![May Fourth Movement students](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/May_Fourth_Movement_students.jpg)
Literary Day is observed annually on May 4 in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, in honor of the
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chinese ...
. It was first celebrated on this day in 1945, and its establishment was affected by the dispute over whether the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
or the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
was the legitimate successor to the May Fourth Movement, disagreements about how to interpret the movement, and other cultural struggles.
Historical origins
On May 4, 1920, the first celebrations of the anniversary of the
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chinese ...
were held across China. Well-known figures such as
Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade–Giles, Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political act ...
and
Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Pek ...
published articles speaking highly of the student demonstrations. In the 1920s, amid confrontations between the
Guangzhou government and the
Beiyang government
The Beiyang government (), officially the Republic of China (), sometimes spelled Peiyang Government, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking (Beijing) between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally r ...
, the Beiyang government prohibited rallies and marches commemorating the May Fourth Movement in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
, so the center of May Fourth Movement commemorations moved to
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. In 1923, the National Student Association notified local student associations of a resolution that each student association was to hold a commemorative rally each year. With the
May Ninth National Humiliation
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
(
五九國恥) and the
May Third incident, the beginning of May began to accumulate anti-Japanese observances, and as the conflict between China and Japan deepened, the May Fourth anniversary became a symbol of anti-Japanese resistance. In 1933, more than a year after the
Mukden Incident
The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
On September 18, 1931, L ...
, one of the rallies declared May 4 as the "Anniversary of the Movement to Rejuvenate Chinese Culture".
Literary Day was originally designated by the
Nationalist government as March 27, in honor of the establishment of the
All-China Resistance Association of Writers and Artists, while Youth Day was originally designated as May 4, in honor of the
Three Principles of the People
The Three Principles of the People (; also translated as the Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism) is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to improve China made during the Republican Era. ...
Youth Corps.
The
Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region
Shaan–Gan–Ning or in postal romanization Shen–Kan–Ning () was a historical proto-state that was formed in 1937 by the Chinese Communist Party following the collapse of the Chinese Soviet Republic in agreement with the Kuomintang as a part ...
Northwestern Youth National Aid Association formally declared May 4 as Youth Day in March 1939.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
wrote an article praising the May Fourth Movement, and the same year, the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
government designated May 4 as Youth Day.
On May 4, 1939, the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT) and the Communists both celebrated the first
May Fourth Youth Day.
![可纪念的五月](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/%E5%8F%AF%E7%BA%AA%E5%BF%B5%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%94%E6%9C%88.png)
In 1940 or 1943, the KMT government moved Youth Day to March 29 to commemorate the martyrs of the
Yellow Flower Mound Uprising.
The move provoked opposition: for instance, on May 3, 1944,
National Southwestern Associated University
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...
held a symposium on the topic of "protecting the May Fourth spirit, carrying forward the May Fourth tradition". During the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
, the Kuomintang-established observance of Youth Day on March 29 became an occasion for people to express their dissatisfaction with the Kuomintang. The Communist Party took the opportunity to instigate a student movement for "survival, freedom, and peace".
In 1944, the KMT government changed the May Fourth observance to Literary Day, and the new observance was celebrated for the first time in 1945.
In 1949, the new
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
changed it back to Youth Day, and this difference in observance between the PRC (mainland China) and the ROC (Taiwan) persists to this day.
In Taiwan
During the
post-war period in Taiwan, when ''
bensheng'' (Taiwanese-origin) authors discussed the May Fourth Movement, they emphasized the impact of the
New Culture Movement on Taiwan starting during
the period of Japanese rule. ''
Waisheng'' (mainland-origin) authors focused on the May Fourth Movement resisting the Kuomintang's suppression of speech, or on the hope that the spirit of the movement would eliminate the remnants of
Japanese culture
The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world.
Historical overview
The ance ...
in Taiwan and reestablish
Chinese culture
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
.
The Kuomintang government did not carry out any activities in Taiwan commemorating the May Fourth Movement during the period from 1945 to 1949,
but on May 4, 1950, the was established in
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
, and in the 1950s, the Kuomintang government established the May Fourth literary award and began designating May 4 as Literary Day each year. They also began organizing events to commemorate the May Fourth Movement.
Local government organizations, including in
Matsu and
Taoyuan, have held various events to celebrate Literary Day. The Chinese Writers' and Artists' Association organizes activities and celebrations, as well as awarding the , which has more than 800 recipients to date. The
president of the Republic of China
The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...
(Taiwan) has also hosted events and presented literary awards.
The holiday is also celebrated by
overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
, including in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
See also
*
Youth Day (China)
References
{{Reflist, 2
May observances
Observances in Taiwan