May Fourth Movement and the 1911 Revolution - Literature review Example

Running Head: MAY FOURTH MOVEMENT AND THE 1911 REVOLUTION May Fourth Movement and the 1911 Revolution Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 May Fourth Movement and the 1911 Revolution 3 Introduction 3 Immediate causes of the May Fourth Movement 3 The May Fourth incident 4 Weaknesses of the 1911 Revolution 6 Results of the May Fourth Movement 9 Significance and effects of the May Fourth Movement 9 Cultural significance 9 Social significance 10 Political significance 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 May Fourth Movement and the 1911 Revolution Introduction May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, political and cultural movement sparking out of demonstrations of students in Beijing on May 4, 1919, objecting the weak response of Chinese government to the Treaty of Versailles, particularly the Shandong problem. These demonstrations led to countrywide protests and marked the rise of Chinese nationalism, a move towards a political mobilization and away from the cultural activities and a shift towards populist base other than intellectual elites. The may Fourth Movement started a patriotic eruption of new city intellectuals against overseas imperialists and warlords. According to Mackerras (2008 p. 247). Intellectuals recognized the political establishment with the Failure of the China in the contemporary era and numerous periodicals published assaults on traditions of China, turning to foreign ideologies and ideas. The movement also promoted participation of women in politics, popularized vernacular literature and educational reforms. Immediate causes of the May Fourth Movement After the Xinhai movement of 1911, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown and this marked the end of several years of powerful imperial rule and ushered in the fresh era in which the political power rest to Chinese people. Nevertheless, China was a divided nation governed by warlords, who were greatly concerned with their private armies and individual political powers other than national interests. The Beiyang government of China was much concerned with repressing internal affairs, and did not do much to counteract the effect exerted by imperialist foreign powers Mackerras (2008 p. 67) . The Chinese people were eager for a change although majority of the nation was still under the regulation of feudal lords in spite of the overthrow of the Emperor. The warlords were putting great effort to hold onto their own armies and powers, and majority of conflicts that took place between the lords who were looking to protect their power were resulting to suffering amid huge numbers of Chinese people. This tension came after the end of the world war one. China had entered into war on side of Allies with the assurance that after the battle was over, would regain a part of German influenced regions like Shandong would be brought back to their control( Jonathan, 1991 p.451-2). Chinese men were deported to France so as to server under the Allies, but when the war ended, the Shandong territory was given to Japan in the Versailles treaty instead of China. The government of China demanded the Shandong province be returned to their regulation, and when United States did not go through with their promise at the League of Nations, China saw this as a direct disloyalty. According to Jonathan, S., (1991 p. 560), when diplomatic approach at Paris peace conference did not succeed, the disloyalty came to be known as the Shandong Problem and was viewed as the major thing that formally resulted to the May Fourth Movement. The May Fourth incident In the morning of 4th may 1919, students from 13 colleges jointly met and drafted 5 resolutions in Peking to object the awarding of Shandong to Japan and to set forward plans to carry out a remonstration that afternoon in Tiananmen Square so as to formerly protest the Versailles treaty. In the afternoon more than 300 students gathered at the square to protest. The outrage students started shouting for reprimand to be granted to hose diplomats who were not able to convince the League of Nations to repudiate the control of Japan over Shandong. Finally, the house of one diplomat, Cao Rulin was set on fire. The students sent telegrams to students in other regions of the country to establish patriotic teams aimed at saving the country. The student objected unjust Versailles settlement, the war time imperialists’ benefits of Japan in China and the weak Peking warlord government. The major objectives of then protestors were the arousal of sympathy from every Chinese person, to force the warlord government to refuse from signing the treaty of Versailles and to dismiss pro-Japanese Chinese administrators within the Peking government. The Chinese government tried to stop the demonstration and arrested several protests, but this did not stop the movement, since the following day all students in Beijing progressed with a formal strike. Jack (2003 p.56) notes that other Universities in several regions of the country joined the protest and in early June several businessmen and workers in Shanghai joined the strike in a show of unity with the students together with their protest. The peasants also started to participate in the protest, campaigning for improved treatment of workers and an eradication of class related poverty. This resulted to the release of all students who had been arrested from prison and the Chinese government was forced to release the greatly offending dignitaries from their tasks. As a consequence, the diplomats from China who were presently in Paris refused to sign the agreement. Whilst this action was refusal was really nothing more than a figurative gesture to Chinese people, it showed that the May 4th movement had been victorious (Jack, 2003 p. 243). The 1911 Revolution The 1911 revolution which was led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen is a significant event in the Chinese history and marked an ending to most outstanding period of imperial history, dating back 2133 years when China was first unified by Shi Huangdi. Nevertheless, the shift from autocratic monarchy to republic didn’t result to the sort of essential social, cultural and political changes that one would usually anticipate from a revolution that eliminated a feudal monarchy that had lasted for 2000 years. The most influential consequences of the 1911 was to offer the breeding place for sequence of events which defined the May 4th movement whose cultural, social and political implications namely, higher status of women, the substitution