The Beijing government and the Guangzhou military government jointly formed a China delegation to participate in the peace conference as victors, demanding the abolition of the privileges of the great powers in China, the abolition of the "twenty-one" unequal treaty concluded by Japanese imperialism and Yuan Shikai, and the return of all the rights in Shandong that Japan seized from Germany during World War II.
Under the control of imperialist powers, the Paris Peace Conference not only rejected China's request, but also stipulated in the peace treaty with Germany that all the privileges of Germany in Shandong should be transferred to Japan. The Beijing government is going to sign a "peace treaty", which has aroused strong opposition from the people of China.
On the afternoon of May 4th, more than 3,000 students from Peking University, Normal University and other 13 schools broke through the obstruction of the military and police to give a speech in front of Tiananmen Square, and then held a demonstration, putting forward slogans such as "fighting for sovereignty outside, eliminating the national thief inside", "canceling Article 21" and "refusing to sign a peace treaty", demanding that pro-Japanese Cao Rulin, He Lu and others be punished. Thus broke out the vigorous May 4th patriotic movement.
The influence of Beijing students' patriotic movement has expanded rapidly. Demonstrations were held in Tianjin, Shanghai, Changsha, Guangzhou and other cities as well as all over the country. China students and overseas Chinese also carried out patriotic activities. Sun Yat-sen who was in Shanghai at that time expressed his deep sympathy and support. The Beijing government was forced to release the arrested students on May 7, but it also issued an order to suppress the student movement.
On June 3, students from various schools in Beijing set off in groups and took to the streets to give speeches; On June 4th, more students were sent out for publicity activities, and nearly a thousand students were arrested in two days, which aroused greater anger among the people of the whole country. Shanghai people got up first, students went on strike, workers went on strike, businessmen went on strike, and strongly supported Beijing students.
In particular, Shanghai workers have launched a political strike with 60,000 to 70,000 participants since June 5; Workers in Nanjing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Jinan, Wuhan, Jiujiang and Wuhu also held strikes and demonstrations. The Beijing government was shocked and had to release all the arrested students on June 6. On June 5438+00, Cao, Zhang and Lu were announced to "resign".
On 28th, the German delegation refused to sign the peace treaty with China. The May 4th patriotic movement came to a successful conclusion. Under the strong pressure of the whole country, the Beijing government was forced to release the arrested students on June 7.