Description

Today I take a partial step back from high politics in China. Dissatisfaction had been building over the Chinese government's failure revise the exploitive relationship the country suffered from with the great powers of the world. And it didn't help that both Yuan and Duan had been actively courting foreign support either. On May 4th 1919, the tension broke and people took to the streets, at first mostly students, and then most everybody else in the major cities. In addition to covering this protest, I take a step back and cover the development of Chinese thinking and education that led to this point. While the protests would be relatively short-lived, they represented a break where political and social revolution became far more attractive in China. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
2. Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
3. Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
4. Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics Praeger Publishers 1971

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com