#may fourth movement

[sinetheta]

May Fourth Movement (五四运动). Liang Yulong (梁玉龙). 1976.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of The May Fourth Movement (五四运动), an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement held by 5000 Peking University students on May 4,1919 in Beijing. The demonstrations were against the Treaty of Versailles, which allowed Japan to claim the Shandong territories surrendered by Germany after the 1914 Siege of Tsingtao.

After the end of WWI, China had expected to reclaim the German-occupied territories as they were fighting on the Allies’ side. However, with the support of France, the UK and the US, the Empire of Japan’s expansionist policies had conquered large territories in China, and was finalized in the Treaty of Versailles. The Beijing student demonstrations rose from the Chinese government’s weak reaction to the treaty and became one of the most revolutionary and influential movements in China. The demonstrations shifted towards national protest and boosted Chinese nationalism, with many radical political and social leaders emerging during this time.

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[sinetheta]

新的生路还很多，我必须跨进去，因为我还活着。但我还不知道怎样跨出那第一步。有时，仿佛看见那生路就像一条灰白的长蛇，自己蜿蜒地向我奔来，我等着，等着，看看临近，但忽然便消失在黑暗里了。There are still many ways to survive, and I must step in because I am still alive. But I don’t know how to take the first step. Sometimes, that path of survival looks like a long ash-colored snake meandering towards me. I wait, and wait, watching it approach, yet in an instant it melts into the darkness.

Lu Xun (鲁迅), Regret for the Past (伤逝), 1923. 

Regret for the Past is one of Lu Xun’s most well-known and widely-analysed short stories, articulated in a uniquely sentimental and ominous tone that differs from the typical satire in his other works. The story is narrated from the first-person perspective of the male protagonist named Juansheng, who tells of his relationship and eventual separation from his lover, Zijun. Regret for the Past is reflective of May Fourth era literature in its favoring of the internal reflections and psyche of the storyteller in lieu of copious dialogue and explicit description. 

[sinetheta]

常常会有一种被世界暂时忘了的感觉，就像水槽里忘掉没洗的唯一一只筷子，或者孤零零挂在饭店门口的雨伞，一直没人来取走。 I often feel as if the world has temporarily forgotten about me, like the single chopstick that has been left unwashed in the sink, or the lonely umbrella hanging in front of the restaurant that nobody ever came to pick up.

Lu Xun (鲁迅), Diary of a Madman《狂人日记》

Diary of a Madman remains one of the most influential works of modern Chinese literature, playing an integral role in introducing the use of vernacular Chinese (baihuawen, 白话文) in Chinese prose. The diary format was inspired by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol’s short story of the same name, centered around the idea of a madman who interprets reality more clearly than his ostensibly ‘sane’ fellow society members. Lu Xun’s works are representative of the May Fourth movement in the early 1920s that aimed to overthrow traditional modes of thought such as Confucianism and feudalism with seemingly modern concepts such as democracy and science. 

[wendoscillatewildly]

May Fourth Movement (1919) and Tiannamen Square Protest (1989)

Predict the Past, Remember the Future.

[carlosthepolarbear]

May Fourth Movement.

[soulweaverspirit]

Happy May 4th!

In 1919 student protests at Tianenmen sparked a cultural/political revolution in China that fundamentally changed its course in history. Were it not for those educated New Youth, the Chinese landscape might have been divided and given to the best contributor of western powers.

Today, let's take a moment to think of what students today are asking for and why we are not in the streets protesting so we can get it.

[milkboydotnet]

Although man's social life is the only source of literature and art and is incomparably livelier and richer in content, the people are not satisfied with life alone and demand literature and art as well. Why? Because, while both are beautiful, life as reflected in works of literature and art can and ought to be on a higher plane, more intense, more concentrated, more typical, nearer the ideal, and therefore more universal than actual everyday life. Revolutionary literature and art should create a variety of characters out of real life and help the masses to propel history forward. For example, there is suffering from hunger, cold and oppression on the one hand, and exploitation and oppression of man by man on the other. These facts exist everywhere and people look upon them as commonplace. Writers and artists concentrate such everyday phenomena, typify the contradictions and struggles within them and produce works which awaken the masses, fire them with enthusiasm and impel them to unite and struggle to transform their environment. Without such literature and art, this task could not be fulfilled, or at least not so effectively and speedily.

Mao Zedong, Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art (May 1942)

[leftreviewonline]

(via Core of May Fourth Movement still relevant - leftreviewonline)