{"id":20239,"date":"2019-05-01T20:24:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T12:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=20239"},"modified":"2019-05-03T23:30:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T15:30:14","slug":"may-fourth-movement-1919-when-chinas-students-opened-the-political-floodgates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/","title":{"rendered":"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

100th anniversary of May Fourth Movement \u2013 The Chinese dictatorship has many reasons to fear that once again China could be on the threshold of mass protests by radicalised youth and students, which could ignite a bigger movement among the working class <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Wang Linyu, chinaworker,info<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 4, 1919, 3,000 college\nstudents in Beijing took to the streets protesting against the decision of the\nParis Peace Conference, set up after the First World War, to transfer to Japan\nall the land, railways, mines, forests, etc. previously occupied by Germany in\nChina\u2019s eastern Shandong province. China was politically fragmented, mired in\nwarlord rule, with foreign powers intriguing with rival Chinese rulers for\ninfluence and control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan had been on the winning side in the war, allied with Britain and the US, while Germany and the \u2018Central Powers\u2019 had been defeated. The May Fourth demonstration unleashed a nationwide mass movement in China that lasted for two months. It also opened a new era of China\u2019s mass struggles especially workers\u2019 struggles. This movement was launched by the students, but then a large number of urban residents, workers, and merchants joined the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Chinese regime will\nlikely play down the May Fourth Movement anniversary. It has many reasons to\nfear that once again China could be on the threshold of mass protests by\nradicalised youth and students, which could ignite a bigger movement among the\nworking class, society\u2019s not-yet-risen superpower, capable of affecting\nfundamental political and economic change. In a nascent form this potential is\nshown in the Jasic Technology workers\u2019 struggle of the past nine months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

70th anniversary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should not be forgotten that\nthe anniversary of the May Fourth Movement was also an important spark for the\nmass democracy struggle in the spring of 1989, which almost brought down the\nChinese Communist Party (CCP) regime. Originally, Beijing university students\nwere planning synchronised protests for the 70th anniversary of May 4, but they\nbrought forward these plans when former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang \u2013 seen\nas an opponent of hardline rule \u2013 died suddenly on April 15. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, with multiple sensitive\npolitical anniversaries in the calendar, the CCP regime fears \u201cunimaginable\ndangers\u201d and the historic movement of 1919 is nothing to calm their nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The May Fourth Movement took\nplace amid the global revolutionary wave of the late 1910s, following the mass\nslaughter of the 1914-18 war. In 1917, the October Revolution in Russia gave\nbirth to the first workers\u2019 state in history and inspired workers\u2019\nrevolutionary movements and national liberation movements around the\nworld. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 1, 1919, two months\nbefore the May Fourth Movement began, a massive independence movement broke out\nin Korea which was a colony of Japan at that time. Two million Koreans\nparticipated in thousands of anti-Japanese demonstrations and armed uprisings.\nOn March 2 of the same year, the Comintern (Communist International) was\nestablished in Moscow. The May Fourth Movement drew inspiration from these\ninternational mass movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luo Jialun, one of the student\nleaders of the May Fourth Movement, commented on the Russian Revolution in\nJanuary 1919: \u201cThis revolution is one in which democracy defeats monarchism,\ncivilians defeat warlords, labourers defeat capitalists!\u201d He said revolutions\nwould in future follow in the footsteps of the Russian Revolution to completely\ntransform society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disillusionment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the First World War ended many Chinese intellectuals had great illusions in the imperialist powers. In November 1918, 60,000 people in Beijing participated in a parade to celebrate the allied victory. They believed China would be able to take back the \u2018Kiaochow concession territory\u2019 in Shandong, which Germany had occupied since 1898, and could amend the unequal treaties forced upon China by the imperialist powers, thus lifting China out of backwardness and imperialist oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were especially large\nillusions in then US President Woodrow Wilson. A late arrival to the game, US\nimperialism wanted to join the scramble for colonies, trying to undermine the\nolder imperialist powers such as Britain and France by supporting the\nself-determination of some occupied nations in Asia and Europe. However, in\nfact, during Wilson\u2019s presidency, the US conducted military interventions in\nseveral Latin American countries, forced Nicaragua to sign unequal treaties,\nand invaded Haiti. Under the \u2018Treaty of Versailles\u2019 agreed at the 1919 Paris\nPeace Conference, Wilson also supported the transfer of Germany\u2019s possessions\nin Shandong to Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of April people in\nBeijing learned of the decision of the Paris Peace Conference, which caused\ndismay and anger especially among young intellectuals. A Peking University\nstudent at the time recalled: \u201cWe were shocked when the news of the Paris Peace\nConference finally came here. We were immediately awakened to the reality. The\nforeign countries are still selfish and militaristic, and they are all\nliars.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

