Mr. De and Mr. Sai 德先生與賽先生
To people of the West, May Fourth is nothing but a day eaten up by the commercialism of Disney. To the Chinese? Well, it's a different story.
Dutifully following the Treaty of Versailles, the former German colony/concession of Kiautschou Bay was ceded to Japan, which at the time already maintained a presence in the region with earlier British support in WWI. Outraged by the result, students and common folks alike flooded to the streets and government officials of Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting.
The public and the students were not only motivated by nationalist sentiments, that I will not deny, but I think, to a greater extent, the students were motivated by a strong distaste for the corrupt and ineffective nature of the Chinese government. Violent the movement was, but at the same time, this launched a larger reckoning of the state of China.
Mr. De and Mr. Sai, seemingly strange last names on first sight, they were actually the personifications of democracy and science at the height of nationalist fervent in early 20th century China. They were symbols of what the intellectual community found fault with the Chinese state and Chinese culture. Since the two Opium Wars, Chinese elites have increasingly felt that Confucianism and Chinese culture at large were the root problems of China's backwardness. Figures like Kang Youwei and Hu Shih saw democracy and the modernization of China as the only paths to a stronger Chinese state. They looked to their neighbor, Japan, or even farther, at America.
But at the same time, this was something beyond the nationalist sentiments I have described. Of course, that was the underlying current of the anger of the students and the public, but then to purely describe them in such nationalistic terms would be wholly inappropriate. To me, there was a more political backdrop to all this, a yearning for a freer and better country.
But that's not how the CCP has celebrated this day. For decades, the CCP has over-emphasized the patriotic and nationalist nature of the event, wholly overlooking the outcry for democracy. It makes sense, they may have risen partly as a result of this event, but their longevity owes itself to the oppression of the same people that went onto the streets. History is ironic, it always is.
The CCP's narrative is false, it is something I despise, something I wish to override, but it's not an isolated incident. The CCP's manipulation of history is a key tool to them maintaining control, to change the collective memory of the past, and that's what makes me sad.
I don't want to remember this day as one of patriotism, of nationalism. No, not at all. This is a day of democracy, of science, of fairness and truth. I guess one could say Mr. Sai is having the time of his life in China, but Mr. De? Well, we are all going to have to wait a while to see him show up.
Happy May Fourth.
Dutifully following the Treaty of Versailles, the former German colony/concession of Kiautschou Bay was ceded to Japan, which at the time already maintained a presence in the region with earlier British support in WWI. Outraged by the result, students and common folks alike flooded to the streets and government officials of Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting.
The public and the students were not only motivated by nationalist sentiments, that I will not deny, but I think, to a greater extent, the students were motivated by a strong distaste for the corrupt and ineffective nature of the Chinese government. Violent the movement was, but at the same time, this launched a larger reckoning of the state of China.
Mr. De and Mr. Sai, seemingly strange last names on first sight, they were actually the personifications of democracy and science at the height of nationalist fervent in early 20th century China. They were symbols of what the intellectual community found fault with the Chinese state and Chinese culture. Since the two Opium Wars, Chinese elites have increasingly felt that Confucianism and Chinese culture at large were the root problems of China's backwardness. Figures like Kang Youwei and Hu Shih saw democracy and the modernization of China as the only paths to a stronger Chinese state. They looked to their neighbor, Japan, or even farther, at America.
But at the same time, this was something beyond the nationalist sentiments I have described. Of course, that was the underlying current of the anger of the students and the public, but then to purely describe them in such nationalistic terms would be wholly inappropriate. To me, there was a more political backdrop to all this, a yearning for a freer and better country.
But that's not how the CCP has celebrated this day. For decades, the CCP has over-emphasized the patriotic and nationalist nature of the event, wholly overlooking the outcry for democracy. It makes sense, they may have risen partly as a result of this event, but their longevity owes itself to the oppression of the same people that went onto the streets. History is ironic, it always is.
The CCP's narrative is false, it is something I despise, something I wish to override, but it's not an isolated incident. The CCP's manipulation of history is a key tool to them maintaining control, to change the collective memory of the past, and that's what makes me sad.
I don't want to remember this day as one of patriotism, of nationalism. No, not at all. This is a day of democracy, of science, of fairness and truth. I guess one could say Mr. Sai is having the time of his life in China, but Mr. De? Well, we are all going to have to wait a while to see him show up.
Happy May Fourth.
i'm missing quite a bit of context to understand the history here but I do stand against nationalism
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