Yesterday was the centennial for the May 4th movement. China commemorates it with celebration and Xi’s speech, and everybody else tried to lay claim to be successor for it, even NYT has an article trying to belittle China’s achievement by saying today’s China reminds him of warlords of 1920s China. So we as Chinese whether be in China or overseas Chinese culturally attached to her have to answer the question asked by the leaders of that movement, “Where is China heading?”. We have the hindsight of the history of last 100 years to answer affirmatively when we sing the “Ode to Dear Motherland” that China is heading toward prosperity and peace.
Professor Zhang Wei-wei in his TV program “China Today” repeatedly stated we should have self confidence in facing West in equal term, and not trying to hide behind like Yao Ming crouching behind a short person. The “Belt and Road” initiative is a counter to Trump’s tariff war whatever the outcome of the negotiation. The attack on Huawei and 5G is failing in Europe and elsewhere. The visa restriction of Chinese scientists visiting U.S., not only in physical sciences, but social sciences speaks more on the desperation felt in Washington than any real spying. It’s true both parties in U.S. are increasing hostile toward China because of the increasing economic power of China and influence in the world today. The question on “Mr. Science” is obviously answered. On the question on “Mr. Democracy” quite a few people are still trying to badger China especially some intellectuals. Yet we only have to look at Washington today to see the falsity of pseudo democracy on what people want and the road blocks on real democracy, from gerrymandering to denial of Florida voters will for former convicts’ right to vote, from electoral college with minority candidate winning the presidency to influence of money in politics. From the U.S. dominance of international institutions such as U.N. or World Bank. Yet the Trump withdrawal and wall signals the decline of this monopoly power.
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godfree says
” It must be understood that the May Fourth Movement broke out at the call of the world revolution, of the Russian revolution led by Lenin, and formed a part of the world proletarian revolution of the time.
“Although we did not have a Chinese Communist party during the May Fourth Movement, many intellectuals did accept the primary Communist ideas, and they approved of the Russian revolution.
“In its beginnings the May Fourth Movement was a united-front revolutionary movement absorbing the energies of three kinds of people: the Communist-inclined intelligentsia, the revolutionary petty-bourgeois intelligentsia, and the bourgeois intelligentsia, who formed the right wing.
“The cultural revolution of the May Fourth Movement opposed feudal culture in a thor-oughgoing way, and there was never such a great and thorough cultural revolution in the history of China.
“It achieved success in two ways: it opposed the old morality and promoted the new morality, and it opposed the old literature and promoted the new literature.” Mao Zedong, On The New Democracy.
N.M.Cheung says
@godfree
I agree the Chinese Communist Party was a direct result of May 4th movement, although a lot of Western trained intellectuals are trying to portrait themselves as the successors, even Singapore’s Prime Minister tried to get in the action, not to mention some from Hong Kong.