Other leaders of the CCP were also motivated by the “century of humiliation” (1840s-1940s) that began with the opium wars and involved foreign rulers on Chinese soil.

That period included The Treaty of Versailles in 1919, in which German controlled Shandong was handed over to the Japanese, without Chinese consultation. This indignation ignited the May 4 Movement in Tiananmen Square led by student activists, (sounds familiar to 1989 Tiananmen Square, right?) opposed to the Chinese government’s pissweak response to this international insult. That movement, with its collaboration of student and worker organizations, set the communist revolution’s wheels in motion.

Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were young intellectuals and inspirational leaders of the May 4 Movement. In 921, they became founders of the Chinese Communist Party.

Jeffrrey Wasserstrom writes: “Much like the date and phrase “Mai 68” in the French political imagination, in China, “Wu-si” (4-5) conjures up the idea of an entire generation, and a special one.” (my bold)

This concept of the ‘special generation’ is very similar to Xi Jinping Thought. He loves saying: “Never before have the Chinese people been so close to realizing their dreams.”

The dates are uncanny - a statistical quirk of history i presume - but let's put it in just for fun:

May 4, 1919: birthday of the vision of the special generation

Fast forward to 2019: Covid, the advent of the New Normal, China as a totalitarian superpower under Xi

May 4 activist/CCP founder Chen wrote back in 1919 that China must embrace “Mr. Science” and “Mr. Democracy.”

100 years later you could say they got it half-right.