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Abstract:
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The May Fourth Movement is generally recognized as the cradle of modernized
democratic or political movement in China. 1 Once it exploded at Peking on May 4 in19 凹， the movement involved various cIasses and spread to the whole country.
Actually two important political parties were established after this movement,
namely were the China Nationalist Party and China Communist Party. In the studies
of the May Fourth Movement, Literary Revolution is supposed to indicate the
intellectual awakening and mark the prologue to the movement. In addition , some
studies had emphasized the influence of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Of course
the influences of the Russian Revolution rnight have attracted the attention of many
students. It is true 出at Revolutionary Russian government issued the principles for
ending the WWI, incIuding the famous phrase “ self-determination." But the
Russian couldn't attend the conference. Of course we can not deny the influence of
the Russian Revolution of 1917 totally. Because Wilson's Fourteen Points themselves
were also influenced by the discIosure diplomacy of the revolutionary Russia. But,
so far, American influence has been neglected, or underestimated. It is Wilson's
Fourteen Points which were adapted as the principle of the conference. 1 would like
to examine the influence of the American propaganda activities on this movement.
At 出at period, soon after the United States entered World War 1 until the conclusion
of the Versailles Peace Conference, the American government possessed a powerful
propaganda organization, namely the Comrnittee on Public Information. It circulated
American propaganda eagerly not only domestically but also internationally. |