May Fourth Demonstration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing students had originally\nplanned a demonstration on May 7, but the government had begun to suppress\nprotests and so the demonstration was urgently brought forward to May 4. May 7\nwas known as \u2018National Shame Day\u2019, after the Japanese government in 1915 issued\nan ultimatum to the China\u2019s autocratic president Yuan Shikai to sign a treaty\nfurther tightening Japan\u2019s grip on China. Yuan is an infamous figure who\nbriefly restored the monarchy and was crowned in late 1915, four years after\nthe establishment of the Republic of China, but was soon brought down by other\nwarlords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 4 1919, protesting\nstudents set off from Tiananmen Square. Their main slogan was \u201cFight for\nsovereignty, get rid of the national traitors\u201d. \u201cFight for sovereignty\u201d meant\nrefusing to sign the Treaty of Versailles, while \u201cget rid of the national\ntraitors\u201d meant removing pro-Japan officials in the Beijing government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three most important traitors\nwere Cao Rulin, Minister of Communications, Zhang Zongxiang, Ambassador to\nJapan, and Lu Zongyu, the Chinese director of the Chinese-Japanese Exchange\nBank. The protesters marched to the embassy district, which they originally\nplanned to enter, but were blocked by the police. According to an unequal\ntreaty signed in 1901, (after the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion) Chinese\nwere banned from marching in the diplomatic quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a two-hour standoff with the police, angry students turned to Cao Rulin\u2019s home, where they broke through the police cordon and entered his house, smashing belongings and beating up Ambassador Zhang who lived there at that time. Some angry students set fire to the building. Due to the fire and police reinforcements, protesting students gradually dispersed, with 32 students arrested. Some of the protesters went to the banker Lu Zongyu\u2019s home, but the army had already been stationed there so there was no conflict. The demonstration on May 4 thus ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Twenty-One Demands\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cao, Zhang and Lu became the\nprimary targets of the students because they had participated in negotiations\nbetween Yuan Shikai\u2019s government and Japan on the unequal treaty of 1915, known\nas the \u2018Twenty-One Demands\u2019. They has also participated in a huge Japanese loan\nprogramme, under the control of Duan Qirui, who became the dominant figure in\nthe Beijing government after Yuan\u2019s downfall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the 1915 treaty and the loan\naimed to extend Japanese imperialism\u2019s control over China and became important\nbackground for the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of 1915 the\nJapanese government made the 21 demands to Yuan Shikai, aiming to turn\nnortheastern China (Manchuria), Inner Mongolia, Shandong, the southeast coast\nand the Yangtze River basin into Japanese colonies. They also attempted to\ncontrol China\u2019s internal affairs by forcing Yuan\u2019s government to hire Japanese\nconsultants, who would have decision-making power over political, financial and\nmilitary affairs. Significantly, in the related treaty, Yuan promised to\ntransfer Shandong to Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-Japanese mood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of 1916, Japanese\ncapitalism wanted to export its excess capital, built up during wartime, to\nChina in order to obtain greater control over its economy and politics.\nIronically, the capitalist CCP regime today has similar ambitions through its\n\u2018Belt and Road Initiative\u2019 across big parts of Asia and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From January 1917 to September\n1918, Japan provided the Beijing government with a total of 145 million yen in\nloans. In return the Beijing government mortgaged its state-owned industries\nand signed a \u201cmilitary cooperation agreement\u201d with Japan which further\nincreased Japanese control. The loans were nominally driven by economic\nconsiderations but were actually used by the Beijing government to bribe\nlegislators and wage war against the Guangzhou military government led by rival\nwarlords in southern China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 New Youth magazine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the \u2018Twenty-One Demands\u2019 and\nthe Japanese loans triggered a lot of protests and a boycott of Japanese goods.\nAfter Yuan Shikai\u2019s government accepted the demands in 1915, a large number of\nChinese students and youths in Japan returned to China, including Chen Duxiu,\nan important figure in the May Fourth Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon returning to China, Chen\nfounded the New Youth magazine, which became a powerful voice of the New\nCulture Movement and the May Fourth Movement. The New Culture Movement,\nlaunched by young intellectuals who had obtained a western education, was a\nbourgeois reform movement in the name of \u201crenaissance\u201d, advocating science and\ndemocracy against China\u2019s feudal social system and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the students brought into\nactivity around New Youth became founding members of the Communist Party. In\nMay 1918, students in many of China\u2019s main cities issued petitions and held\ndemonstrations against the Japanese loans, and this became a rehearsal for the\nMay Fourth Movement. After this wave of protests in May 1918, there emerged\nmore progressive student groups that later actively participated in the May\nFourth Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Student organisations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the May 4 demonstration\nin\u2008Beijing the mass movement continued to develop. Beijing students continued their\nprotests, street speeches and boycott of Japanese goods, and began sporadic\nstudent strikes. On May 6, the \u2018Union of Secondary and Above Students\u2019 was\nestablished in Beijing. This was the first citywide student organisation in\nChina\u2019s history. In the next two weeks students in other cities also began to\nhold protests and mass meetings and establish mass student organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the warlords\nand conservative bureaucrats in the Beijing government hoped to use the May 4\ndemonstration as an excuse to suppress the student movements and the New\nCultural Movement, with Peking University as one of their main targets, because\nit was also the stronghold of the New Culture Movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 