Yunnan University (YNU) initiates a 5.4-kilometer run for students at the university’s Chenggong campus on May 25 in celebration of the May Fourth Movement. [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

Yunnan University (YNU) held a 5.4-kilometer run for students at the university’s Chenggong campus in celebration of the May Fourth Movement on May 25.

More than 1,500 teachers and students took part in the run to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the intellectual and reformist movement.

A total of 10 display boards were set up along the track, representing 10 major historical events that occurred from 1919 to 2019. 

The May Fourth Movement was carried out mainly by university students who were angry at China’s treatment at the hands of Western powers after World War I, specifically the handing of German concessions in Shandong province over to the Japanese. The May Fourth Movement was anti-imperialist and demanded the restoration of Chinese independence and sovereignty. 

The movement peaked on May 4th, 1919, when thousands of students rallied in Beijing to protest against China’s treatment in the Treaty of Versailles. The protest was supported by students and workers on strike across China. These events spurred political fervor across China and contributed to the rise of groups like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which was formed two years later. 

In 1949, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, May 4th was designated as China’s Youth Day.

Yunnan University students take part in a long-distance run to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]