The New Republic and the May
Fourth Movement
The 1911 Revolution
• Mutiny by the modern army
• Provinces declare independence from the
Qing
• Establishment of The Republic of China
– Sun Yatsen the first president
• Power taken over by Yuan Shikai
– Former Qing official
• 1916 Beijing loses control of the rest of the
country
The May Fourth Movement
1) A political movement
• Imperialist pressure on China from 19th C
– Pressure from Japan
• 1894 Japan defeats China in war to control Korea
• 1904 Japan defeats Russia in war to control
Manchuria
• 1914 Outbreak of war in Europe
– Japan joins Allies and captures the German
concession of Qingdao
• 1918 Treaty of Versailles gave Qingdao to
Japan
→ Fury in China
→ Student demonstrations in Beijing
→arrests
→ Protests spread to other cities
A Social and Cultural Movement
• Political change has failed
→ need to change the way people think
→ attack Confucianism, especially
• Arranged marriages
• Position of women
• New literature
– To teach the new ideas to the people
Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi
Lu Xun
Political Change
• New political ideas enter China
– Student study groups
– Interest in political ideologies and scientific
thinking
• Founding of the Chinese Communist Party
The May Fourth Movement in
Chinese History
• Inspired a new generation of leaders
• Frequent commemoration
• History still problematic in China