The direct cause of the May 4th patriotic movement was that the Paris Peace Conference refused to comply with the China government's just request, and insisted on handing over all the power of Shandong, which was originally German, to Japan instead of to China, which caused strong protests from patriotic students, and assembled troops in embassies to demand that all countries come out to safeguard justice. But its fundamental motive is to save China from peril and revitalize the Chinese nation.
The slogan of "rejuvenating China" was first put forward by Sun Yat-sen in 1894 Zhong Xing Declaration. Since then, most patriots have taken this as the ultimate goal of their lifelong struggle. It can be said that all the revolutionary struggles in China since then were aimed at rejuvenating the Chinese nation; All progress and achievements are due to its supervision and encouragement. The May 4th Movement is a direct continuation of this spirit. This is the most fundamental motive force for patriotic students to run and shout, fight bloody battles, and for intellectuals, citizens and workers to respond and support actively. This is also the most fundamental significance of slogans such as "fighting for national rights abroad and punishing national thieves at home" and "awakening compatriots and saving the country unanimously". Although some people didn't realize this clearly at that time, they were driven by patriotic enthusiasm, but their patriotic purpose was not to keep China backward, but the ultimate goal was to save China from peril, change the backward face of China and revitalize the Chinese nation.
If many ordinary students, citizens and workers were not clear enough about the idea of rejuvenating the Chinese nation at that time, this idea was very clear among some advanced intellectuals. Li Dazhao's Youth, written on September 0, 2006 1965438, and Mission, written on February 4, 2007 1965438, both proposed to build "Youth China" and "Youth China". Xinmin Society, established in April of 19 18, with the aim of "transforming China and the world"; The Youth Chinese Language Institute, established in June this year, also aims to cultivate "young China people". These slogans are actually synonymous with rejuvenating China. To this, Mao Zedong made it very clear. At the beginning of his series of articles "People's Unity", he clearly pointed out that the country is extremely bad, human beings are extremely miserable, and society is extremely dark, and it is necessary to find a "remedy and transformation method". At the end of the article, he put forward hopefully: "I dare say a strange thing, the reform of the Chinese nation will be more thorough than any other nation in the future." The society of the Chinese nation will be brighter than any other nation. The great unity of the Chinese nation will succeed before any nation in any region. Gentlemen! Gentlemen! We always have to work hard! We must always rush forward desperately! Our golden world, the glorious world, is just ahead! "(1)[ Mao Zedong's early manuscripts, edited by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Literature Research Office, pp. 338-394, Hunan Publishing House, Changsha, 1990. ] the new face of the splendid Chinese nation is vividly on the paper.
It is in order to revitalize the Chinese nation that Chen Duxiu and others strongly advocate opposing the old traditions and advocating democracy and science. 1919121In the New Youth Manifesto, he described the new era and society he yearned for with passion, and thought that this "ideal new era and society" was honest, progressive, positive, free, equal and creative. (1) [Duxiu Wencun, p. 244, Anhui People's Publishing House, Hefei, 1987. The face of the new era and society he described here is actually the goal of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since then, they have accepted Marxism, propagated socialism and founded the China Producers' Party, also for the purpose of rejuvenating China.