May 4th Movement Analysis

The New Culture Movement in China, also known as the May 4th Movement took place in China in the 1910’s and 1920’s and was a rejection of traditional Chinese culture that many intellectuals felt hindered the progress of China. These intellectuals thought that the clinging to old tradition and a Confucian ideology made China weak in the eyes of a progressive western society. There were several reasons that intellectuals felt this was the case, however there are a few reasons that stand out while reading A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World by Rana Mitter. These prominent weaknesses in Chinese culture are the reverence of old age and wisdom and opposition to youth, the patriarchal treatment of women in society, and the rejection of commerce and entrepreneurship. Through analyzing these three points, the solutions that the New Age thinkers introduced, and …show more content…
The revolution introduced that it may be okay for the Chinese people to build their own livelihood, which in turn created economic prosperity for China. Politics in China were changing to strive for all levels of happiness in the world, and this included happiness in personal prosperity. Entrepreneurship was a new concept introduced during the May 4th Movement. Thomas A. Edison, the American inventor inspires hard work and entrepreneurship in ordinary people. He was a poor man who through his hard work and dedication worked his way up to the top. An important journalist and activist named Zou Taofen took an interesting approach to Edison’s success in order to retain certain aspects of Confucianism. He downplayed Edison’s wealth gained form his inventions and placed the importance of his success on the value of his inventions for all of humankind (Mitter, 93). The emphasis on entrepreneurship and science were meant to save China and were intended to create momentum into the next chapter in history for