chinese national holiday - Youth Day *updated*

also known as the May Fourth Movement

[photo & quote courtesy of Wikipedia]

". . . an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement in early modern China. Beginning on May 4, 1919, it marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism, and a re-evaluation of Chinese cultural institutions, such as Confucianism. The movement grew out of dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles settlement, termed the Shandong Problem, and the effect of the New Cultural Movement."

This movement was significant for many reasons. It was a large scale movement involving 20 provinces and over 100 cities in the country. Young chinese students were the driving force of this shift in the political philosophy of China and it spread the ideas of Marxism as well as ultimately building the foundation of the Communist party in China.

*updated: I have been thinking more about this holiday and the whole thing just seems ironic to me. The day is a commemoration of an uprising, a student call-to-action, a very DEMOCRATIC way to put a public voice on an idea. And yet, the roots of this movement ended up creating the Communist political system in China. . .