Achievements of the May Fourth Movement

• National awakening:

  • It wasn't until the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement that the first nationwide patriotic movement emerged.
  • With heightened national awareness, the people protested as the foreign powers settled the Shandong problem unfairly.
  • It led to a boycott of Japanese goods.
  • The officials who betrayed national interests such as Cao Rulin were dismissed.
  • China eventually refused to sign the peace treaty with Germany (the Treaty of Versailles).
• National awakening:

  • This result cheered the public and encouraged them to continue caring for their country.
  • The national awakening helped unite the Chinese people.
• Emphasis on democracy and science:

  • As the intellectuals believed that the lack of democracy and science led to China's backwardness, the May Fourth Movement held high the banners of 'Democracy' and 'Science'.
  • A growing number of Western science journals were translated and published in China.
  • Various academic groups emerged as well.
  • For instance, the Chinese Astronomical Society and the Chinese Chemical Industry Society were set up in 1922.
• New literature:

  • The New Culture Movement promoted the uses of vernacular Chinese/plain language and punctuation.
  • Vernacular Chinese was widely used in newspapers and magazines, replacing the classical Chinese.
  • It was because vernacular Chinese was accessible to the broad masses, not just the intellectuals.
• New literature:

  • In 1919 alone, about 400 periodicals in vernacular Chinese were published in China.
  • In 1920, it was decided that primary school textbooks would be published in vernacular Chinese.
  • Lu Xun's A Mad Man's Diary and The True Story of Ah Q were both written in vernacular Chinese.
  • Lu Xun wrote in A Mad Man's Diary that confucianism was equivalent to eating people.
  • He criticized that confucianism insisted children to be filial, women to be subordinate and inferiors to be obedient to superiors, robbing people of their autonomy and crushing the human spirit.
• New literature:

  • Moreover, intellectuals translated Western literary works.
  • For instance, the poetry of Yeats was translated.
  • This caused a major breakthrough in literature.
• Improving the status of women:

  • During the May Fourth Movement, female students actively took part in the demonstrations and school strikes to protest against China's treatment at the Paris Peace Conference.
  • Some female students even participated in public speaking.
  • With their increasing political participation, women's status improved.
• Improving the status of women:

  • The promotion of women's education during the May Fourth Movement also contributed to the enhancement of the status of women.
  • For example, Peking University admitted female students in 1920, followed by other universities nationwide.
• Improving the status of women:

  • In 1919, the New Youth published the translated version of a Norwegian dramatist's A Doll's House.
  • It promoted women's liberation from male dominance (Women should not be the puppets of their husbands).
  • The May Fourth Movement also promote anti-foot-binding to achieve the liberation of women's bodies.
• Fostering the development of local industries:

  • Before the May Fourth Movement, cheap Japanese products made up a large market share in China.
  • During the May Fourth Movement, the boycott of Japanese goods became all the rage in China.
  • The purchase of Chinese goods were encouraged.
• Fostering the development of local industries:

  • Therefore, the May Fourth Movement stimulated the growth of local industries in China.
  • For example, some Chinese businessmen seized the opportunity to open textile companies.
• Decline of Confucianism and the formation of the Communist Party:

  • During the May Fourth Movement, the intellectuals believed that Confucianism was nothing but a tool for suppressing one's individual character and suffocating one's free thinking.
  • Lu Xun, in his A Mad Man's Diary, accused Confucian ethics as 'man-eating'.
• Decline of Confucianism and the formation of the Communist Party:

  • For some in the movement, abandoning Confucianism meant looking elsewhere for political ideologies that would serve China.
  • Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the May Fourth leaders, turned to the Russian Revolution of 1917.
  • They wanted to make use of communist doctrines to change the current chaotic political situation and to form a new China.
  • Marxist study groups were formed.
  • In 1921, the Communist Party of China was founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao.