The fuse of the May 4th Movement was the failure of China's diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference. 1919 65438+1October 18 The 27 allied countries that won the First World War held a peace conference at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. As one of the victors, China sent five representatives, including Lu Zhengxiang and Gu Weijun. In spite of China's three-point proposition on safeguarding national territorial sovereignty, the Paris Peace Conference treacherously transferred all German privileges in Qingdao and Shandong to Japan.

At the beginning of May, the news of China's diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference reached China, arousing strong indignation from all walks of life. At 2 pm on May 4, more than 3,000 students from Peking University and Beijing Normal University, as well as students from more than a dozen universities of industry, agriculture, medicine, politics and law, shouted slogans such as "Give me back Qingdao", "Cancel 2 1 article" and "Fight for sovereignty outside, get rid of national thieves inside" and gathered in front of Tiananmen Square from all directions. An anti-imperialist patriotic movement that shocked China and foreign countries broke out in Beijing.