesd not servike. 12) ta be
progressivt anl nl eurvlive; (5) lo be agerOsLVe hust retrogresswve;
àl
(4) te be cosmoelitun nnad not isolkitinist. (5) 1a he utilitaran and

hen vehmenlly atlklCku tEHLTVilt[sa ätu aditioiLS s ne rS

af€ hia's evils, C'nfiwianisoi, in rartieular, fared baally in bis writings.
wus, e sii. the prCRlucf ol al Rgrärlan athd teudkl sDCLal osder, totaly
incompatible with modern Ite
The New C'ultural
& whun 'Ts ih
ovct the ehancetio ol the
National University of Pcking. Ih» gn erament-supyrted mstiutim of higlher lenming bicher
hadaa
lenning haal
coNervutive Iraditivn, ih ib prdesus dtan n mently fum the oftesal- dum, StudenMs dud pot 1ake their
cducatkn. serHoUsly. hut regarded t as a
slepping sone to ottiCl appenntents,

His aainiMEata tested upn ihree principles: (0) the universily

Scai D
Insttutiot ot fthearch-dculestcu nor erety to
iln

mtrolucton ot Westem civilization but lo ihe creation of a new.hinese

.e
culhire; not to the preserv alion ot naional qumtessence but to its
re-tvaluatton by Scientilie nieihods; (2) a umversty education was not a
substitute tor the old enl servIce cxanunations; and (5) absolute academic
irvedom was io be alkowed. and Tec cxpresston ot aivergent thoricS
and viewpoints guaranteea. as long as they could be sustaincd oil rational

1917 Ch'en Tu-hsiu was nmade dean of the

School of Letters. and Hu Sliüh, returning trom the United sales. CAme
a professor of literature. The next ycar, Li Ta-chao was appointad
libranan, and in his employ was a yeung assistant namcd lao ise-tung

Hu was against Contuciamsn, he was lor liberalism. indivdualisin. scnee, anu ernaeracy. ner
hus aeg.
Mr. Seence and Mr. Democracy" becanie the catehw ords of the age. 11u Shilis wost inpartant singk coitsibutun
was perhap he intoducont
plain iangue pu-tray in wTIgonueninng hnc d
2mpthasis on sty le rather than n substance. be maintaned-hat th
classcal ty le of wning was dead and that a dead language could not

amang laberat and forward-lookng amen.

sceeplance
Cinern oppasition was not Lphollers of tradisena lsn
afuNe
publshed lhe aloal tfertge fAe-Åu) to delcid the Classical stye
I rg. Dut ne ugnznne dau
iue appai and ceaCa to exist ale
Fsialots 7ud 1lh: funii of tlie entury, coniinued to boycott the
mor nem, In a lelier tw Cbatiellor TSai, Lin Tdiculed the vernacula

whxh could mol survive the kaw of evoluton and compettion.

Ts'ar'sreply was renairkable lix its smylicity: the plaun language daffered
from the classical inly in hoem and ut in cortent,

n 1918. students at P'ekng Lmversity urgilluzel a naga/ue called the Ne tde

fi1si-CH Uo), whuca was gov crneu ny ihrce TIETia: a ctlical u, *CeLC
thinking. and a refomed rhetoric. The New Fonth and the New
he, aleng with a host of others includung the W vektN
f3 launehed an al-out atack on the bastions ot lrauilnalisnoc
lhterature, cilu clhics, bld buman relations, and Lonfucanisim. thEE
nmsgarunes risliculed vld rattems of thought, old eustons, persONil luyalty
ot oilvus, Iilial piels. sugkTalition, the double siatard of chastity for
men and woien, the big lamiby system, and above all. monarehism and
arlordism. 1ley atecked the uhjiestjtiea acCceptarhce o1 he nationa
betitage and ueiankua
a technolooy
agnostacisnm, prayniatusm. Juberulism, purliamentarnanesni, and mlav idualism
tivud new tavor w uh thenn.
The magazines were an intcllectua buombsheil. For the lirst time in
(hma imkrtunt natonal and social problems Wers beng puhlicly dlhUsNgd
inu deile.
 lhe N1ay Fourih Nlavement;

Accdng u l su, (h iay 4, 1919, aout 500K students in Pekmg held a huge denumbratum agut tbe endhetof
eetsillex l'eace
ulcreteC U) >hantung. t was at nce a Exploblun bl pubit anger, 3n uutbutst ot natiUEutihgti,
a deen dixan)ointnent m 1lhe Weni, and a v iulent indictinent ol the tsaitotus" warkud governienm un Peking. Snie
hustaruans haiked the May Fourth ineudent as the firsl genulne mass mevemgnt sa adern Chínese histury

In 189R Ciermany leäsed ium 1be C't'ing gav emneni

the naval base at Ktacbaw in shantung pUv InCe 1ar 99 }vats.
when wor wari e
ct. ti was a heultal, wliie Jopsan jilied

nhe Tsuny-unne inrts pTLIYISIEUNS W hutn teugti/cd ns 1Mah ithei] 1n

Shatiun, and to furtlher hesster is elaiu t eiitered nito à sufies t ireatiesp
wIth 1he great Nwers. 15y 1be Russp-Jajkuac he agrevent Fewualy
th nss dtinu 1912-15
t Novenuher 1917, the Lansng-Ishi Agriement
was concluded by which the L.nmted States ietagnizcd ihat "p*upaphieal
Nupnyuny cteates sjecEal teluoDN betwetn nattene -1t. Jaun h
ponNlin in t hatkd-w Dile Jupan paa up >TviCe t 1be pen XAST
eial
Folcy.
Thecn gruee wn he sectet paeis af Septembet 9i 8 by1ween'
le
1

Pekmg and Tukyo. 15y granmg the bin¢se wa lutd govemneit a kiat
ol uaim yen, Jajkan wun tbe reght ta» busla two 131ways ie Shantung.

Tukyu. C'hang Tsung-hwiang. glsdly agtce" Chzsin-jun t'iung-i) tu these

teus.
Aned w1h these seeet ueaties, tdhe Jaqanese came tu Venalles cunlidet
of w iming tlier case m Shantung.

The (Chinese delegatin had cemae to, what they believed a just tribunal
dediçatcd u the prineiples nf demeurary. self-detennnation, and
protectin ul the weak. Indced, Wsonsan ndeadism and the Fourteen
Points had caught the Chinese fancy; many belteved tht the long awafed
age of workd demecracy had finally arived. and ihat Wilson was
ahout to frge a new world out of the fragnients of tbe old. In rebuttal,
the JapanesC delegatton calbuy divulged 1he 1918 seeret agrenenis
wh leking. Doinling out hat they had been, pladly agrecu" to en
hamtm
St
*"**
ale of
The Allies were bound by secret treasies o suppat the Japanes. tn,
cause, Janun
which left Wilson as the lone champion of ,th Chinese
threatenod to raise the isue, of racial equality' far discussim and ta w ih-
draw 1r the conterence it tts denanus were not met H was elear uhat
Japan could nus be denicd on buith the Shaniung and the racial ssues.
imately. Wlson was persusded by the Allied representatives as wel
as his own advisers

when news of the P'an1s decinan reached Feking. C hinese laith ih

wisa and the tenets ul his ealiNm was shaftered, IEmad by wbat
1liey siaw as Westem be1rayal, »ludents vuwed to defend Shantung by
bloca, The intueotat new spajer Shen-pua editot ialized

seral
Afuy 4. hundied retuned students met to discuss w hat they
culd da in tdhis pesiod uf natumul erinis and bumiliatun. Thej dvcided
u send 1elegrans to the Versaltles C'onsesence to protest tlhe unjust verdet
to DheC hinee delegatiem lo uge the reJecto ar he reaty
d
rasittal 1u P'aris,
 he em siuiden ts iroun the thiieen urlN ETSIiCN nawos
Swelinethe nunhet ta se The strke guik of
1argo urs spmead
tu sNudema in olher majur cit, and eoieEs juincd,nInE B

shwopkverers, mdusieial wokers, and empluyees in conmereial estadishnnts Jil over the cunuy. A conceried
twy cott ol Jipanese gKHís Icnl-_ lw cd: peopie steippead huying Jaaiest nrlacis and takIng Japuraese stcaineTS. a1d
Se*khmeds rcfuNcd to unuad Japanse govds, Lnder inereasIng': pressune irm the publac, the l'ekmg reginme released

Ncanw [ale. thousands of eegrunis were.Nent to thhe Chiaese dclspatun al P'atIS, äskang them tu rejel he 1tcaly und

d.hin ietsn ari da il oe hl f ne of

repreem.ves,
let their
TS A
the igning ce n June 28, there were no( hinese wilun sacrified (huna am euder
lune Japm intu the League of 'Natiuvas; yet he was unable to get his vw n country into the menativnal ouganizativ,
14u

THCaly Jgián wax anang the iaTst ta wilhuiraw 1um the Lecague. in 9s3. As kt hila. alhug h it rccicd 1h
Nace tneaty wihxtTLuny, it sigtcal tine 1reaty wzih AUstT Ri. ad by virtuc it et iunlenialc a y
became à icniber
of the Leaguc ot NatiOtN.