14, the Beijing government\ndecided to use military force to suppress student activities and declared that\nstudents had no right to interfere with government policies. Some student\npublications were banned and the government was preparing to use the army to\ndisband student organisations and force striking students to go back to\nclasses. Warlords in other parts of China also suppressed the student protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 19, 25,000 college\nstudents in Beijing began a general strike. In the ensuing month the wave of\nstudent strikes spread to 200 cities and towns. By the end of May, the\ngovernment slightly softened the crackdown in the face of extensive protests,\nand student activities eased. This led the government to mistakenly think the\ntime had come to completely suppress the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 3, more than 900 students\nwho were making public speeches on the streets were attacked by police and 400\nwere arrested. This led to more students joining in street speeches. By June 4,\nmore than a thousand students were arrested, but the number of students who\ntook to the street increased to 5,000 on June 5. Many students were ready to be\narrested, carrying food and bedding to be used in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movement\u2019s centre shifts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news of harsh suppression in\nBeijing reached Shanghai. In response to the appeal from students, historic\nworkers\u2019 and merchants\u2019 strikes broke out and became the key force for the\nvictory of the May Fourth Movement. Shanghai, the stronghold of Chinese\ncapitalism, became the new centre of the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shanghai students followed\nBeijing students to establish a citywide student union on May 11, and they more\nconsciously expanded the scope of the movement. The Shanghai student union had\na Department of Labour to liaise with workers. They also sent people to the\nchambers of commerce to call for support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 16, student leaders\nacross the country gathered in Shanghai to establish the China Student Union,\nwhich was responsible for coordinating the student protests throughout the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 5, almost all Chinese\nmerchants in Shanghai ceased trade, including those in concession territories\n(controlled by foreign powers) and suburbs. China\u2019s emerging capitalist class\nhad a contradictory attitude towards the May Fourth Movement. During the First\nWorld War the western imperialists turned their attention to arms production,\nso exports to China decreased and the Chinese capitalists gained a brief\nbreathing space. When the war drew to an end, the imperialists turned their\nattention back to China, especially Japanese imperialism, which forced the\nChinese capitalists back into harsh competition with foreign capital and\ngoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, sections of the\nChinese capitalist class wanted to use the anti-imperialist mood to capture a\nbigger share of the home market. Meanwhile, the widespread and strong\nnationalist sentiment at the time also put tremendous pressure on the national\ncapitalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workers\u2019 strikes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, more\nimportantly, Shanghai workers began to strike. The strikes began in the textile\nand printing industries and then spread to metals and other industries. The\nnumber of strikers is estimated at 60,000-100,000, involving about 50\ncompanies. This was the first political strike of China\u2019s working class.\nWorkers\u2019 strikes quickly spread to other cities including Hangzhou, Jiujiang,\nTianjin, as well as the workforce of two railways. Workers from many other\ncities also participated in big mobilisations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 10, the Tianjin Chamber\nof Commerce sent an emergency telegram to the Beijing government saying, \u201cThere\nare hundreds of thousands of workers in Tianjin. Now the unrest is emerging\namong workers. If the government hesitates to remove Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang\nand Lu Zongyu, once workers began to strike, the losses will be much larger\nthan the merchants\u2019 strike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the beginning of strikes the\nimperialist powers changed their attitude towards the May Fourth Movement.\nWestern imperialists were wary of Japan\u2019s expansion in China and hoped to use\nthe protests to check its influence. Therefore, these powers adopted a\nwait-and-see attitude at the beginning and sometimes even expressed sympathy\nfor the movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressure on Beijing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, on June 6, the\nconcession authorities announced a ban on distributing leaflets, public\ngatherings and banners related to the movement. Student organisations and\nworkers\u2019 strikes were forcefully suppressed within the concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, under the strong\npressure of the mass movement the Beijing government announced on June 10 the\ndismissal of Cao Rulin, Lu Zongyu and Zhang Zongxiang. The Workers\u2019 and\nbusinessmen\u2019s strikes across the country gradually ceased, but protests\ncontinued calling on the government not to sign the Treaty of Versailles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the signing date of June 28,\nChina\u2019s negotiators in Paris did not sign the treaty because of the pressure\nfrom protests in China and from Chinese students and immigrants in France. Thus\nthe May Fourth Movement ended in a victory, although the underlying situation\nin China had not changed. It remained a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country,\nsuffering from poverty, imperialism and civil wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role of students<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the May Fourth Movement\nwas initiated by students, it evolved into a nationwide mass movement. This\nunderlines the role students can play as a catalyst to trigger movements by the\nmuch weightier forces of the working class, which was even the case in 1919\nwhen the working class was still very small in relative terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a lesson often missed\nespecially in the Chinese speaking world, where some political forces\nmistakenly see the students as the main force for change. Due to the\ninspiration of the May Fourth Movement the emergence of new workers\u2019\norganisations within the movement, the more active involvement of students in\nthe workers\u2019 struggles since then, and the establishment of the Communist Party\nshortly after the movement, the workers\u2019 movement developed rapidly in China\nafter 1919.