May Fourth Youth Day originated from China's anti-imperialist and patriotic "May Fourth Movement" in 1919, which was a thorough patriotic movement against imperialism and feudalism, and also the beginning of China's new democratic revolution. In 1939, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Northwest Youth Salvation Federation designated May 4 as Chinese Youth Day.
During Youth Day, a variety of commemorative activities are held in various parts of China, and young people also focus on various social volunteer and social practice activities, and many places hold coming-of-age ceremonies during Youth Day.
The May Fourth Movement was a patriotic movement that took place in Beijing on May 4, 1919, with the participation of young students and the masses, citizens, businessmen and other middle and lower classes, such as demonstrations, petitions, strikes, and violent confrontation against the government. It is a patriotic movement of the Chinese people to thoroughly oppose imperialism and feudalism. The May Fourth Movement was the beginning of China's new democratic revolution, an epoch-making event in the history of China's revolution, and a turning point from China's old democratic revolution to the new democratic revolution.
The dark rule of the Beiyang warlords, the growth of the Chinese working class, the promotion of ideological emancipation by the New Culture Movement, the October Revolution brought Marxism to the Chinese people, coupled with the diplomatic failure of the Paris Peace Conference in Europe, and the signing of the "Paris Peace Treaty" detonated the vigorous May Fourth Patriotic Movement. The May Fourth Movement promoted the spread of Marxism in China and its integration with the Chinese workers' movement, thus preparing the ideological and cadre conditions for the establishment of the Communist Party of China.
Shanghai responded to Beijing's assertive movement
In January 1919, the victorious powers of World War I convened the so-called "Peace Conference" in Paris, France, in which China, as one of the Entente countries of World War I, participated. At the peace conference, the Chinese delegates put forward just demands such as the abolition of foreign spheres of influence in China, the withdrawal of foreign troops in China, and the abolition of the "21 Articles," but the Paris Peace Conference, despite the fact that China was also one of the victorious powers, rejected the demands put forward by the Chinese delegates and decided to transfer Germany's rights and interests in Shandong, China, to Japan. When the news reached China, the students in Beijing were outraged, and students, businessmen, educators, and many patriotic groups sent telegrams denouncing Japan's rude behavior and demanding that the Chinese government uphold national sovereignty. Under these circumstances, the delegates submitted a statement on the Shandong issue, demanding the return of China's sovereignty over the German concession and the Jiaoji Railway in Shandong, as well as demanding the abolition of the "21 Articles" and other illegal conditions.
As a result, however, the Beiyang government succumbed to imperialist pressure and was ready to sign the "Peace Treaty between the Entente and the Warring States on Germany." In the end, Britain, the United States, France, Japan, Italy and other countries ignored the voice of the Chinese people and signed the "Peace Treaty of Versailles" on April 30, 1919, which still transferred Germany's rights in Shandong to Japan. Under such strong pressure that the Chinese government's diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference triggered strong discontent among the Chinese people, which led to the May Fourth Movement, Chinese delegates ultimately did not attend the signing ceremony of the Paris Peace Conference. The fundamental reason for this was the reactionary rule of the Beiyang warlords.
Return me Qingdao
On April 24, 1919, Liang Qichao sent a telegram from Paris to the National Association of Foreign Affairs: "As for the German affairs, I heard that Qingdao would be handed over directly to Japan. If I admit this, I would like to be bound by myself, and I would like to warn the government and the people to strictly rebuke all plenipotentiaries (representatives) and not to sign their names as a sign of their determination. ”
On April 29-30, representatives of Britain, the United States, and France attending the Paris Peace Conference convened a meeting, which was attended by Japanese representatives, and agreed on the terms of the Treaty of Versailles on the Shandong question (Articles 156, 157, and 158), ceding to Japan the rights and interests seized by Germany in Shandong.
On May 1, 1919, Lu Zhengxiang, China's negotiator and foreign minister, telegraphed the matter to the Beijing government, saying that if the agreement was not signed, it would be detrimental to the abolition of consular jurisdiction, the abolition of Gengzi's indemnity, the autonomy of tariffs, and the compensation for losses. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Beijing government, a think tank of the presidential office, held an emergency meeting and decided not to sign the agreement. Shanghai's "Mainland Daily" and "Beijing Newsletter" revealed: "The government received a call from the Chinese delegation in Paris, saying that the diplomatic war against Japan on the return of the lease of Jiaozhou had failed. ”
Pictures of the May Fourth Movement
On May 2, 1919, the Beijing government sent a secret telegram informing the Chinese delegates in Paris that they could sign the agreement. Lin Changmin, secretary general of the Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote an article in the "Morning Post" and "National Gazette" appealing: "Shandong is dead, and the country will not be a country, and I am willing to join 40,000 people to swear to die." Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, informed the students of the diplomatic failure.
On May 3, 1919, all walks of life in Beijing urgently discussed countermeasures. In the evening, Peking University students held a student meeting in the law auditorium of Peking University along the Beihe River, and invited representatives of 13 schools above secondary school in Beijing to participate, and the conference decided to hold a demonstration on the 4th (Sunday) at Tiananmen Square.
