This paper originated in a star-studded conference held in May 2019 for the Centenary of the Paris Peace Conference and Versailles Treaty, organized by the American University of Paris. It deals with a group of young Sichuanese activists: Zeng Qi, Zhou Taixuan (pictured), and Li Huang in Paris, Wang Guangqi in Beijing, Li Jieren in Chengdu, and their roles in what became the May Fourth movement.
The organizers Albert Wu and Stephen Sawyer edited an excellent volume out of the conference under the title The Making of a World Order. Global Historical Perspectives on the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles.
The full reference of my chapter is as follows:
“Local Networks with Global Reach: Sichuanese ‘Citizen-Journalists’ Reporting From the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and the Formation of Public Opinion in China” in Albert Wu and Stephen Sawyer, eds, The Making of a World Order. Global Historical Perspectives on the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, Routledge, 2023, pp. 150-181.
Abstract:
The events of May 4, 1919, are widely understood as foundational for modern China. As news from the Paris Peace Conference reached Peking, student protests broke out that ultimately prevented the Chinese delegation from signing the Versailles Treaty. By retracing the details of how news of the negotiations reached China, this essay attempts to highlight the role of the modern press and telecommunications as well as traditional hometown networks in shaping a nation-wide public opinion. A key role was played by the Paris News Service, a makeshift operation run by a network of Sichuanese student-journalists connected to the Young China Association, which was skeptical of both Wilsonian democracy and Bolshevism. More generally, the essay tries to reassess the role of the global events of World War I and its aftermath in provoking a turn within China toward nationalism and the formation of a nation-wide public opinion.
A pre-print copy of the chapter is available for download below:
Sebastian Veg 