Students of Peking University signed a board at an event commemorating the centennial of the May Fourth Movement. Photo: Shen Bohan/XINHUA

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at the ceremony commemorating the centennial of the May Fourth Movement at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 30.

Xi pointed out that the May Fourth Movement gave birth to the great May Fourth spirit that held up patriotism, progress, democracy and science, with the spirit of patriotism in particular at its core.

Pioneered by young intellectuals and participated in by the broad masses, a great patriotic revolutionary movement against imperialism and feudalism broke out in Beijing on May 4, 1919. They protested against the Chinese government’s weak responses to the stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles, especially how it allowed Japan to receive territories in Shandong. The movement, centered on the spirit of patriotism, marked the great beginning of China’s New Democratic Revolution.

The May Fourth Movement was a watershed moment in China’s modern history, and it cleared the way for the spread of Marxism in the country, said Zhang Xiaoping, a research fellow from the Academy of Marxism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Li Dazhao (1889–1927) was a pioneer who clarified the significance of Russia’s October Revolution, claiming that its victory was a victory for Marxism and the new trend of socialist thought, Zhang continued. Li took the lead in studying Marxism and regarded Marxism as the only theoretical guide to solving China’s problems and saving China. After that, communist research groups emerged in various places and gave rise to the CPC in 1921.

The May Fourth Movement injected a new spirit of the times into Chinese history and social development. In the view of Yu Wenli, a professor at the School of Marxism at Peking University, the movement demonstrated the spirit of patriotism. The May Fourth Movement started with the patriotic appeal of young students, and then it developed into a patriotic movement for the people of the whole country. Patriotism always ran through it.

Hu Guosheng, deputy dean of the School of Marxism at South China Normal University, said that Chinese history has turned over a new leaf after the May Fourth Movement. Whether it be “saving the country” one hundred years ago or “building a great country” one hundred years later, both impetuses are representative of patriotism.

The spirit of patriotism is the most cohesive banner and the most abundant spiritual heritage of the May Fourth Movement, Hu asserted. To commemorate the movement today, we must carry forward the spirit of May Fourth patriotism, unite the hearts of the people, and assume the historical mission of building a great modern socialist country and of realizing the Chinese Dream of the nation’s great rejuvenation.

The spirit of the May Fourth Movement still has irreplaceable contemporary value. Constantly reviewing, researching and summarizing the spirit of the May Fourth Movement will always bring about new insights.

Ouyang Xuemei, a research fellow from the Institute of Contemporary China Studies at CASS, said that in addition to patriotism, progress, democracy and science are also embodied in the spirit of the May Fourth Movement. These are the sources of the spiritual lineage of the CPC.

The May Fourth Movement is a milestone in that it opened a new stage in modern China toward achieving the nation’s great rejuvenation. Qi Weiping, a professor from the political science department at East China Normal University, said that the CPC, established shortly after the May Fourth Movement, is rooted in the country’s reality and has shouldered the mission of inheriting and developing Chinese civilization while adhering to the guidance of Marxist scientific thought.

Zhou Liangshu, deputy dean of the School of Marxism at Beijing Normal University, said that the May Fourth Movement is both a patriotic political movement and an intellectual enlightenment movement. It has left us with very valuable spiritual legacies, including the idea of independent innovation. This is also an important source of thought behind the CPC’s promotion of theoretical innovation and development of Marxism based on China’s actual development.

The May Fourth Movement allowed young students to embark on the historical stage of saving the nation. Today, patriotism, progress, democracy and scientific thinking are more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

“Each generation of young people has their own historical encounters. One hundred years ago, Chinese youth shouldered the historical responsibility of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. At present, Chinese youth have become witnesses of, participants in and fighters for the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation,” said He Husheng, a professor from the School of Marxism Studies at Renmin University of China.

A century ago, China’s progressive youth accepted and vigorously promoted Marxism and used Marxism as the guiding ideology for transforming China and society.

Zhou said that the torch of the May Fourth spirit has been passed on to the youth of today. They are faced with the historical task of building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.