Editing May Fourth Movement (section)

== Background ==
{{Further|Warlord Era}}
Oxford University historian [[Rana Mitter]] observed that the "atmosphere and political mood that emerged around 1919 are at the center of a set of ideas that has shaped China's momentous twentieth century."{{sfnp|Mitter|2004|p=12}} The [[Qing dynasty]] had disintegrated in 1911, marking the end of thousands of years of imperial rule, and ushered a new era in which political power nominally rested with the people, but Confucianism still had a profound influence on social and political relations. After the death of President [[Yuan Shikai]] in 1916, China became [[Warlord Era|dominated by warlords]] who were concerned with building political power and rival regional armies. The government in Beijing could do little to counter foreign influence and control.{{sfnp|Mitter|2004|p=12}} Chinese Premier [[Duan Qirui]]'s signing of the secret [[Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement]] in 1918 enraged the Chinese public when it was leaked to the press, and sparked a student protest movement that laid the groundwork for the May Fourth Movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sugano |first=Tadashi |year=1986 |script-title=ja:日中軍事協定の廃棄について |trans-title=On the scrapping of the Sino-Japanese military agreements |url=http://repo.nara-u.ac.jp/modules/xoonips/download.php/AN10086451-19861200-1002.pdf?file_id=1553 |journal=Nara Journal of History |language=ja |volume=4 |issue=12 |page=34}}</ref> The [[March 1st Movement]] in Korea in 1919, the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, continued defeats by foreign powers and the presence of [[spheres of influence]] further inflamed [[Chinese nationalism]] among the emerging middle class and cultural leaders.{{sfnp|Mitter|2004|p=12}}

Leaders of the New Culture Movement blamed traditional Confucian values for the political weakness of the nation.{{sfnp|Chen|1971|pp=18–20}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Leo Ou-fan |title=Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-253-36263-6 |location=Bloomington |pages=53–77, 76–78}}</ref> Chinese nationalists called for a rejection of traditional values and the adoption of Western ideals of "Mr. Science" ({{zhi|t=賽先生|s=赛先生|p=Sài xiānsheng|first=t}}) and "Mr. Democracy" ({{zhi|c=德先生|p=Dé xiānsheng}}) in place of "Mr. Confucius" in order to strengthen the new nation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spence |first=Jonathan D. |title=The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895-1980 |publisher=Viking |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-670-29247-9 |location=New York |pages=117–123}}</ref><ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Zhong |first=Yang |url=https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/vx021h696 |title=China as Number One? The Emerging Values of a Rising Power |last2= |first2= |date=2024 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-07635-2 |editor-last=Zhong |editor-first=Yang |series=China Understandings Today series |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |chapter=Attitudes Toward Religion, Science, and Technology in China |format=EPUB |editor-last2=Inglehart |editor-first2=Ronald |editor-last3=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=352}} These [[iconoclastic]] and anti-traditional views and programs have influenced China's politics and culture to the present day.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Republican China, 1912–1949 (Part 1) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-521-23541-9 |editor-last=Fairbank |editor-first=John King |edition=Repr. |series=The Cambridge History of China |volume=12 |page=451 |orig-date=1983 |editor-last2=Twitchett |editor-first2=Denis Crispin}}</ref>

=== Twenty-One Demands ===
{{Main|Twenty-One Demands}}
The twenty-one demands were a set of proposals presented by the Ōkuma Shigenobu government to the Yuan Shikai administration in hopes of expanding Japanese affairs in China. The demands consisted of a variety of economic, territorial and power-hungry provisions. An important component of these demands were in regards to Chinese territory. These included intentions for expanding Japanese interests in southern Manchuria, eastern Mongolia, in addition to the confirmation of Japan's seizure of German ports in China's Shandong province.

In early 1915, Japan's submission of the twenty-one demands were revealed to the Chinese public, causing an increase in political tension and frustration towards Japan. In light of these revelations, the Chinese press became very critical towards Japan, and Chinese citizens' views of Japan soured. The twenty-one demands ultimately added fuel to the rising tensions between the two countries, playing an important role in triggering the impending May Fourth Movement.

=== Shandong Problem ===
{{Main|Shandong Problem}}
China had entered World War I on the side of the [[Triple Entente]] in 1917. Although that year, 140,000 Chinese laborers were sent to the Western Front as a part of the [[Chinese Labor Corps]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Xu |first=Guoqi |title=Strangers on the Western Front: Chinese workers in the Great War |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-674-04999-4 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=1–9}}</ref> the [[Treaty of Versailles]] ratified in April 1919 awarded rights to the German territories in [[Shandong]] to Japan. The representatives of the Chinese government put forth the following requests:
# Abolition of all privileges of foreign powers in China, such as [[extraterritoriality]]
# Cancelling of the Twenty-One Demands
# Return to China of the territory and rights of Shandong, which Japan had taken from Germany during World War I.
The Western allies dominated the meeting at Versailles, and paid little heed to Chinese demands. The European delegations, led by French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]], were primarily interested in punishing Germany. Although the American delegation promoted [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]] and the ideals of [[self-determination]], they were unable to advance these ideals in the face of stubborn resistance by [[David Lloyd George]] and Clemenceau. American advocacy of self-determination at the [[League of Nations]] was attractive to Chinese intellectuals, but their failure to follow through was seen as a betrayal. This failure of diplomacy at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] created what became known as the "Shandong Problem".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1998 |title=Shandong question |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Shandong-question}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Guoqi |first=Xu |title=Asia and the Great War |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-199-65819-0 |pages=153–184 |chapter=China and Japan at Paris |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658190.003.0007}}</ref>