Sucin alilical Realiatinns;

The May 4 Movement acted as a catalyst for the intellectual revolution in China.

Some scholars also tricd to compare it with the European Reformation. As, according to
them there was besides new literature and fine arts, a possible rise of 'neo-buddhism' and
therefore, this implied that the May 4h Movement was a Chinese Rcformation.
Other scholars like Die Aufklarung called it a Chinese version of European Enlightenment.
For example, in the latter, a feudal aristrocracy was dethroned by a rising middle class, while
in China the middle class did not play such a role independently, but rather there was a
coalition of various rising social forces against the older groups.
The liberal interpretation of this movement seems to have been in many cases the lest
dogmatic. The liberals to a certain degree gave new thought and new literature proper
considerathon. But, they did negiect the polihcal nature of the movement.

The nationalist and traditionalist views of the movement were represented by the leaders
and writers of the Kuomintang and the Chinese Youth Party. These scholars either derided
the movement as a whole or criticised its iconoclastic attitude toward the national heritage
Chiang K'ai Shek accused the intellectual reformers of corrupting the youth by teaching
them to act contrary to moral principles, Iaw and government orders. He not only severely
criticised the reformers for their iconoclastic teachings, but also rejected the whole idea of
the new culture movement, in spite of the fact that Sun Yat-Sen had so highly praised its
achievements and asked his followers to support it. Chiang also disagreed with the
intellectual reformers on the question of the meaning of science and democracy. In 1951 he
interpreted "the spirit of democracy" as "discipline" and "the meaning of science" as
"organisation". He said that as a complement to science and democracy, nationalism or
ethics should be promoted as the third slogan.
The early Communist leaders never claimed that the Movement was inspired by the Russian
October Revolution or led by Communists, but it was democratic in nature. This view wasn't
accepted by Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party. According to him, the initiation of
the May Fourth Movement is a cultural reform movement was but a form of expression of
China's anti-imperialist and anti-feudal bourgeois-democratic revolution. Mao laid stress
on the following three points. Mao in early May 1939 wrote an article titled, The May
Fourth Movement" where he made clear some points

1. The May 4 Movement was the jumping off point of the anti-imperialist and anti-
feudal bourgeois democratic revolution leading to a new period.
2. The national bourgeoisie might and did join the revolution as a united front together
with the proletariat and the inteligentia.
3. The intelligentia provided the feadership of this united front in the revolution.

In his essay "On New Democracy", Mao pointed out that the May Fourth Movement had
marked thee dividing lines between "old democracy" and "new democracy in China. dld
democracy was the characteristic of the first eighty years before the movement, while the
new democracy was that of the twenty years after the movement. The reason for this
demarcation as Mao asserted, that before the May 4 Movement, "the political guiding
force of the Chinese bourgeois-democratic revolution was the Chinese petty bourgeois and
bourgeois class, whle after the movement, "the political guidance of the bourgeois
democratic-revolution in the main no longer rested solely upon the bourgeois class, but
upon the proletariat." He maintained that after that the CHINESE PROLETARIAT became
conscious and independent political force. The new cuture movement and cultural
revolution of that time was also led by that class and was a part of world wide capitalist
cultural revolution. But, the situation after the May 4h movement was quite different-new
cultural forces born in china, comnunism emerged under the leadership of the Chinese
Communist Party.

Mao did realise the political significance of the movement but he still considered ita cultural
revolution. It was for him a very great movement in the history of China and formed a part
of the then world revolution of the proletariat dass.

Chow Tse-tung believes that the May 4th Movement was actually a combined intellectual
and socio-political movement to achieve national independence, the emancipation of the
individual and a just society by the modernisation of China. According to him it was an
intellectual revolution because it was based on the assumption that intellectual changes
were a pre-requisite for such a task of modernisation. This aso accelerated numerous social,
political, and cultural changes.

Piyangyuan Chen: The May Fourth Movement of 1919 is generaly seen as the central event in
China s transformation from the traditional to the modern. It signalled the arrival of effective
student activism on the political scene; it heralded the success of outspoken anti-imperialist
ideotogies; its slogans and pamphlets demonstrated the rhetorical qualities of the new vernacular
writing; some of its participants went on to become leading cultural and political figures; it is said
o have given birth to the Lommunist Party.

