May Fourth Movement 1919

In 1897, Germany colonised a part of China called Qingdao (also spelt Tsingtao) in the Shandong region.

At the start of the First World War in 1914, Japan joined Britain in fighting against Germany as part of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Japanese troops occupied the German territory in China during the Siege of Tsingtao.

After the end of the war, the Paris Peace Conference met to decide the terms of the Versailles Treaty. The conference began on 18 January 1919, and the peace treaty was signed on 28 June 1919. At the conference, Chinese delegates insisted on having the occupied region returned to China.

On 3 May 1919, a telegram from the Chinese delegates revealed that the ‘Great Powers’ (Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States) had decided that Japan would be allowed to keep the occupied territory in Shandong. A secret agreement between Britain, France, Italy, and Japan was also revealed to have been made in 1917, giving Japan the territory in exchange for military aid.

This agreement sparked a mass protest on 4 May 1919 in Beijing, mainly led by university students. The students passed resolutions, sent correspondence to the peace conference, and targeted Chinese politicians who were seen as having failed the people. The protests developed into a mass movement across China, including general strikes and boycotts. As result, the Chinese delegates refused to sign due to the public pressure.

The May Fourth Movement was a turning point for China and its relationship to the West. What do British government documents tell us about how Britain and the other Great Powers viewed Chinese demands?