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the May Fourth Movement,\nmany new workers\u2019 organisations soon emerged including the \u2018Secretariat of\nChina Trade Unions\u201d (the predecessor of the current official \u2018trade union\u2019 in\nChina) which was established shortly after the birth of the CCP in 1921. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of strikes also\nincreased significantly. There were 25 strikes in China in 1918 and 66 in 1919.\nIn 1922, the Hong Kong seamen\u2019s strike set off the first wave of nationwide\nstrikes. There were more than 100 strikes and over 300,000 strikers that year.\nIn 1923 and 1925, respectively, the February 7 Strike and Guangzhou and Hong\nKong Strike took place, two significant strikes in China\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 1919, the Kuomintang as a\nbourgeois opposition party wanted to end warlordism in China, establish a\nunited and independent national state and a stable capitalist system, and so it\nalso actively intervened in the workers\u2019 struggles, established some workers\u2019\norganisations and participated in the mobilisation of the Hong Kong seamen\u2019s\nstrike in 1922. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time, the Kuomintang\u2019s\ninvolvement in establishing or supporting workers\u2019 organisations was not\nprimarily to advance the interests of the working class, but to build positions\nof support for the Kuomintang in its struggle against the Beijing government\nand other rival forces. For example, in the strike wave of 1922, strikes in the\narea controlled by the Kuomintang were suppressed and trade unions banned.\nHowever, in overall terms the Kuomintang\u2019s involvement in workers\u2019 struggles at\nthat time acted as a spur to the development of the workers\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of development of\nworkers\u2019 struggles in China during the May Fourth Movement was still very low,\nand the Chinese bourgeoisie did not yet have a clear understanding of the\nthreat to its own position from mass movements. This is another important\nreason for businessmen and merchants to organise a strike in June 1919. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s movement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, after the May Fourth\nMovement, with the further development of China\u2019s working class struggle the\nbourgeoisie became more and more afraid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the anti-imperialist \u2018May\nThirtieth Movement\u2019 of 1925 (which opened an unprecedented two-year\nrevolutionary period in which the working class could have taken power), the\nShanghai Chamber of Commerce agreed to cease trade only after they were forced\nto do so by the students and workers, and they were the first to surrender. The\nShanghai Chamber of Commerce also helped the imperialists and warlord\ngovernment to attack the workers who were still striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The May Fourth Movement also\ninjected a strong impetus into the women\u2019s movement in\u2008China. Women, especially\nworking class women, are among the most oppressed groups and often stand at the\nforefront of mass struggles. Following the May Fourth Movement more and more\nwomen began to participate in social and political activities. In 1920, women\nin Changsha, Hunan province, joined a pro-democracy demonstration demanding\nfree marriage and personal freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, also in Hunan, the\n\u2018Federation of Women\u2019 was established demanding equal rights to inheritance,\nvotes, education and employment, as well as free marriage. In 1922, the\n\u2018Feminist Movement Alliance\u2019 established in Beijing not only demanded women\u2019s\nrights but also called for democracy and the overthrow of warlord rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Divergence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the May Fourth Movement\nand other mass struggles it inspired, the intellectuals who had united in the\nNew Culture Movement soon split. In 1920, the Comintern sent its first\nrepresentative to China to set up early Communist Party organisations together\nwith Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, which also accelerated the division among young\nintellectuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chen and the more radical youth\nmore firmly turned to socialism, while bourgeois liberals retreated to a more\nconservative position. Although liberal intellectuals demanded democratic\nreforms and ending warlord autocracy, they opposed mass movements as the way to\nachieve these goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons today<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese bourgeoisie\nincreasingly showed it could not lift the Chinese people out of the brutal oppression\nby imperialists, warlords, landlords and capitalists. Liberal ideas that were\nonce warmly welcomed gradually lost support, while socialist ideas spread more\nwidely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the May Fourth Movement, young\nstudents fearlessly confronted the autocratic regime of the warlords. The\nmovement they initiated became a milestone in the history of mass struggle by\nChinese workers. Today, 100 years later, leftist students and youth, including\nthose from Peking University, bravely intervened in the Jasic workers\u2019 struggle\nin Shenzhen, resulting in a severe crackdown by Xi Jinping\u2019s regime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 40 students, young\npeople and workers are still being held by police with their whereabouts\nunknown, while Marxist societies are closed and banned on campuses around China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xi\u2019s regime, which is facing\npolitical headwinds in China and internationally, is likely to use the May\nFourth Memorial Day to drum up nationalist sentiment but of course to distort\nthe truth about the May Fourth Movement in order to burnish the CCP\u2019s\ncredentials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the May Fourth Movement showed\nthe struggles of students