The political commentary on May Fourth in 1950s Hong Kong and Taiwan

Abstract

“May Fourth” has long been considered a turning point for modern China, resulting in continuous heated discussion on the topic since the 1920s. These discussions not only reexamine culture but also have political intent. Many recent scholars have discussed the “ideologization” of May Fourth from the perspective of “memory politics.” They argue that “May Fourth discourse” was not only used to understand and recapture the past, but also to help one’s own cherished values occupy a core position in modern Chinese history, thus using historical interpretation to create a compass for China’s future that conforms to historical tides. From the four great philosophies of modern China, the Nationalists and Communists have incorporated May Fourth into the “Three People’s Principles” and “New Democracy,” respectively. Liberals held up democracy and science as a need for China’s future, and made efforts to propagate and practice democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwan after 1949. As for New Confucians who had continuously criticized May Fourth for being anti-tradition, they supported traditional values but also believed that democracy and science were a “priority and necessity for China's cultural development,” and hoped to use the spirit behind this ideal. They along with liberals criticized the Nationalist and Communist autocracy for departing from May Fourth ideals, and especially noted how May Fourth created fertile ground for the rise and expansion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), “resulting in the growth of the Communist Party,” and the Nationalist government’s move to Taiwan. After 1949, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and the Guomindang (GMD) Nationalist Party he led primarily assessed the May Fourth Movement by synthesizing the views of the liberals and New Confucians. They highlighted the slogans of saving the nation, ethics, democracy, and science to promote ethical education and “national spirit education” as top-priority cultural policies. The focus of this article is to examine how liberals and New Confucians used the topic of May Fourth to criticize the CCP and GMD in Hong Kong and Taiwanese political commentary magazines during the 1950s (approximately 1949–1960). It also explores how the GMD synthesized liberal and New Confucian views to lay out their own position. This discourse shows how May Fourth had diverse interpretations under the context of conflict between the liberals and the New Confucians as well as Nationalists and Communists. The criticism of the ideologization of May Fourth in recent years is actually an important turning point in the scholarly study of May Fourth.     

Drafting the Nineteen Propositions,January–July 1642*

This article analyses the drafting of the document eventually printed as the Nineteen Propositions. Section two addresses certain issues regarding the methods and concepts employed in the subsequent analysis, focusing on consensus‐building, constitutional leanings and the drafting of parliamentary declarations in early 1642. Section three examines the origins of the Nineteen Propositions in the draft Declaration of Ways and Means (January 1642) (hereafter cited as the Ways). Section four traces the emergence of the Declaration Concerning Grievances and Remedies (hereafter cited as the Grievances) from the Ways (January–February). Section five examines the junta's efforts to overcome the Lords' prevarication over passing the Grievances (February–May). Section six examines the emergence of the initial draft of the Nineteen Propositions from the Grievances (24–7 May). Section seven analyses the 28 May draft, while section eight explores the amendment of that draft (31 May and 1 June). Section nine examines parliament's abortive attempts to revise the Nineteen Propositions in light of His Majesty's Answer to the XIX Propositions (21 June–2 July). It is concluded that, contrary to the received view, the text of the Nineteen Propositions began to emerge in January rather than May 1642, and that the junta in the Commons rather than the Lords drove this process. The three appendices identify, respectively, the constitutional leanings of the relevant parliamentarians, the parts of the text of the Ways that were repeated in the Grievances, and dates on which the various parts of the final text of the Nineteen Propositions were written.     

From Academic Nitpicking to a =New Culture Movement＇： How Newspapers Turned Academic Debates into the Center of ~May Fourth＂

Abstract In early 1919, people like Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu were regarded as members of an ivory-tower ＂academic faction＂ （xuepai）, embroiled in a debate with an opposing ＂faction.＂ After the May Fourth demonstrations, they were praised as the stars of a ＂New Culture Movement.＂ However, it was not obvious how the circle around Hu Shi and Chert Duxiu was associated with the May Fourth demonstrations. This link hinged on the way in which newspapers like Shenbao reported about the academic debates and the political events of May Fourth. After compartmentalizing the debating academics into fixed xuepai, Shenbao ascribed warlord-political allegiances to them. These made the Hu-Chen circle look like government victims and their ＂factional＂ rivals like the warlords＇ allies. When the atmosphere became hostile to the government during May Fourth, Hu Shi＇s ＂faction＂ became associated with the equally victimized May Fourth demonstrators. Their ideas were regarded as （now popular） expressions of anti-government sentiment, and soon this was labeled the core of the ＂New Culture Movement.＂ The idea and rhetoric of China＇s ＂New Culture Movement＂ in this way emerged out of the fortuitous concatenation of academic debates, newspaper stories, and political events.     

