May Fourth Movement
Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"
Meaning
The May Fourth Movement began with a student protest in Beijing on 4 May 1919. China had fought on the winning side in the First World War. Yet the peace conference after the war did not give back the Chinese land that had been seized from it. The protest grew into a wide movement that blamed old traditions for China's weakness. It wanted to save China through modern science, democracy and nationalism. It also called for a simple written language, an end to foot-binding and equality in marriage.
Example
The protesters were angry that the peace conference handed Germany's old rights in Shandong to Japan. Seventy years later, students chose the movement's anniversary for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Don't confuse with
- Three Principles of the People: Sun Yat-sen's ideas of nationalism, democracy and socialism. "Science" belongs to the May Fourth slogans, not to Sun's three principles.
Related concepts
- Xinhai Revolution 1911
- Sun Yat-sen
- Three Principles of the People
- Twenty-One Demands 1915
- Guomindang
- Chiang Kai-shek