of classical language with vernacular, intellectual revolution and the increased degree of freedom and development of Chinese communist party, far prevailed over those of 1911 revolution. The significance of Confucianism in China was highly decreased. As the monarchy political system had been an indivisible portion of Confucianism, the eradication of monarchy in 1911 affirmed Confucianism a worthless political belief. Later on, during the May 4th revolution in 1919, Confucianism as a way of living and body of social ideas was under condemnation. In this manner, the 1911 political revolt paved way for 1911 intellectual revolution. Weaknesses of the 1911 Revolution In social terms, the 1911 revolt was a failure. Firstly, the revolt didn’t lead to a lot of change in composition of ruling class in China. In reality, the emperor together with his officials had been eradicated, but the conservative landlords gentry hadn’t been overthrown and was still exercising powers within the countryside. Additionally, military males of the late Ch’ing such as Yuan Shihkai were still influential. Intellectuals and revolutionaries who assisted in running the republic were powerless and ineffective in presence of these conventional forces (Jonathan 1991 p. 602). Secondly, the 1911 revolt was restricted to numerous urban regions only and was very quickly concluded. The three peoples principles was more concentrated on the costal treaty cities and ports of China than on the huge interior countryside regions. This was so since Sun was familiar with modernized cities only and the political structure was the only one revolutionized leaving the social order as had previously been. As a result, while cities were modernized, villages were conservative and backward as ever. The 1911 revolution increased provincial decentralization because when the dynasty was overthrown, the conventional connection between the Peking and provinces was eliminated. The newly created republic was weak and unable to set up a centralized political authority over the entire country. Subsequently, the local provincial gentry of scholars fell back on provincial and local, but not on national affairs. The expansion of national awareness was thus slowed down and in this view, the 1911 revolt made the setback of the political decentralization of the late Ch’ing era worse. The three peoples principles which was a political philosophy established by Sun yat sen as a portion of a philosophy to make the country a prosperous, free and powerful nation did not have practicable methods of putting opinions into practice. The three principles solely concentrated on establishing and discussing Chinese goals, but concentrated less on working out for practicable, tested and specific methods that could be used to accomplish these goals. For instance, the application of government laws to balance ownership of land rights in the community was impractical, because, conventionally, efficient government authority could not often infiltrate the villages, which were dominated by powerful landlords (Jack, 2003 p.49). The Sun’s principle of democracy was unreal and subject to numerous dangers. Firstly, instead of Chinese people electing and granting authority to a few capable leaders, it turned out that these capable leaders were self selected and greedily kept the authority to themselves, in which case social equality became dictatorship. Secondly, other than educating people on democratic practices, the self elected leaders delayed the duration of party tutelage or military rule for self interests. Lastly, these leaders took away peoples rights with the excuse of national unity. The 1911 revolt ended in failure, and the capitalist constructive system for China was entirely foiled. Richard (1996 p.1216) argues that the feudal authorities were very strong and Chinese nationwide bourgeoisie which directed the revolution was very weak and was never capable of becoming a force that could influence the political situation of China. In the political sense, the 1911 revolution fight against feudalism and imperialism because it militarily depended on feudalism and imperialism and failed to create a revolutionary military under its complete control. Its relations with people were deteriorated since could not gratify the demand of peasants for land, did not have an essential primary rural change and therefore could not gain genuine support from the masses. Results of the May Fourth Movement The most definite thing that occurred as a consequence of the May 4th movement was that Chinese people started to talk more on political future of the nation. During this fragile period of the country, the communist party was founded by Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu in 1921. The ideas that communist party was established appealed to the young people and were the start was a political transformation that would ultimately end with the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949 (Jack, 2003 p.256-8). The May 4th movement influence more than 20 different territories and most definitely had effects on more than 100 cities in the nation. The movement is viewed as a turning point for the Chinese politics and for intellectual participation which the individuals dedicated to the thought of being governed. The movement made people to begin considering radical schools of ideas and thoughts for dealing with difficulties that existed in the sphere of politics and the community at large. Significance and effects of the May Fourth Movement Cultural significance The movement led to the popularization of contemporary, western ideas. Modern thoughts from the Western countries were greatly accepted by Chinese intellectuals, ideas such as liberalism, democracy, socialism, pragmatism and utilitarianism. In reality, these beliefs had been initiated into the country before the May 4th movement, but the movement further popularized these beliefs among Chinese people. The movement led to abandonment and criticism of tradition. Before the movement, the Confucian custom of superiority and self sufficiency made Chinese intellectuals to reluctant to borrow ideas from foreign cultures. In the May 4th intellectual revolution, Chinese scholars gauged themselves against and entirely accepted contemporary western ideas. This revealed the willingness to condemn Chinese traditions and to consider the history of China as a portion of world history. The may Fourth Movement led to rise of democratic spirit. Majority of the contemporary may not have been actually practiced, but the democratic spirit that they introduced decisively demolished the past