May Thirtieth Movement
The May Thirtieth Movement (simplified Chinese: 五卅运动; traditional Chinese: 五卅運動; pinyin: wǔsà yùndòng May 30, 1925) was a major labor and anti-imperalist movement during the middle-period of the Republic of China era. It began when Shanghai Municipal Police officers opened fire on Chinese protesters in Shanghai's International Settlement. The shootings sparked international censure and nation-wide anti-foreign demonstrations.
Contents |
[edit] Roots of the Incident
The Second Zhili–Fengtian War of 1924 proved the most destructive period of turmoil experienced in China since 1911.[1] As a result of the conflict the Zhili-controlled government, backed by varied Anglo-American business interests, was ousted from power by pro-Japanese warlord Zhang Zuolin, who installed a government led by Duan Qirui in November 1924. Though victorious, the war left Zhang's central government bankrupt and Duan exercised little authority outside Beijing. Authority in the north of the country was divided between Zhang and Feng Yuxiang, a Soviet-backed warlord and public support for the northern militarists soon hit an all-time low, with southerners openly disparaging the northern leaders as junfa (warlords).[1] With his monarchist leanings and strong base in conservative Manchuria, Zhang represented the far right in Chinese politics and could claim few supporters. Meanwhile, the KMT (Nationalist) and Communist parties (allied as the First United Front) ran a diplomatically unrecognized Soviet-backed administration in the southern province of Guangdong.
Alongside public grief at the recent death of China's Republican hero Sun Yat-sen (12 March), the KMT sought to foment pro-Chinese, anti-imperial and anti-western organizations and propaganda within major Chinese cities.[2] Chinese Communist Party groups particularly sowed dissent in Shanghai, where the native Chinese workforce was beset by problems involving lack of legal factory inspection, recourse for worker grievances, or equal rights.[3]
In the early months of 1925 such conflicts and strikes intensified, particularly around the No. 8 Cotton Mill where attacks on both Japanese employers and Chinese staff became regular. This culminated on May 15, when during a violent Neo-Luddite-style riot inside the mill, a Japanese foreman shot a Communist protester named Ku Chen-Hung dead.[4] Over the following weeks, Ku Chen-Hung became viewed as a martyr by Chinese unions and student groups (though not by the Chinese authorities or the middle-class who noted his political affiliations and close family membership to a prominent criminal gang). Numerous protests and strikes subsequently began against foreign-run industries, particularly Japanese.
[edit] The Nanjing Road Incident
On the morning of May 30, 1925 Shanghai Municipal Police arrested fifteen ringleaders of a student protest being held on and around Nanking Road, in the foreign-controlled International Settlement. These protesters were held in Louza (Laozha) police station, which by 2:45pm was facing a 'huge crowd' of Chinese that had amassed outside. These demonstrators demanded the arrested ringleaders be returned to them and in a number of cases entered the police station, where (according to SMP officers) they tried to either block the foyer or gain access to the cells.
A picket of police (there was only a skeleton staff of approximately a dozen officers overall) was set up to prevent demonstrators entering the station. In the minutes before the shooting, police and witnesses reported cries of 'kill the foreigners' were raised and the demonstration turned violent.[5][6] Inspector Edward Everson, station commander and the highest ranking officer on the scene (as the police commissioner K.J. McEuen had not let the demonstration interfere with his attendance at the Spring races), eventually shouted: 'Stop! If you do not stop I will shoot!' in Chinese. A few seconds later, at 3.37pm, and as the struggle intensified, he fired into the crowd with his revolver.
The Sikh and Chinese police then opened fire. At least four demonstrators were killed at the scene, with another five dying later of their injuries. At least 14 injured were hospitalized, with many others wounded.[7][8]
[edit] Aftermath
The incident shocked and galvanized China. Over the next few days, Shanghai businesses and workers went on strike, with the foreign concessions entering states of emergency, with thousands of troops landed in the city to carry out raids and protect vested interests. The strikes and boycotts of Western goods, coupled with further violent demonstrations and riots, quickly spread across China and brought foreign economic interests to a near standstill[9]. The fifteen 'ringleaders' originally arrested on May 30 were given light or suspended sentences by Shanghai's foreign-run Mixed Court.
Targets of public ire moved from Japan (for the death of Ku Chen-Hung) to Britain, and Hong Kong was particularly affected (these strikes were there known as the Canton-Hong Kong strike),[7]. Further shootings by foreigners upon Chinese protesters occurred at Canton, Mukden and elsewhere, although a reported incident at Nanking which became a cause célèbre for anti-imperialists was apparently carried out by local Chinese authorities.
By November, with Chiang Kai-shek having finally wrested power from his rivals after Sun Yat-sen's death, and with Chinese businesses wishing to return to business, the strikes and protests began to peter out.[5] In Hong Kong, however, they would not totally end until mid-1926. The nationalist support for the movement, and the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition of 1926/7, eventually led to reforms in the governance of the International Settlement's Shanghai Municipal Council.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Waldron, Arthur, (1991) From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point, p. 5.
- ^ Ku, Hung-Ting [1979] (1979). Urban Mass Movement: The May Thirtieth Movement in Shanghai. Modern Asian Studies, Vol.13, No.2. pp.197-216
- ^ B.L [1936] (Jul 15, 1936). Shanghai at Last Gets Factory Inspection Law. Far Eastern Survey, Vol.5, No.15.
- ^ Ku, Hung-Ting [1979] (1979). Urban Mass Movement: The May Thirtieth Movement in Shanghai. Modern Asian Studies, Vol.13, No.2. pp.201
- ^ a b Potter, Edna Lee (1940). News Is My Job: A Correspondent in War-Torn China. Macmillan publishing. p. 198
- ^ Bickers, Robert [2003] (2003). Empire Made Me: An Englishman Adrift in Shanghai. Allen Lane publishing. ISBN 0713996846. p. 165
- ^ a b Carroll, John Mark Carroll. [2007] (2007). A concise history of Hong Kong. Rowman & Littlefield publishing. ISBN 0742534227, 9780742534223. p. 100
- ^ Jens Bangsbo, Thomas Reilly, Mike Hughes. [1995] (1995). Science and Football III: Proceedings of the Third World Congress of Science and Football, Cardiff, Wales, 9-13 April, 1995. Taylor & Francis publishing. ISBN 0419221603, 9780419221609. p 42-43.
- ^ Horesh, Niv. 'Shanghai's Bund and Beyond', 2009 (Yale University Press)
[edit] See also
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: May Thirtieth Movement |
  |
This article related to the history of China is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
|
||||||||||||||
