The May Fourth Movement

On May 4, 1919, a mass patriotic movement against imperialism and feudalism broke out in Beijing. At first, it was a student movement dominated by young students' demonstrations, and later, it expanded into a broad mass patriotic movement with the participation of the masses, citizens, businessmen and other middle and lower classes, including demonstrations, petitions, strikes, and other events.

The failure of China's diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 aroused strong dissatisfaction and anger in Beijing academic circles.

On the afternoon of May 4, more than 3,000 students from 13 universities and technical secondary schools, such as Peking University and Beijing Normal University, broke through the obstruction of the army and police and made speeches in Tian’anmen Square before holding demonstrations. The protesters put forward slogans such as "Fighting for Foreign Sovereignty, Eliminating Domestic Thieves" and "Abolishing Article 21", strongly demanded the rejection of signing the peace treaty and the punishment of pro-Japanese factions such as Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang and Lu Zongyu. The masses marched to the East Jiaomin Lane and was stopped by the embassy's patrol, and then turned to Cao Rulin's residence in Zhaojialou Hutong. When the students rushed into Cao's residence, Cao Rulin achieved to hide, and Zhang Zongxiang, who was there, was beaten by the students; Cao's house was burned, and the army and police arrested more than 30 students on the spot.

On May 5, students in Beijing declared a strike and called the whole country to protest. Since then, academic circles around the country had responded positively, but they had been suppressed by the Beiyang government authorities. Later, on June 5, workers in Shanghai began a large-scale strike in support of students' struggle for justice. On June 6, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions was established to oppose the opening of classes and markets, and jointly with other regions, to inform Shanghai of its call for strike.

Since then, in more than 150 cities in 22 provinces patriotic actions such as strikes, protests, boycotts were launched and violent confrontations occurred with the government forces. Under the pressure of the whole nation, the Beiyang government was forced to release all the arrested students, remove Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang and Lu Zongyu from their posts as traitors, and refused to sign the peace treaty with Germany, and thus, the May Fourth Patriotic Movement won a great victory.

The May Fourth Movement was the continuation and development of the New Culture Movement, which transformed the early publicity of bourgeois new culture into the spread of Marxism. After the May Fourth Movement, the Marxist trend of thought gradually replaced the bourgeois one and became the mainstream of the movement. During the May Fourth Patriotic Movement, the Chinese working class began to enter the stage of history as an independent political force.

From then on, intellectuals with preliminary communist ideology began to penetrate into the working people, promoted the combination of Marxism and the Chinese workers' movement, and made preparations for the establishment of the CPC in terms of organization and ideology. The May Fourth Movement was the end of the old democratic revolution and the beginning of the new democratic revolution in China. Since then, the Chinese revolution had entered a new historical period. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the State Council of the Central People's Government officially declared May 4 as the Chinese Youth Day in December 1949.