Cao Rulin was a senior official in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and was the head of the new communications department. The word Runtian. During the May 4th Movement, he was accused of being a traitor and his house was burned down. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, Cao Rulin refused to cooperate with the Japanese and served as the prime minister and minister of the puppet government. Later, he passively hung up the fake titles such as the highest adviser of the North China Interim Government and the advisory member of the North China Administrative Committee. On the contrary, Mei Siping, the residence of the May Fourth Master and the Peking University student who burned Cao Rulin, took the initiative to take refuge in the Japanese and became a traitor. The May 4th Movement is recognized as a patriotic movement, and people are familiar with it. One of the most famous is that Cao Rulin's official residence was burned and the Japanese minister was beaten. This is a well-known event. Almost all books and articles mention that Cao Rulin and He Lu are traitors. In fact, even the enlightenment masters of the new culture are very dissatisfied with Cao's burning and looting. In their own letters, they made many criticisms. But few people examine their traitorous behavior in detail and regard these people as villains. The May 4th student parade was caused by the transfer of Qingdao. At the Paris Peace Conference, the United States ceded the original rights and interests of Germany to Japan. Why was this clause written into the peace treaty with Germany after World War I? Cao Rulin was appointed Minister of Communications and Lu was appointed Director of Mint. Although Zhang Zongxiang is a Japanese special envoy, he has little to do with the Paris Peace Conference. Although all three of them graduated from Imperial University of Japan and Waseda University, studied in high flyers, and gained the reputation of pro-Japanese faction in the government, it was somewhat biased to regard them as traitors in the May 4th Movement, and it was inappropriate for history to give them the reputation of traitors. It began in 19 15, when Japan forced China to sign a secret agreement between China and Japan, which was called Article 2 1. At the beginning of World War I, Japan joined the allied forces to declare war on Germany, and Britain and Japan jointly launched an attack on the German army in Qingdao. After fierce fighting, the Japanese army occupied Qingdao. 1905, Japan seized the rights and interests of Lushun through the Russo-Japanese War and tasted the sweetness early. Therefore, taking the opportunity of the world war, I regard Qingdao as the meat that fell into my mouth. At that time, under the background of weak countries without diplomacy, China had little strength to return the lease right of Qingdao. At that time, Yuan Shikai had attempted to claim the title of emperor and sought support from Japan and the United States through various channels. Japan took this opportunity to suddenly propose harsh article 2 1 at the beginning of 19 15. First, China fully agrees that Japan and Germany will reach any agreement on Germany's rights and interests in Shandong Province. But the most unreasonable ones are as follows: for example, the China government hired Japanese as political, financial and military advisers; In places where there are Sino-Japanese conflicts and public security disputes in China, set up police departments jointly managed by China and Japan or staffed by both sides; Japan will supply 50% or more ammunition to China, or set up an arsenal jointly managed by both sides, employ Japanese experts and use Japanese raw materials. These are all regarded as the demise of Japanese China. Yuan Shikai was surprised and panicked when he received this vicious article 21. Later, the Japanese ambassador to China was drunk and said: Japanese people have a traditional concept of worshipping the royal family, whether at home or abroad. But in the eyes of the Japanese, President Yuan was not only an important minister of the Qing Dynasty, but also a favorite of the Qing Dynasty. No matter how clever his methods are, there is always a bad feeling of cheating the widowed master. This is a general criticism of the Japanese. This shows that Japan used the Shandong issue to bully Yuan Shikai intentionally and rudely. At that time, Yuan immediately called Foreign Minister Sun Baodi, Secretary-General Liang Shiyi, Government Affairs Hall Zuo Cheng and Foreign Minister Cao Rulin to discuss. Because Sun Baodi even advocated eclecticism and did not engage in military intervention, Yuan deposed Sun and appointed Lu as foreign minister.

