May Fourth and the SEA Chinese - KH

Let us all spend a moment with the unsung and unnamed heroes who lived and some who perished in the spirit of the May 4th Movement.

May be it get romanticised, but I really admire those idealistic youths as truest patriots who saw China not as it was but as what it could be with modernisation.

The only regret is that unlike Japan's Meiji restoration, such progressive forces failed to be matched by benign political forces to bring constructive change to the nation.Their cause spanned not just science and democracy, but also encompassed liberalism, socialism, social justice, constitutionality, equality - even nationalism - and other progressive ideas.

It shows the power of ideas. A cause based on nothing but "ideas" could inspire an entire people - even when the nation was crushing under feudalism, superstition and narrow-mindedness - spread over violence, chaos, hunger, wretched poverty, corruption, national demise and suffering on a grand scale.

In the midst of all that, the May 4th generation created a beautiful period in Chinese consciousness that has not been matched ever since; the passionate flowering of culture, literature, social reform and education.

My own appreciation of the May 4th movement lies with its impact on the overseas Chinese especially in SEAsia. Between 1910-1930s, SEAsia went through a tremendous period of change when Chinese population were growing fast both in number and in wealth. The wealthier members of Chinese society began to devote themselves to starting schools for the community. Different dialect groups started their own study halls.

Then 1919 and the May 4th movement came and there was a new consciousness for the "Chinese" nation, people began to look beyond their clans and dialect groups. With the political persecution that followed Chinese intellectuals in 1920s and 30s, large numbers of May 4th generation of educated youths fled China and as exiles and refugees many of them ended up teachers in these new Chinese schools in SEAsia.

So in SEAsia, entire generations of childrens of uneducated peasants and coolies suddenly came in contact with some of the intellectual cream of China. And instead of teaching in dialects, these new teachers began teaching in this modern language of one China - plain spoken Mandarin. That is why if the language of my grandparents were dialects, the language of my parents (and their siblings and peers) are all Mandarin. It all happenned within the space of one short generation.

So I disagree that May 4th will be forgotten. Its too soon to tell. I believe once history is recalled in 100 years from now, May 4th could well be seen as the true Chinese revolution of the 20th century. All others were changes of government but I believe May 4th drew a veil over "old" China and brought forth the modern China. A change in the nation is easily bigger than change in its government