A day that celebrates Mexican heritage and the defeat of the French in 1862 (it is not, as is commonly believed Mexican independence day). Cinco de Mayo is also a day which holds absolutely no significance to Chinese people what-so-ever. Yesterday however, May 4th, is one of the most historically important days to the people of China; unsuprisingly, my blog entry about it is a day late.....
In 1919, following the end of World War I, the European nations ratified the Treaty of Versailles. As most people know, WWI and this resulting treaty had serious implications for the geopolitical makeup of Europe, however it also sent shockwaves through China. In this treaty, Germany was forced to give up it's territorial holdings in China. However, instead of being returned to China, control of the German holdings were instead given to Japan. This lead to mass public outrage and increased nationalism amongst the Chinese people, ultimately taking form in mass protests known as The May 4th Movement. This movement is very significant to the people of China as it marked a movement away from traditional Chinese values, towards increased Chinese nationalism and it further marked the first mass political movement of the common people. This year's May 4th was particularly important as it marked the 90th anniversary of this movement (again... i'm embarrassed that i'm a day late).
On the topic of anniversarys-
Eerily big political events in China tend to happen in years that end in 9:
1919- May 4th Movement
1949- Founding of the Communist party
1959- The Chinese Liberation of Tibet....
1989- ___________ (Fill in the blank)
As you can see, this year has many significant anniversaries in store, which has lead to much speculation amongst China scholars about what the year would bring; this is for two reasons:
1. Big political events tend to happen in China on years that end in 9.
2. Big political events tend to happen on anniversarys of other events in China.
Though there has been a lot of speculation, as far as I can tell, May 4th came and went without a hitch.
Completely unrelated to yesterday's anniversary....
I have a job in China! I am now a paid english tutor. My pupil is a 25 year old Chinese guy, who works for an economic think tank here in Shanghai. His english is actually incredible; he has a large vocabulary, good grasp of the grammar and also has good pronunciation (this is great considering my grammar and vocabulary would probably be detrimental to him). He was however looking to practice his conversational skills with a native english speaker that has similar interests- mostly politics, international relations, and sports. The two of us get together once a week and discuss current events, politics and cultural differences between China and the US. It is literally the best job ever, i'm being paid to learn about China by talking to a Chinese person (and an incredibly smart and insightful person at that).
One other unrelated note:
*Bought concert tickets today to see one of my favorite bands, Ratatat, here in Shanghai on May 21. Not only were the tickets dirt cheap (about $10), but they were delivered to me in class by a motorcylce courier- I love cheap labor.
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