Xi Jinping’s speech marking the May Fourth Movement has been strongly criticized for its fallacious assertions
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/04
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A recent speech by Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) to mark
(By Associated Press)
the centennial of the May Fourth student movement has drawn a strong backlash both internationally and from Taiwanese history experts for being an outrageously erroneous interpretation of the spirit of the movement.
The student movement took place on May 4, 1919, in Beijing, where students and intellectuals from 13 colleges stood up for a patriotic protest against the decision of the Versailles Peace Conference. This was against the backdrop of imperialistic expansion from Japan and western countries.
The event inspired a movement that explored individualism, pragmatism, and democracy, and, to some extent, gave birth to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
CNN reported that Xi hailed the event as a “great patriotic revolutionary movement,” intentionally ignoring the core values of the intellectual and sociopolitical reform movement. His speech also made the world’s intellectuals cringe as China today is known for its intolerance and quashing of open dissent. [FULL STORY]