The May Fourth Patriotic Movement led by students
At 10 a.m. on May 4, 1919, student representatives from each school met at Hosei College and agreed on the route of the procession. Some of the students who were ready to punish the thieves with violence wrote suicide notes. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, more than 3,000 Beijing students gathered in Tiananmen Square from all directions, and hung the blood letter of Peking University students "Return me to Qingdao". After a short rally speech, the procession headed for the embassy district. When they arrived at the west exit of Dongjiaomin Lane, they were stopped by patrols, and the students then nominated representatives to request a meeting with the ministers of the four countries. Only the staff of the U.S. Embassy accepted the student's submission, while the British, French and Italian embassies refused to accept it on the grounds that the minister was not available. More than 3,000 students basked in the scorching sun for two hours, and when they saw that the embassy area could not pass, they were even more indignant, and the team turned to the residence of Cao Rulin in Zhaojialou.
As the students marched, they propagandized, "Many people shed tears when they saw it, many Westerners saw it take off their hats and cheered, and many patrol officers also shed tears." At about 4 p.m. (The Weekly Review, May 11, 1919), students flocked to Cao's house. Kuang Husheng, a student of the Mathematics and Physics Department of Beijing Higher Normal University, took the lead in jumping into the house and opened the door of the house, and the student brigade poured in and beat Zhang Zongxiang, the minister to Japan who was in Cao's house. The students searched for Cao Rulin all over the place, and in anger, they burned down his house at around 4:30. Later, the military police arrived and searched for the students, arresting a total of 32 people.
On May 5, 1919, there was a general strike in colleges and universities in Beijing. Tsinghua students, who were far away in the suburbs and did not participate in the 4-day action, announced that they would "act in concert with all universities from today."
On May 7, 1919, through the mediation of the principal's group headed by Cai Yuanpei, the arrested students returned to school and the students resumed classes.
New Youth Magazine
On May 9, 1919, in order to protect Peking University, Cai Yuanpei secretly ran away with complicated feelings.
On May 19, 1919, 25,000 students in Beijing went on another general strike, after which they carried out activities such as speeches, boycotted Japanese goods, published patriotic journals, and organized the "Hulu Volunteer Brigade".
On June 3, 1919, more than 170 students were arrested in Beijing for holding a large-scale street speech in defense of Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang, and Lu Zongyu. The next day, more than 700 students were arrested in Beijing when twice as many people took to the streets to give speeches on the 3rd. Too many students were arrested, and the school was used as a prison.
On June 5, 1919, major cities across the country went on strike, went on strike, and boycotted the city in solidarity with the patriotic movement of the students in Beijing. More than 800 incarcerated students were released.
On June 10, 1919, the Beijing government dismissed Cao, Zhang, and Lu from their posts.
On June 23, 1919, Xu Shichang met with representatives from all walks of life in Shandong and said that the government had sent a telegram ordering Lu Zhengxiang to sign it slowly.
On June 28, 1919, Lu Zhengxiang, the plenipotentiary of China, refused to sign the peace treaty with Germany at Versailles. In fact, the Chinese delegates were no longer able to travel to the conference because their homes were surrounded by Chinese students and workers studying in France.
Later, the Beiyang government was forced to release the arrested students, remove Cao Rulin and other traitors from their posts, and refuse to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
The May Fourth Patriotic Movement was a thorough patriotic movement against imperialism and feudalism. It was also the beginning of China's new democratic revolution.
Famous diplomat teaches "May Fourth Feelings"
"May Fourth Feelings" is a five-character poem written by the famous diplomat and contemporary poet Li Shengjiao on the May Fourth Youth Day in his later years, aiming to encourage young people to cherish the good time and be proactive. The whole poem expresses the author's sincere praise for youth, his love and expectation for youth, and his own feelings of returning to seclusion and making the virtuous.
May Fourth has feelings
厉声教
The remnants urge people to grow old, how can they be negative.
If you want to chase the bears, go fishing on the Weishui waterfront.
Huafa is biased, and youth is innovating.
The pillow flows the vulgar thoughts, and the ears are clean and listen to the pine chanting.
The core content of the May Fourth spirit is "patriotism, progress, democracy, and science."
For the sake of national independence and liberation, and for the sake of the country's prosperity and strength, we should go forward one after another, fight bravely, make positive progress, and work diligently.
Patriotism is the source of the May Fourth spirit, democracy and science are the core of the May Fourth spirit, the courage to explore, the courage to innovate, the emancipation of the mind, and the implementation of reform are the ways proposed and realized by democracy and science, and the rational spirit, the emancipation of individuality, and the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal are the contents of democracy and science. And the ultimate goal of all of this is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation. Therefore, to commemorate the May Fourth Movement and carry forward the spirit of the May Fourth Movement, we should combine these aspects and strive to rejuvenate the Chinese nation.
The spirit of May Fourth represents honesty, progress, positivity, freedom, equality, creativity, beauty, kindness, peace, love and mutual assistance, labor and happiness, and the unified embodiment of the happiness of the whole society.
The spirit of May Fourth is a sublimated patriotic spirit.
May Fourth Youth Day
According to the provisions of the "Measures for National Festivals and Memorial Day Holidays" promulgated by the State Council, "Youth Day (May 4), young people over the age of 14 will have a half-day holiday", but this provision does not specify the upper age limit of the people to whom the holiday applies.
In April 2008, with the consent of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, "Youth Day".