意义的赋予:时势转移与"五四"话语的演变

时至今日,“五四”一词早已内化为一种思想符号,其“内化”实由伴随现代中国时势转移而不断演变的“五四”话语所造成。这种历史现象意味着两层含义：其一,“五四”话语随时势转移而变换其意义,而意义的深度与广度则取决于“五四”话语对时势的阐释状态;其二,对“五四”历史价值的释义过程,实际上是“五四”不断被赋予意义、不断被追认价值、不断被叠加内涵的过程。那么,这一历史现象是如何生成的呢？也就是说,“五四”内涵的意义扩张,是通过何种方式实现的呢？考究这个问题,实际上就是考索“五四”话语在各个不同时期的演变过程。     

May Games and Noble Savages: The Native American in Early Celebrations of the Tammany Society

This paper discusses the May Day celebrations of the “Sons of Saint Tammany,” an American holiday fraternity under the patronage of an historical Lenape (Delaware) Indian chieftain, which incorporated many Native American performative elements. Beginning in Philadelphia in the colonial period and quickly becoming a vehicle for republican sentiments, the Tammany idea spread to many other east coast cities. The May Day revels of the Society reached their heyday in the early years of the new nation (Federalist period). Two trends in the use of Native materials are identified, the “vaudevillian” and the more serious ethnographic. The latter led to incidents of what can be called “carnivalesque diplomacy,” with native American delegations to the U.S. capital. Dr Samuel Mitchill's elaborate mythopoetic oration for the New York chapter in 1795 is taken as an end point for the creative appropriation of Native American elements. New York's Tammany Society would eventually evolve into the famous political machine of the Democratic Party, leaving behind the original May Day idyll and Indian masquerade.     

Ozone “miniholes” initiated by energetic solar protons

In this study, it is shown that during four Solar Proton Events (SPE), mostly of the Ground Level Event (GLE) type (May 1990, September and October 1989, and March 1989), inside the polar cap in the Arctic (or the Antarctic) short-term depletions were observed (up to 20%) in the ozone total content. These depletions or so-called ozone “miniholes” seem to be caused by energetic solar protons with energies of 150–300 MeV. For May 1990, the gas phase photochemical model includes only 1% ozone depletion compared with 18% observed at Barentsburg (Svalbard), and for none of the other events can homogeneous processes explain the observed depletion. The problem seems to be solved considering heterogeneous reactions in the presence of increased amounts of aerosol particles in the stratosphere which may be triggered by penetrating solar protons, or through an additional decrease of temperature, or through an increase of volume electric charge in the stratosphere (or even troposphere).     

“铁蹄”下的“鲜花”--国民政府时期五月纪念述论

五月在中华民族斗争史上具有特殊的地位。许多重要的事件都刻写于此月,它有"纪念月"之称。五月的记忆层层叠加,以耻感为基调,蕴含着深刻的民族内省,以争取民族独立与自由为依归。鉴于五月所具有的巨大政治能量,国民政府对五月记忆进行了有意识的规训。在抗战期间,五月也成为抗战动员的重要文化因素,为抗战胜利和民族复兴做出了积极贡献。国人用鲜血浇筑的"五月梦"寄寓了民族的胜利与自强憧憬。     

Talking to Workers: From Khomeini to Ahmadinejad,how the Islamic Republic’s Discourse on Labor Changed through May Day Speeches (1979‒2009)

This paper explores the transformations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s dominant narratives on labor between 1979 and 2009. By analyzing official May Day speeches of this period, it navigates multiple constructions of workers’ roles, which were systematically propagated by the IRI’s Supreme Leader and president over time. The analysis relies on the following primary sources: from the 1979 May Day sermon, pronounced by Ruhollah Khomeini, to the 2009 speech given by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, together with messages sent by Ali Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. Showing how workers’ role—understood as a collective and distinct group—was gradually minimized, this paper argues that a bottom-up cleaning up process slowly purified May Day. In fact, the IRI progressively neglected workers as (revolutionary) social actors and interlocutors, as it stopped talking to masses and started speaking to middle classes.     

