Analysis of the Chinese May Fourth Movement: Document 26, Deng Yingchao looks back at
her experiences in 1919
PJ Yerman, Zac Smith, Micah Frier, Emma Harrison, Morgan Soudry, Jonathan Godon
10/30/14 20th Century History
Han Chinese republican revolutionaries had overthrown the Manchu imperial government in 1911.
China was trying to re-establish itself as a republican government. The hope was now that China could
pursue economic development and representative democracy in ways similar to western nations. China had
joined the Allies in war against the Central Powers in 1917 and hoped that by joining the winning side in
WWI that they would benefit. In 1915 Japan, also on the Allied side, had become quite aggressive in making
demands on China. When the ‘Big Three’ (USA, Germany, France) did nothing in the postwar period to stop
Japan’s aggression toward China, Chinese intellectuals rebelled. China’s anger over the Versailles Treaty
terms became a driving force behind demands for other social changes too.
The main theme that runs through document 26 is fighting against anything that makes the Chinese
people inferior. (The Chinese were still in the midst of what they would later call ‘a century of humiliation’).
The protesting students in May, 1919 believed their own government representatives at the Versailles
conference had let them down. They had not stood up to the Allied powers and demanded enough. Students
protesting in Beijing and Shanghai added other liberal demands to their protests. Students moved on to fight
for women’s rights. To put teeth into their protest against Japan, student started a boycott of all Japanese
products and said Chinese should only buy Chinese goods: “We do not want to be slaves to any foreigners in
our own country.”
The May 4th Movement, as this era was called, expanded into more demands for social change in
China, but it began with not wanting to be controlled by another country. Japan had taken over the German
port of Qingdao and was using Chinese people as “slaves.” The students wanted to enforce “Chinese goods
only” to keep as much of Japan out as possible. However, many republican protestors bonded over their
resentment for the West and began to advocate for social changes.
Women previously did not have the same chances to protest as men. The women were not allowed
to speak publicly in the streets. The author of this document about the May 4th Movement is a woman, Deng
Yingchao, and she is recalling how women at this time in China were forced to talk about their ideas “behind
closed doors.” Deng Yingchao says women were not supposed to be public figures, but the May 4th
movement allowed some young women to go house to house and share their beliefs. The women went into
more dangerous parts of China like the slums and other real areas. This new role for politicized women, as
Deng describes it, also relates to the treaty because the women did not want to be controlled by men and be
told what they can do and where they can do it. However, men and women came together over their
resentment against the West. “Fortunate for us, the male students in the association, having been imbued with
the new thought of the West, were ready to accept us as equals.” In order for female students to advocate for
their own beliefs, they needed equality with men. The anger toward the West acted as catalyst for feminism.
The participants in the May Fourth Movement were extremely angry with the West. They felt that
they had been betrayed. China had gone through some rough times, when General Yuan Shikai took over in
1914-16, putting Japan in a position to seize German concessions in Shandong province. The Chinese
resorted to entering World War I in an attempt to reap benefits from the postwar peace treaty. One hundred
thousand Chinese people worked for the Allied war efforts. Despite the work that they had done and the
losses they had suffered, they were ignored in the Paris peace conference, seemingly losing their last hope to
resist the Japanese. This resulted in extreme anger towards the West. The Chinese felt that they had been sold
out. They referred to their own delegates at the conference as ‘traitors.’ They demanded the punishment of
these traitors as well as the rejection of the Versailles Peace Treaty.
The students utilized multiple methods to spread their ideas. Beijing students used extreme measures
such as protesting, violence against civilians, and they even burned down a building. Deng tells us that the
Tianjin students used more peaceful means such as propaganda and public demonstrations. Both groups of
students had some success. The Beijing students’ actions reached the ears of those in Tianjin, “shaking the
façade of complacency to its very foundation” according to Deng. The Tianjin students’ actions led to the
foundation of the Association of Tianjin Students and the Association of Patriotic Women in Tianjin, which
had a significant impact in its own right. Depending on the socioeconomic status, sex, and all around passion
of the different students resulted in vastly different movements. The Beijing movement which led the
strongest and most extreme student movement, which was the launching point for future movements. Some
of their demonstrations included burning down a residential building, and physically attacking “traitors” of
the Republican revolution against the Manchu.
The students who protested the refusal by the Paris Peace Conference to remove the Japanese from
China were originally violent but soon became more formal and caused a lot of change and awareness of
their cause. The students staged demonstrations in which they burnt down buildings and violently protested;
but, as they continued their fight they started to stage formal speeches, deliver propaganda, and go house to
house speaking about their cause for reforming. They carried out a series of speaking tours around China
which helped immensely to spread awareness about their cause. Although these did become violent because
of the police interference they still had peaceful intentions. All of these demonstrations were very effective in
spreading the students’ ideas and caused change not only in the government but also in society, with
women's roles becoming a lot larger in the protest.
After the Paris Peace Conference and the rejecting of China’s pleas by the treaty writers, the May
Fourth Movement was started which, in turn, sparked the coming of new and more progressive ideas
regarding culture, politics, and nationalism in China. As new cultures and new ideas flooded the country
during the aftermath of World War I, this plus the news of the successful October Revolution in Russia
prompted China’s youth to start more and more progressive movements, particularly towards feminism and
women’s rights. These new organizations mostly led by female youths brought democratic extensions such
as sexual equality, abolition of arranged marriage, social activities open to women students, freedom of
romantic love and marriage, universities open to women students, and the employment of women in
government institutions to the country for the first time.