Tze-ki Hon: For decades, the received wisdom would have pointed to the May Fourth movement,
with its titanic battles between the champions of iconoclasm and the traditionalists and its shift to
more populist forms of polities. A growing body of recent research, however, has called into
question how decisive the turn was, when it happened, and what relaion the resuinng modernity
bore to the agendas of people who participated. Having thus explicitly or implicitly "decentered
the May Fourth, such research (augmented by contributions in the present volume) leaves the
readers with the task of accountng

The leaders believed that the ideological and institutional changes must precede a material
and socio-political transformation. They challenged authorities, cast doubts on the existing
social order and moral principles and re-evaluated all this in a utilitarian manner.
Consequenees and the Eapansion af the New Culure Mavement

As a part of New Culture Movement, they attacked tradiñonal Confucian ideas and exalted
Western ideas, science and democrary, liberalism, pragmatism, natonalism, anarchism
and socialism also provided a base to criticize traditional Chinese ethics, philosophy, religion
and socio-political institution. These patriotic feelings and need for refornms culminated from
the incident of May 4 1919: more than 3,000 students from 13 colleges in Beijing held a
mass demonstration against the decision of the Versailes Peace Conterence, which was
signed after wwI that transferred German concessions in Shandong province to lapan; the
Chinese govarnment supported the decision, making the students get enraged and burned
the house of the minister of communication, assaulled China's minister to Japan and pro-
lapanese oficials.
Over the followingweex, the demonstration occurred througnout the country and
Several students either died or were wounded. More than 1,000 were arrested and
boycotts, and strikes took place against Japanese goods in big cities and it lasted
more than 2 months
o From June S to a week, the merchants and workers in Shanghai went on strike in
Support of the students
o The government was forced to listen to the public opinion, three pro-Japanese
officials were dismissed, cabinet resigned, China refused to sign the peace treaty
with Germany
The campagn reached out to more and more common people and mass meetnEs were held
throughout the country. 400 publications were begun to spread the new thought and as a
result, the decline of traditional ethies and the family system accelerated, the emancipation
ot women gathered mamentum, vernacular iterature emefged, modernized inteligentsia
became a major tactor in Ehina's Subsequent polihcaf developments.
The movement also spurred the successful reorganization of the Nationalist Party
Kuomintang, ruled by Chiang Kai Shek, which stimulated the birth of Chinese Communist
Party.
The social aspects of May Fourth consisted of attempts to emancipate the Chinese woman,
although this was often limited to movements to bring footbinding to a halt. Nonetheless, in
the ciies newly liberated women, 'modeng Imodern)'girls who had been educated, became
a loud voice tor further changes.
Even today, May Fourth funcions as a point of reference for China. The Party may interpret
the events of 1919 as being brought about by its earliest members, it may turn LuXun into
the Marxist writer he would refuse to be, the fact remains that May Fourth truly set China
on its revolu tonary path.
After the may fourth movement, the modern western patriotism and nationalism as well as
the conception of an independent, socialist inclined nation-state developed rapidly in China.
Mass movement, propaganda, organisation, and revolutionary discipline were consequently
regarded by the young intellectuals as a justifiable technique for their struggle against world
power, poIics and warlórdism.

Regardless of the diverging view points, the fact remains that it was essentially a socio-
political-intellectual revolution which aimed at achieving national independence, individual
emancipatión and creation of new culture through a critical and scientific re-evaluation of
the national hentage and selected acceptance of foreign civilisation. Immanuel Hsu
enumerates three main achievements of the May Fourth Movement:
1. The literary revolution led to the establishment of the Plain language in 1920 and the
rise of a new literature in vernacular style, based on humanitarianism, romanticism,
realism and nationalism.
2. The inilux of diverse foreign ideas and ideologies caused the emergence of two
opposing views on social reconstruction and national regeneration: the pragmatic,
evolutionary method expounded by hu shi and later partially accepted by the
nationalist party; the Marxist revolutionary approach adopted by the Chinese
Communist Party.
3. The intensitication of nationalism stimulated the rise of a Young China, extrenely
sensitive to its perilous position in the modern world and jealous of guiding its own
destiny

Therefore, the movement can be regarded as a turning point between the módern and
contemporary history of China, where China readily brought in new wave of socio-pofitical
and intellectual movements to combat the twentieth century imperialism.