The culture of Sofia: At the crossroads of paradox and optimism

NINTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CULTURAL ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION FOR CULTURAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL (ACEI) in co‐operation with Northeastern University, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, USA 8–11 May 1996     

1919 in dynamic East Asia: March First and May Fourth as a starting point for revolution

Abstract

The March First Movement and the May Fourth Movement are like mirrors reflecting each other’s relationship. This article uses the concept of “simultaneity” in global history to reevaluate the significance of both events in world history. It also examines the differences exhibited by the simultaneity of the two events from the perspective of an “interconnected East Asia.” After entering the world-system, imperial Japan, semi-colonial China, and colonial Korea occupied different positions within its hierarchical structure. Here we need to pay attention to the status-diverse but mutually influential conditions in East Asia. To see through the complexity of (semi)colonial modernity and find the inherent opportunities to overcome modernity, it is useful to analyze the “double project” of adapting to modernity and overcoming modernity. Since the 1920s, the two events have been continually reinterpreted in the vein of socio-historical changes. The question of how to remember the two is not only a historical question but also a practical question for the present. Now is truly the methodological turning point in exploring and reinterpreting the two events. The author will use the terms “March First Revolution” and “May Fourth Revolution” in an attempt to tackle this issue. The mass gatherings that took place during March First and May Fourth provide sufficient evidence to support the use of “revolution” to describe them. Although March First and May Fourth are part of two respective histories of Korea and China, at the same time they are part of East Asia’s and the world’s interconnected history.     

The May Fourth Movement as interpreted by the Chinese intelligentsia of the 1930s

Because of its intricate nature, the May Fourth Movement is bound to have been interpreted from a variety of angles with the passage of time. During the 1930s, the circle of Chinese intellectuals developed a diversity of interpretations that viewed the May Fourth Movement as, for example, a movement for personal liberty, an anti-feudal movement, a bourgeois cultural movement, or a movement of a quite complex character. In the meantime there also appeared the analogy of the May Fourth Movement to the Renaissance and Enlightenment. These interpretations – and analogies as well – actually imply the interpreters' own mentality and signify their own thinking. The concept of the May Fourth Movement conceived by one school of interpreters often changed with the actual needs of that school and hence turned out to be inconsistent. Nonetheless, the notions of the May Fourth Movement as fleshed out by different schools might also be seen to have something in common. Interpretations of this nature informed the essence of the May Fourth Movement and, to a further extent, displayed the trajectory and trend of history.     

How is a political public space made? – The birth of Tiananmen Square and the May Fourth Movement

With the specific case of the birth of Tiananmen Square in Beijing during the May Fourth Movement in 1919, this paper tries to give an answer to the more general question of how a political public space is made. It argues, (1) the transformation of the spatial order of Beijing made possible the formation of new modes of collective political action in republican Beijing. (2) The different kinds of action of the people led to the production of a number of political public spaces. (3) The demonstration staged on May 4, 1919 was vital in converting the empty space in front of Tianan Gate into a public space of political significance, which was then named Tiananmen Square. Borrowing from Arendt's conception of the public space and people's political action, this paper contends that the political action of people was most important in breaking through the control of the government and opening up political public spaces. With the historical geographical case of the Square, this paper assesses the “end of public space” position that has become widely accepted in academic debate.     