and young people can ignite broader mass movements\nand a workers\u2019 movement, which is the decisive force in the struggle against\ndictatorship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Socialist ideas<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of significant steps\nforward for workers\u2019 struggles last year and the \u2018sensitive\u2019 anniversaries of\nthis year, Xi\u2019s regime will seems intent on using more violent suppression, but\nthis will not extinguish the resistance of workers and youth. In the recent\nperiod a series of protests and strikes show a deepening radicalisation among\nChina\u2019s youth and workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marxists look at the history of\npast struggles to draw conclusions for today and future struggles. The May\nFourth Movement was transformational in terms of its effects on political\nconsciousness and as a reference point for the battles that followed, of\nrevolution and counterrevolution in the 1920s and 30s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are living in a period of\nsimilar tumultuous changes in which genuine socialist ideas can again become a mass\nforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

100th anniversary of May Fourth Movement \u2013 The Chinese dictatorship has many reasons to fear that once again China could be on the threshold of mass protests by radicalised youth and students, which could ignite a bigger movement among the working class <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":20233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[132,124],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-china","8":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\nMay Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates - China Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates - China Worker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"100th anniversary of May Fourth Movement \u2013 The Chinese dictatorship has many reasons to fear that once again China could be on the threshold of mass protests by radicalised youth and students, which could ignite a bigger movement among the working class \" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Worker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SocialistAction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-01T12:24:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-03T15:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/05\/54-2-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"18 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-01T12:24:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-03T15:30:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3612,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/54-2-1.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"China\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/\",\"name\":\"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates - China Worker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/54-2-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-01T12:24:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-03T15:30:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/54-2-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/54-2-1.jpeg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":563},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/01\\\/20239\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9801\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u793e\u6703\u4e3b\u7fa9\u884c\u52d5\",\"description\":\"Solidarity, Struggle, Socialism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Chinaworker.info\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/logo-sa.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/logo-sa.png\",\"width\":120,\"height\":126,\"caption\":\"Chinaworker.info\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SocialistAction\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/socialistactionhk\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates - China Worker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates - China Worker","og_description":"100th anniversary of May Fourth Movement \u2013 The Chinese dictatorship has many reasons to fear that once again China could be on the threshold of mass protests by radicalised youth and students, which could ignite a bigger movement among the working class ","og_url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/","og_site_name":"China Worker","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SocialistAction","article_published_time":"2019-05-01T12:24:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-03T15:30:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":563,"url":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/05\/54-2-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"18 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates","datePublished":"2019-05-01T12:24:27+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-03T15:30:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/"},"wordCount":3612,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/05\/54-2-1.jpeg","articleSection":["China","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/","name":"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates - China Worker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/05\/54-2-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-05-01T12:24:27+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-03T15:30:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/05\/54-2-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/05\/54-2-1.jpeg","width":1000,"height":563},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/05\/01\/20239\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9801","item":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"May Fourth Movement 1919: When China\u2019s students opened the political floodgates"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/","name":"\u793e\u6703\u4e3b\u7fa9\u884c\u52d5","description":"Solidarity, Struggle, Socialism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#organization","name":"Chinaworker.info","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2021\/04\/logo-sa.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2021\/04\/logo-sa.png","width":120,"height":126,"caption":"Chinaworker.info"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SocialistAction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/socialistactionhk\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}