The immediate cause of the thunderous outbreak of the May Fourth Movement was the tragic failure of Chinese diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference.
In November 1918, World War I ended, and Germany and Austria and other Allied powers were defeated. In January of the following year, the victorious powers gathered at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France, to hold a "peace conference" to discuss peace treaties against the defeated powers. China, having declared war on Germany, should be one of the victors. Beiyang ** also sent five people, including Lu Zongxiang, plenipotentiary representative, to the Paris Peace Conference.
At this peace conference, Beiyang ** wanted Japan to inherit Germany's rights and interests in Shandong, China, and this news caused huge waves in China. The attitude of Beiyang ** in refusing to repeal the "21 Articles" and refusing to discuss the Shandong issue added fuel to the fire and aroused the anger of the students. As a result, the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal May Fourth Movement erupted like a volcano. The trigger for this movement was the gross trampling on China's sovereignty by the Beiyang delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. At the Paris Peace Conference, the Chinese delegation put forward such just demands as abolishing foreign spheres of influence in China, withdrawing foreign troops and patrols in China, revoking consular jurisdiction, returning concessions, and abolishing the "21 Articles" between China and Japan, but these demands were ruthlessly rejected. What is more, ignoring the fact that China is the victorious power, the conference even decided to hand over to Japan all the rights seized by Germany in Shandong, China, and thus Beiyang** gave up the demand for the abolition of the "21 Articles". This news was like a bolt from the blue, which made the Chinese people indignant, and the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal May Fourth Movement broke out immediately. The outbreak of the May Fourth Movement was not only the outbreak of students' patriotic sentiment, but also the awakening of the national consciousness of the Chinese people. In the face of the trampling of China's sovereignty at the Paris Peace Conference, the people at home have taken action to express their dissatisfaction and ** in various ways. They took to the streets, chanting slogans and holding slogans to express their concern for national sovereignty and their condemnation of imperialism. These actions led to the further development of the May Fourth Movement, making it a nationwide patriotic movement. In general, the immediate cause of the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement was the failure of Chinese diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference. This incident aroused the anger and ** of the Chinese people and promoted the development of a nationwide patriotic movement. Through this movement, the Chinese people further realized the nature of imperialism and the stubbornness of the domestic feudal forces, and accelerated the awakening of the national consciousness of the Chinese people. The May Fourth Movement became an important event in China's modern history and was of great significance for promoting China's modernization process and national rejuvenation. 