塑造新思想:建国前后北京与上海的“五四”纪念活动

建国前后,北京和上海都举行了规模盛大的"五四"运动纪念活动,这两次活动都不仅仅是群众性的纪念仪式,更深刻的意义在于,它一方面号召继承"五四"革命精神,表达对现实服务的方向;另一方面则书写着自"五四"运动以来中国革命胜利的历史必然性,从而确证新民主主义理论的正确性以及对中国革命和即将展开的新中国建设的指导意义,即为新中国确立了一个新的思想坐标——马克思主义、毛泽东思想。这种以"五四"为中介而实质上是为了引导和塑造新思想的纪念活动方式,成为后来"五四"纪念的传统,为社会主义意识形态确立领导地位发挥了积极的作用。     

五四运动与马克思主义在中国的传播

马克思主义于19世纪末20世纪初被介绍到中国,1917年俄国十月革命对马克思主义在中国的传播具有重要意义,但并没有立即使马克思主义在中国广泛传播。五四运动开启了马克思主义传播的新局面,五四运动后,马克思主义传入中国的途径由一条变为多条,全国各地出版的大量刊物都介绍马克思主义,所宣传的马克思主义的内容也更加丰富。五四运动后马克思主义之所以得到广泛传播,与五四运动本身有重要关系。作为五四运动导火线的巴黎和会进一步暴露帝国主义侵略殖民地半殖民地的本性,五四运动期间苏俄发表的对华宣言受到中国人民的欢迎,五四运动引起共产国际的关注,中国工人阶级在五四运动中登上历史舞台,使一些知识分子坚定了社会主义才能救中国的信念,五四运动也促进了马克思主义者群体的形成。     

高一涵研究的现状及今后的努力方向

高一涵研究近年来已取得重要成果,发表的论文对高一涵的启蒙思想、五四时期的政治思想、自由主义理念、人权思想、与五四运动的关系、与李大钊的关系等作了有价值的探讨.今后一个时期,高一涵研究应着重在高一涵政治思想研究、生平和活动研究、在五四时期的历史地位的研究、政治学思想研究、与五四时期历史人物关系的研究、与五四时期期刊关系的研究等六个具体领域下工夫.深化高一涵研究,使高一涵研究成为一个比较成熟的研究领域,必须注重学术研究资料的积累和搜集、研究观念的提升、研究视野的扩大、研究方法的更新、研究队伍的建设等,这是高一涵研究今后的努力方向.     

Monitoring Schumann resonances—I. Methodology

The complex demodulation as a spectral technique has been used for the quasi-continuous determination of the actual frequencies of Schumann resonances. Applying this method, the first three modes of the vertical electric component have been measured regularly in the Nagycenk Observatory (47.6°N, 16.7°E) since May 1993.     

Wholeness and individuality: Revisiting the New Culture Movement,as symbolized by May Fourth

Abstract

The May Fourth New Culture Movement was a “convergent historical movement,” as well as a movement with a central purport and an intrinsic wholeness. The image of a homogeneous May Fourth formed unintentionally, and was also constructed by contemporaries and later generations. By examining the connections between the 1911 Revolution and the New Culture Movement from a more macroscopic perspective, exploring whether the latter was in fact a response to external impact or a self-awakening, observing how the debate over new versus old in the early Republican era developed to the point of a “culture” war, how the two-sided efforts for radical reforms reconciled destruction and construction, the interaction between the student movement and the New Culture Movement, and other aspects, thus examining the legacy of the New Culture Movement via perceptions in the post–May Fourth era, we can see that May Fourth has become a symbol of the New Culture Movement.     

唐代甘州“中府”钩沉

本文对于唐代甘州设置"中府",即中都督府的有关史实,作了仔细的钩稽和考证。考得广德二年(764年)十月凉州被吐蕃大军所围河西节度被迫徙镇甘州后,为适应移治的需要遂将甘州升格为"中府";迨至大历元年(766年)五月河西节度又徙镇沙州,当年甘州陷蕃,甘州作为中都督府及河西节度使的治所前后不足两年。     

Revisiting the Cuban Missile Crisis

Book reviewed in this article:
Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow (eds.), The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis     

Was the enlightenment a continuous process from the late Qing to the May Fourth period?

ABSTRACT

Intellectual development from the late Qing to the 1911 Revolution and then to the May Fourth New Culture Movement was generally a continuous process despite various ambivalent and hesitant zigzags. Within this overall continuity, new elements became salient. The new policies promulgated by the republican government soon after the success of the 1911 Revolution created an institutional legacy that gave previously marginal ideas enough legitimacy to enter the mainstream. Changes in “background culture” also resulted in many new themes associated with May Fourth, though these themes were ostensibly similar to those in the late Qing period. The enlightenment of May Fourth endowed the “future” with positive values so that a future-oriented perspective became a fashionable trend in this period.