The failure of the Paris Peace Conference diplomacy became the trigger for the May Fourth Movement.
I. On the Paris Peace Conference.
The Paris Peace Conference refers to the post-war Entente Conference held at the Palace of Versailles in Paris on January 18, 1919. 1,000 delegates from the 27 victorious countries participated, including 70 plenipotentiaries. The Soviets** were not invited, and the defeated countries of Germany, Turkey, Bulgaria, Austria and others were turned away. China, as the victorious power, sent five plenipotentiaries including Lu Zhengxiang, Wang Zhengting, Shi Zhaoji, Gu Weijun, and Wei Chen to participate in the meeting.
2. China's humiliation.
1.Before the Paris Peace Conference began, the Chinese delegation was notified that the five seats originally scheduled for China had been reduced to two.
2.For the sake of their own interests, Britain, the United States, and France made a final ruling on the Shandong question: all German rights and interests in Shandong were to be ceded to Japan, and China was forced to accept it unconditionally.
China first participated in the conference with the thought that it would be a good idea to seek some degree of fairness and then abolish a series of unequal treaties. However, this is not the case.
3.Under domestic pressure, Beiyang ** instructed the delegation to make reservations to the terms on the Shandong issue when signing the Paris Peace Treaty, but the Great Powers refused. It is recorded in the "Minutes of the Negotiations on the Question of Jiaoao at the Paris Peace Conference" that the Chinese delegates "initially advocated that [the reservation be incorporated] into the treaty, but it was not allowed, but after the annex was changed, it was not allowed, and it was changed to a declaration without reservations, and it was not allowed, and it had to be changed to a temporary sub-letter statement, and it could not be used because the signature would interfere with the future request for reconsideration, but it was completely rejected."
4.China's negotiations on the Shandong issue at the Paris Peace Conference were a complete failure. On June 28, 1919, the Chinese delegates finally made a unanimous decision: they refused to go to the venue to sign the agreement, and issued a declaration solemnly stating that "the General Assembly is not fair to the solution of the Shandong question".
3. Domestic reaction.
From the celebration of the victory of "justice over power" in November 1918 to the Paris Conference in January of the following year, in just two months, the Chinese at that time fully understood the meaning of "since ancient times a weak country has no diplomacy", and the so-called "victory of justice over power" is just a beautiful fairy tale.
The unreasonable decision of the Paris Peace Conference on the Shandong issue shattered the illusions of the Chinese people about imperialism. On May 2, "Morning Post", "Guowen Weekly" and other major newspapers across the country published articles respectively, shouting: "Jiaozhou is dead!" Shandong is dead! The country is not a country! ......The country will die without a day, and I am willing to join my 40,000 people to swear to die! The whole country was shaken.
Fourth, the May Fourth Movement.
On May 4, more than 3,000 students in Beijing demonstrated and demanded that the vigorous "May Fourth Movement" of "fighting for national power outside and punishing the country internally" began.
Immediately, the industrial and commercial circles across the country announced their support for the students' patriotic actions, and people from all walks of life called the representatives of Beiyang** and China** who participated in the Paris Peace Conference, demanding that they refuse to sign the "Paris Peace Treaty." On the 5th, the Shandong Provincial Council called the Great **, the Pragmatic Great, and the Prime Minister, insisting on the initial discussion, but the special envoy refused to sign. At the end of June, 10,000 people in Shanghai rallied and marched, demanding that "no signatures be accepted and the secret agreement cancelled."
The failure of China's diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference became the trigger for the May Fourth Movement. At the same time, the development of the May Fourth Movement also contributed to the refusal of Chinese delegates to sign at the Paris Peace Conference, which was of epoch-making significance for the abolition of unequal treaties and the promotion of the rise and development of national diplomacy.