traditions. The movement resulted to introduction of pai-hua. During the Mat 4th movement, classical written Chinese, Wen-yen was rejected and pai - hua which was Chinese written vernacular was introduced and this resulted to rise in literacy rate. In conventional China the intellectual class was the only ones who knew classical written Chinese since the language was hard to learn and was different from spoken Chinese. The pai-hua language was informal and therefore simple to master. Attempts to popularize pai-hua during May 4th movement had therefore the impact of raising literacy rate in the community implying that more individuals were able to write and read and thus able to easily understand, adopt and practice modern western ideas. Social significance The movement resulted to growth of popular education and the development of public opinion. The recognition of pai-hua and the western thought of progress led to the expansion of popular learning, which in turn resulted to the development of contemporary public opinion in China. The movement attacked the past social traditions of Chinese people. The old family scheme, for instance, was criticized by young scholars and the model l of nuclear families was supported. Young persons started demanding for personal freedom from traditional manner of living and young ladies rose to condemn traditional prejudice against women and co-education were supported (Immanuel, 1999 p.561). The movement increased political awareness amongst the new social forces. The May 4th movement led to emergence of contemporary new social forces in China. Modern industrialists, merchants and urban workers, who were products of modernization, became more politically conscious and they took part in several of anti foreign boycotts. The movement also expanded class consciousness. According to Mackerras, (2008 p.127), internally, the setback of Ch’ing dynasty eliminated prejudice against and conservative checks on industry and commerce since the republic granted rules that protected and encouraged economic activities. Externally, world war one led to a swift decline of European trade and industries with Asia and this granted industries in China an excellent opportunity for expansion. Subsequently, by 1919, there emerged new labour and merchant classes who were politically mindful and prepared to speak out against any foreign imperialism Richard, 1996 p. 871). In traditional China, local provincial sentiment among people of China was strong. During the May 4th movement, nevertheless, students and workers in different regions protested against several common enemies such as Japanese aggression and imperialism and class perception was promoted among Chinese people. The movement led to emergence of leadership of contemporary intellectuals as a fresh generation of progressive scholars who had received western education came to leadership in Chinese civic life. Their existence started to challenge the conventional social leadership of Confucian scholar gentry Immanuel, 1999 p.2). Political significance The May 4th movement politicized Chinese nationalism. Anti imperialists protests against the immense powers and the anti Japanese rebellions strengthened the power of modern Chinese nationalism. Labour movements and students became increasingly active and more individuals were interested and several even actively took part in political matters. The movement also resulted to emergence of politicized student movements as during the May 4th movement, students recognized that organized demonstrations and propaganda could lead to positive outcomes. Through this way, student movements of political nature were stimulated and used by students to air their views. Jack (2003 p.172) the movement strengthened the significance of new social forces. While politics prior to 1919 seemed like a game that was exclusively monopolized by few individuals and for few individuals, more political leaders after 1919 as they established contact with and attempted to attain support from the politically aware masses. The revolutionary programs of Mao Tse-tung which laid more emphasis on peasants emerged form the May 4th experience. The movement resulted to national unification. The anti warlord actions of May 4th movement aroused increased concern for the political disunity in China a factor which indirectly led to national unification in 1928. The protests against warlord had a revolutionary political significance. When the demonstrating students asserted their lack of self belief in the warlord administration and they in effect proclaimed that the government was supposed to have the confidence of people if it was to continue ruling Chinese people (Richard, 1996 p. 873-4). The movement led to Kuomintang (KMT) conservatism. As KMT was based in the south, it was not much engaged in the democratic May 4th movement like other political groups. As a consequence, the KMT turned out to be moderately more conservative. Eventually, this conservatism led to the failure of KMT to deal with economic and social problems in China after 1928. Conclusion The May fourth movement was far more important than the 1911 revolution. Although the 1911 revolution initiated the contemporary national democratic revolution in China, it failed to achieve the much anticipated political, cultural and social revolutions. The revolution was limited to particular urban regions and the three people’s principle was less concentrated on the larger interior countryside regions and this implies that the modernized cities and the political structure was the only one revolutionized and the social order remained as had previously been. On the contrary, the May fourth movement greatly resulted to political, cultural, and social revolutions. The movement led to expansion of popular education and development of public opinion which consequently made young people to start demands for individual liberty from traditional to modernized way of living. The movement also increased political consciousness of new social forces of merchants and labour force that were ready to speak against any foreign imperialism. References Jonathan, S., (1991). The Search for Modern China. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.. Mackerras, C., (2008). China in Transformation, 1900-1949, 2nd Edition. London: Pearson Longman. Jack, G., (2003). Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800s to the 1880s, 2nd Edition. London: Oxford University Press. Immanuel, H., (1999). The Rise of Modern China, 6th Edition. London: Oxford University Press. Richard, P., (1996). ChinaSince 1911. Houndmills: Macmillan. Read More