Democracy and the Rise of Socialism in May Fourth China

What is it about?

This chapter provides an analytical framework for the nuanced relationship between Chinese socialism and its persistent pursuit of democracy before, during, and after the May Fourth period. It brings the readers back to the early twentieth century and reappraises the role of the May Fourth Movement, through which it investigates the complexity and diversity in the history of early Chinese socialism. By comparing two different visions of democracy among the Chinese socialists, this chapter argues that the May Fourth period acts not as the acme of Chinese democracy, as people generally thought, but as the watershed for the rise of a biased democracy and the fall of an unbiased democracy. It was the former that enabled the Chinese communists to integrate the ideas of democracy and dictatorship into one single political program, which has shaped China’s political culture and discourses until today.

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Photo by Camillo Corsetti Antonini on Unsplash

Photo by Camillo Corsetti Antonini on Unsplash