The May 4th Movement played a major role in the modernization of China. Reacting against the refusal of the European powers to return German territories and rights in Shangdong back to China after the First World War, the students of China took to the streets in protest. Starting in Beijing, the protests spread all over the country drawing in much of its intelligentsia.
At one level, the outrage was directed against the imperial powers. China had joined the Allied powers in 1917, contributed over 100,000 Chinese labourers in the fight against Germany, on condition that all German concessions in China would be restored to China upon victory. Instead, the Treaty of Versailles in April 1919 gave the German concessions in Shandong to Japan, including Qingdao, completely ignoring the earlier promise to China.
At a deeper level, the outrage of China's intelligentsia was directed at the weakness of its own culture, in frustration at the inability of the Chinese people to shake itself off the past and modernize the way Japan was able to. Despite the Republican Revolution of 1911, China remained in complete disarray. The contempt showed by the imperial powers was the inevitable result of China's own decay.
The May 4th Movement forged a collective determination to create a new Chinese culture ridding itself of feudal mindsets, promoting gender equality, opposing yellow culture, emphasizing mass education and extolling science and technology. This spirit infused both the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) which was founded a few years after May 4th. Business leaders and newspaper owners weighed in with their support. Many newspapers began introducing regular supplements on a new culture in ferment, a tradition which continues in Lien He Zao Bao today.
The May 4th Movement had a profound impact on Singapore's own development. Indeed, without reference to May 4th, it is impossible to understand the origin and evolution of Singapore's own nationalism. In the early stages, the influence of May 4th swept all Chinese organisations in Singapore along - business and clan associations, newspapers, schools and student groups, cultural organisations. It was natural to be of the left then because without a certain revolutionary fervour, this cultural renewal could not have been accomplished. Every major event in China had its resonance in Singapore. Both the KMT and the CCP had their supporters in Singapore.
When they fought in China, they fought in Singapore. When they united to fight the Japanese in China, they united in support here. It was for this reason that the Japanese militarists saw Singapore as an extension of the war in China which led tragically to 'sook ching'.
After the Second World War, Singapore's own nationalism struggled to separate itself from the political drama on the Chinese mainland. For as long as the local Communist movement was largely based on the Chinese population of Malaya and Singapore, it could not succeed. Nationalism in Singapore had to be founded on the multiracial character of our society and take into account our colonial history and the regional reality. After twists and turns, the PAP eventually prevailed over the Communist left that it was initially in alliance with, leading Singapore to self-government in 1959 and full independence in 1965.
After 90 years, the legacy of May 4th in Singapore can be seen in the cultural renewal of the ethnic Chinese who make up three quarters of Singapore's population. The vitality and dynamism it gave to the 'Chinese ground' in colonial times frightened the British and contributed immensely to Singapore's self-government and independence. That spirit lives on in Singapore's Chinese business and clan associations, in Nantah and the SAP schools, in the Chinese newspapers, and in many of our cultural organisations. May 4th is part of Singapore's rich inheritance.
George Yeo
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