The May 4th Movement, and China’s Modernisation

The path towards modernisation in China was far from straight forward. At the start of the 20^th Century many blamed China’s weaknesses and backwardness on the ailing Imperial dynasty. The dynasty fell in 1911 creating a power vacuum in which the nationalist Kuomintang competed with regional warlords and the CCP formed in 1921 to fill (Tuner, 2000, p.38). The disarray that China fell into came as a great disappointment to the man who worked hardest for a modern Chinese republic, Sun Yat-sen. SunYat-sen was a founding member and the first leader of the Kuomintang that would govern China for much of the period up to 1949. Like the CCP the Kuomintang had a relationship with the May 4^th Movement if not the New Culture Movement. The Kuomintang was a nationalist organisation as well, split into capitalist and socialist if not communist factions. On a more practical level Sun Yat-sen helped the process of modernisation by developing China’s inadequate train network (Wakin, 1997, p.12).

Many Chinese people deeply resented foreign power and influence in China, which their governments Imperial and Republican were both incapable and unwilling to end. Germany’s defeat in the First World War did not lead to the Chinese government taking back German rights in China. Instead of that happening the Allies gave all Germany’s rights to the Japanese without bothering to consult the Chinese government. There was mass protest in China leading to the formation of the May 4^th Movement. The May 4^th Movement was dominated by young Chinese intelligentsia, some of which would later have links with the CCP. Mao himself would be close to some members of the May 4^th Movement although his ideas on modernisation and revolution would prove more radical. There were also people in China that wished to radically alter society and culture, the New Culture Movement (Starr, 2001, p.211). The May 4^th movement failed in its original aim of returning the city of Qingdao under Chinese control rather than allowing the Japanese to take control of it under the terms of the Versailles Peace Settlement (Wasserstrom, 2003, p.94). The May 4^th Movement had an influence both on the Kuomintang and the CCP that tinged both parties with strong nationalist traits yet with differing ideas of modernisation (Wasserstrom, 2003, p.138). For a time it seemed that the Kuomintang and the CCP would work together to modernise China. Such an alliance seemed practical as both parties claimed to be nationalist and revolutionary whilst looking towards the Soviet Union for support in their struggles against foreign imperialists and backwardness. Things did not turn out that way largely due to the Kuomintang turning on their communist allies once they had tightened their control over the country. Chiang Kai-shek viewed the elimination of the CCP as vital for undisputed control of China as well destroying its links with the May 4^th Movement and the New Cultural Movement. Chiang would put destroying them ahead of fighting the Japanese whilst attempting to modernise China (Hobsbawm, 1994, p.70).