China: Revolutionary students and lecturers demonstrating at Beijing University, May 4th Movement, 1919. The May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem. These demonstrations sparked national protests and marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism, a shift towards political mobilisation and away from cultural activities, and a move towards a populist base rather than intellectual elites.