Imperialism and Nationalism As May Fourth Movement Discourses
IMPERIALISM AND NATIONALISM AS MAY FOURTH MOVEMENT DISCOURSES Tiina H. Airaksinen University of Helsinki This article analyses those imperialist and national discourses that the Chinese and the British constructed, particularly during the May Fourth Movement, in China in the 1910s and 1920s. Moreover, the paper explores the form, content, and impact of May Fourth rhetoric on national identity, concentrating on the cultural, historical, and political dimensions of nationalism presented in China. It is clear that the May Fourth protestors, especially urban and educated men, dominated public articulations of national identities. With their control of knowledge production, and in some cases control of state bureaucracies, elite men were able to make demands for the nation, often combining their own group needs with specific definitions of the nation. British discourse that was constructed during the May Fourth Movement responded to a reality that was infinitely adaptable in its function of preserving the basic structures of imperial power. For the British, the May Fourth demonstrators represented a potential change in the level of existing intellectual, political, social, and economic stability, which for decades had guaranteed the British a privileged position in the country. As result, discussions on nationalism and imperialism became a crucial part of the Sino- British May Fourth Movement discourse. INTRODUCTION On May fourth in 1919, around 3,000 university students gathered together at Tiananmen Square in Beijing and started a series of demonstrations that would later be named the May Fourth Movement (Wusi Yundong). The demonstrators distributed flyers declaring that the Chinese could not accept the concession of Chinese territory to Japan, as stipulated at the Versailles Peace Conference held in the spring of 1919.
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