Kuomintang And The Commemoration Of The May4th Movement(1919-1949)

Annual activities in commemoration of the May Fourth Movement have been held since it happened in1919. In addition, this movement per se has become an important event in China’s modern history. From the perspective of how Kuomintang commemorates the May Fourth Movement, I analyse the related historical references during the period of1919to1949, attempting to explore how Kuomintang organized diversified forms of activities to commemorate the May Fourth Movement according to the realistic politics.Besides the Introduction and the Conclusion, this dissertation consists of three parts.Firstly, the young students, who showed tremendous political power in the May Fourth Movement in1919, has significantly influenced the politics both home and abroad. This inspired Kuomintang to attach importance to commemorate the May Fourth Movement by inviting key leaders to make speeches about current issues to the intellectuals during the period of the Guangzhou National Government.Secondly, it was an important period that Kuomintang commemorated the May Fourth Movement after the establishment of the Nanjing National Government. Kuomintang neglected the commemoration of the May Fourth Movement on purpose after1933. However, Kuomintang paid attention to the commemoration again when the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out. During this period, the commemoration was closely related with Kuomintang’s policy framework, trying to motivate the youth to take part in the war and consolidate Chiang Kai-shek’s status. After this war, i.e. from1946to1949, Kuomintang criticized and denigrated the Chinese Communist Party in the commemoration of the May Fourth Movement.Thirdly, combining the happening and ending of the May Fourth Movement with the commemoration, Kuomintang intended to integrate it into the ideology of Three People’s Principles. This reflected the fact that Kuomintang made the best use of this movement to make public opinion which was helpful to the ruling party, strengthening its regime. Kuomintang’s interpretation of the May Fourth Movement varied through time:the May Fourth Movement was the youth’s patriotic campaign, then the revolution for the Three People’s Principles; after that, Kuomintang highlighted that this movement manifested the spirit of resisting Japan; then, Kuomintang reaffirmed its patriotism and emphasized that it was the campaign against the warlords and feudalism (Chinese Communist Party). In a word, Kuomintang closely combined the commemoration of the May Fourth Movement with the current political situation in order to satisfy the current spiritual request.The significance of commemorating the May Fourth Movement to meet the demand of the current political situation plays a vital part in the commemorative activities organized by Kuomintang. To be more exact, the commemoration should serve for the current, that’s why Kuomintang varied its interpretation for the movement and took full advantage of commemorating this movement according the current conditions. By doing this, Kuomintang attempted to fully express its political stand and policy, as well as promote the youth to respond positively to those policies and keep loyalty to the Kuomintang Party. In other words, the commemoration of the May Fourth Movement by Kuomintang is a continuous construction of the memory, which reflects realistic significance. All in all, the memory of the May Fourth Movement is constructed by Kuomintang. This memory is also the process of the present conquers the past to make it as an affiliation to the present. Kuomintang rebuilt the memory of the May Fourth Movement rather than commemorated it. The historical memory has been built like this, mixing with the interpretation and imagination from the later generations.