CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Definition of the Movement Maytdets i Peking demoratedn protsnthe Chinese government's humiliating policy toward Japan.There resulted a series of strikes and associated events amounting to a social ferment and an intellec- tual revolution.This rising tide was soon dubbed by the students the May Fourth Movement (Wu-ssu yfin-tung),a term which acquired a broader mean- ing in later years than it had originally1 In the ensuing pages,the term May Fourth Movement will be used in this broader sense.It covers the period roughly from roI7 through Igar and includes the events summarized briefy as follows.Supported by the rising patriotic and anti-Great-Power sentiments of the public which had been ignited first by the Twenty-one Demands of Japan in 195 and then by the Shantung reso- lution of the Versailles Peace Conference in 1,the students and new in- tellectual leaders promoted an anti-Japanese campaign and a vast moderniza- tion movement to build a new China through intellectual and social reforms. They stressed primarily Western ideas of science and democracy.Traditional Chinese ethics,customs,literature,history,philosophy,religion,and social and political institutions were fiercely attacked.Liberalism,pragmatism,utilitarian- ism,anarchism,and many varicties of socialism provided the stimuli.The protest of May 4 marked the pivot of these developments.Its aims soon won sympathy from the new merchants,industrialists,and urban workers,and the Peking government was forced to compromise in its foreign and domestic policies. This victory of the new coalition facilitated the expansion of the cultural and intellectual reforms it advocated.Shortly after this,the movement gradually became involved in politics,and the united front of the new intellectuals col- lapsed.The liberals lost their zeal or turned away from political activity, whereas the left wing of the movement took the expedient political step of