The May fourth movement

Abstract

Extract

The May Fourth (1919) Movement, by all accounts, is one of the watershed marks in modern Chinese history. Within the space of a few years, Chinese nationalism burst upon the scene with unprecedented force and rapidity, transforming the Chinese political landscape for the rest of the twentieth century. This surge of nationalism was accompanied by iconoclastic rejection of nearly all aspects of traditional Chinese culture. This “totalistic iconoclasm,” to use the phrase of Lin Yü-sheng, was widespread, to be sure, only among the relatively educated elite members of society. Nevertheless, coming simultaneously with the rise of nationalism, the extent of such hostility to Chinese tradition is more surprising than its limitations. As with May Fourth Chinese nationalism, May Fourth antitraditionalism was to become a dominant, perhaps even decisive, theme in the Chinese communist revolution. As Lucien Bianco has observed, the May Fourth Movement represented a spiritual revolution experienced by the future leaders of the Communist Party, who would try after 1949 to impart that same revolution to the rest of the Chinese people.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul S. Ropp

My thanks to Anthony Shaheen and Ernest Young for their helpful comments on an early draft of this article.