May 4th Protest

  • New Youth Magazine is started

    It led to the New culture magazine as it was where important writings were published. The writings reached huge audiences as it was one of the most popular magazines at the time and it influenced many of the important figures at the time. It allowed for the spread and discussion of new ideas.
  • Japan's 21 Demands

    When the demands were first signed it caused outrage in China, when the demands weren't overturned at the Paris Peace Conference it restarted the anger. It was just one example of how China had been mistreated by other countries and how sick of it thhe Chinese were.
  • Russian Revolution

    The Russian revolution came at a time where China was angry at imperialism.
  • Vernacular Writing

    The old version of Chinese was confusing and many in China didn't know how to read it. People wanted to spread information and so they promoted vernacular Chinese in order to spread information.
  • Bolshevik Revolution

    This came at a time where China was looking for a solution and was turning away from western ideas after being humiliated by them during the Paris Peace Conference. It was the perfect time for the bolsheviks to spread communism into China.
  • China Joins the war

    The US joined the war and urged China to do the same. The Beijing government agreed however they didn't send troops to fight. They sent over 150,000 volunteers to the western front to dig trenches, graves, and produce munitions. Japan took over German concessions in China.
  • Diary of a Madman

  • Treaty of Versailles

    The treatment of China during the meetings was seen as humiliating as the west refused to extend self-determination to China as ignored their wants. The west had gone back on their promises and China had been betrayed by representatives such as Duan Qirui who had tried to win Japanese backing over fighting for China's demands. This event was the spark that started the protests after years of being mistreated by the west. It turned intellectual away from western ideas and towards communism.
  • Spread of New ideas

    After the protest, more protests and demonstrations broke out. Western thinkers and artist came to China to spread ideas. With vernacular Chinese gaining popularity and more writings coming out more and more people were able to gain information on new ideas such as democracy.
  • May 4th Protest

    Student organizations assembled at Tiananmen to protest with nationwide support. They wanted to talk to the US ambassador but they refused to talk to them, so moved to march on one of the 'traitors'. They burned his house down and beat another traitor. Led to growing nationalism and more political writings came out.
  • CCP is founded

    Articles from New Youth had greatly influenced the founders of the CCP.