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Adolescent China （5）
Illusive Victory |
| CCTV.COM 2002-10-30 11:10:13 |
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 The final phase of World War I came in the winter of 1918. The four－year－long war would thoroughly change the history of the whole world.
On November 11, 1918, the war came to an end with the victory of the Entente countries. When the news was brought to China, people described the victory as the “Triumph of Justice”. After all, the Chinese people had contributed to the victory with their blood and sweat.
At Dongdan in the eastern part of the city of Beijing, the characters meaning “Triumph of Justice” were carved on the arch. It was here that the memorial arch of Klemens von Ketteler had stood for nearly 20 years. In 1900, the Eight－Power Allied Forces compelled the Qing government to erect the arch. It was a symbol of humiliation for the Chinese nation. Then the arch was moved to Zhongyang Park, later renamed Zhongshan Park or Sun Yat－sen Park in memory of Dr Sun Yat－sen. After World War II, Guo Moruo, a great writer and historian, renamed the arch “Defend Peace”.
On November 18, Xu Shichang who had assumed the post of the President of the Republic of China more than one month before, held a grand military review on the square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. As the representative of one of the victorious nations, President Xu was immensely complacent. People were elated at the “triumph of justice”.
More than 60,000 people in Beijing took to the streets. Students of Beijing University held a lantern parade in the evening. The light of peace shone all over China. During the four years of war, the Western powers had no time to attend to affairs in the Far East. The national economy in China had a rare chance of development. In the ensuring half a year, Xu Shichang ordered a cessation of battle against the revolutionary army in South China and tried to mediate between the conflicting North and South. At the same time, he slackened the suppression of the cultural circles. So the New Culture Movement could proceed under fairly relaxed circumstances.
But the illusion of all the Chinese was broken very soon. At the peace conference held in Paris on January 18, 1919, delegates from Britain, France and other countries rejected the demand of the Chinese government. The conference ruled that Germany should transfer to Japan all the privileges it had obtained in Shandong Province. This was covered in the draft of the peace treaty.
On May 1, 1919, “China Times” carried a report sent by the Chinese delegation from Paris. It disclosed that China had been a total loser at the peace conference in Paris. The news shocked all the Chinese. On May 2, more than 2,000 students from Beijing University held a rally in protest. On the following day, people from all walks of life in Beijing held a meeting to discuss the Shandong question.
 On the afternoon of that day, a carriage stopped at the door of Cai Yuanpei’s home. Wang Daxie, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, got off the carriage. In this sitting room, Wang Daxie told Cai Yuanpei that the cabinet had sent a coded telegram to the Chinese delegation, ordering it to sign the peace treaty. Cai Yuanpei expected that if the peace treaty came into force, the future of the country would be disastrous.
Cai Yuanpei immediately called Xu Deheng, Fu Sinian, Luo Jialun and other students to meet at the West Building in Beijing University. He told them about the coded telegram and decided to call a meeting of all the students at the auditorium of the third college of Beijing University on the evening of May 3.
 That night all the students of Beijing University and representatives from 12 schools in Beijing gathered at the auditorium. A solemn and stirring atmosphere prevailed at the meeting. Xie Shaomin, a student of the Department of Law, Beijing University, tore a strip from his clothes and wrote in his own blood the four big characters meaning “Return Qingdao to China”. All those at the meeting were moved.
The meeting decided to hold a national humiliation parade on May 4.
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Editor: Liu Baoyin CCTV.com
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