Research On The Mentality Of The People In The May Fourth Patriotic Movement

The May Fourth Movement was a patriotic movement that was widely participated by all social strata and was thoroughly anti-imperialist and anti-feudal.Its occurrence and development always revolved around the sovereignty of Qingdao and the issue of Shandong.Therefore,the Shandong region was unique to the May Fourth patriotic movement.From the perspective of mentality history,taking the May Fourth Patriotic Movement in Shandong as the research object,by paying attention to the reactions and behaviors of people from all walks of life in Shandong during the May Fourth Patriotic Movement,analyzing the people’s mentality and realizing the awakening of people’s national consciousness,which is also helpful for the study of the May Fourth Patriotic Movement provides a new research perspective.The outbreak of the May Fourth Patriotic Movement in Shandong has profound historical and social factors.On the one hand,Shandong has been invaded by German and Japanese imperialism for a long time in history;on the other hand,the development and changes of modern Shandong society were reflected in politics,economy,cultural,educational and other aspects.The failure of the negotiation on the“Shandong issue” at the Paris Peace Conference became the fuse of the movement.The people of Shandong,who were in deep pain,have also moved quickly.The intellectual circles,industrial and commercial circles,agricultural and industrial circles,military and police circles,and women’s circles in Shandong all participated in the movement.They fought for the rights and interests of Qingdao and the sovereignty of Shandong,boycotted Japanese goods,punished traitors,and refused to sign the peace treaty through student strike,workers’ strike,businessmen strike,assembly speeches,petitions and the National Assembly.During the May Fourth Patriotic Movement,the students had high enthusiasm and were the first to mobilize on a large scale,showing a spontaneous sense of“intervention in politics”,a spirit of direct struggle and daring to sacrifice,and at the same time some idealism;in other intellectual circles,some government parliamentarians and lawyers tended to express their will through “legal” means,while newspaper reporters,editors and some teachers tended to express their political will directly,and another part of them chose to support the patriotic movement in a private way;industrial and commercial circles showed resistance or support because of the different interests involved in the movement,workers also acted earlier,voluntarily and consciously participated in the movement,and their political nature has improved compared with before;some groups of peasants resisted because they were severely invaded and oppressed,and some peasants showed an attitude of bystanders who had nothing to do with them,and needed the mobilization of other forces;Shandong’s military,police and women’s circles also took action during the May Fourth Patriotic Movement,showing certain patriotic sentiment.Through the analysis of the mentality of the people of all classes in Shandong during the May Fourth Patriotic Movement,we can see the awakening of the people’s consciousness of the nation-state,the awakening of the consciousness of national sovereignty,and the awakening of the public’s awareness of participation.The awakening of the people is of universal significance and also marks the great awakening of the Chinese nation,which further defines the epoch-making significance of the May Fourth Patriotic Movement in Chinese modern history.