On May 7th, Japan issued an ultimatum to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although China insisted on continuing the negotiations. The contents are as follows: Due to the attitude of the China government, the imperial government deeply regretted that there was little room for further negotiations, but in the end, it tried to maintain peace in the Far East as soon as possible and hoped that the negotiations would be successfully concluded to avoid disputes under the current situation. When I can't stand it, I will consider the goodwill of neighboring governments. Except for the official document exchange in Fujian province, the fifth item of the previous amendment proposed by the imperial government was agreed by the representatives of the two governments, and the remaining five items can be admitted to be separated from this negotiation and negotiated separately in the future. Therefore, the China government should also trust the friendship of the imperial government, so that the first, second, third, fourth and fifth items of the official document exchange in Fujian Province recorded in the amendment proposed on April 26th will not be changed and will be implemented quickly. The imperial government once again proposed that it hoped the China government would give a satisfactory answer before 6 pm on May 9. If you don't get a satisfactory answer before the deadline, the imperial government will take necessary measures to merge the statements. At the same time, Japan increased its troops in Shandong and Fengtian, sent warships to cruise along the Bohai Sea, declared martial law in Kanto, and Japanese overseas Chinese prepared to retreat. At that time, the air was tense and people panicked. Japan openly resorted to blackmail by force. In this situation, Yuan Shikai and the American government gave in. In Lu Zhengxiang, in the US Congress, it is painful to report on the Sino-Japanese negotiations: our government has held 25 formal meetings for more than three months. We always respect our neighbors' intentions, make concessions and hope for a peaceful settlement. What is unknown to our people is that all our friends agree with our understanding. Cherish Japan or blackmail, or increase troops under the pretext, but after all, it is armed negotiations and cannot achieve this goal. Once it is broken, it will be difficult for China to win, the post-war losses will be twice as heavy as what it is now demanding, and the overall situation will be eroded and the lives will be ruined, which is even more unimaginable. In Beijing, ambassadors from friends all over the world also came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for advice. This has nothing to do with China's sovereignty and the internal affairs of the United States, but it should not be too stubborn. The government has to pay attention to the national situation, observe public opinion from the outside, and carefully examine interests to avoid it. On May 9th, China was forced to sign the revised Article 2 1, which caused national grief. Later, the society took this day as a national shame day and gathered to commemorate it. Yuan Shikai is also deeply touched by this. Later, he often used this as an example to motivate his subordinates. His son Yuan once wrote a poem to record this: In the hot sea, the scorching sun is awesome. Andrew Yangko teaches pendants every day. On May 9th, I felt that Obsidian spirit forced the mountain into pieces. Tears turned into blood hearts, crying. Tian Meng is gone. Don't talk to each other. In the middle of the night, he drew his sword and danced. Swear that Huanglong is drunk, laugh and swallow arrogant slaves, and strong men don't look back. Yuan Shikai was humiliated by the world because he signed Article 21, which is reasonable to some extent. Foreign Minister Lu Zhengxiang presided over all the negotiations between China and Japan, but he was rarely criticized by later generations. Cao Rulin's participation in the negotiations as foreign minister should belong to his post and should not bear the main responsibility. Zhang Zongxiang, the ambassador to Japan at that time, actively tried to amend Article 5 of Japan, and even said that Japan would send troops and committed suicide at the gate of the embassy residence on the day when the flag was lowered at half mast. Zhang went to Tokyo to change the contract, which caused some abuse. Four years later, during the May 4th Movement, these three men were accused of being traitors and became targets of public criticism. There are two main reasons: first, these three people have always held a pro-Japanese stance and participated in diplomacy with Japan for a long time. Shortly before the May 4th Movement, in order to reunify the North and the South by force, a lot of foreign debts were borrowed. Foreign loan

The terms of the Shandong issue are written in the peace treaty with Germany. Although China tried its best to negotiate, due to the secret agreement between China and Germany, the world powers stood aside on the Shandong issue at the Paris Peace Conference, so whether to sign a contract with Germany became a thorny diplomatic test for China. If we don't sign it, China will still be in a state of war with Germany legally, and the interests of relevant clauses in the treaty will not be implemented. But if signed, Shandong will be officially recognized as Japan's sphere of influence. It was accidental that the May 4th student parade led to the burning of Zhao Jialou. Students in Peking University originally planned to hold a rally and parade on May 7th, the National Day of Shame. On May 3rd, the news came that the Paris Peace Conference was very unfavorable to China. The community in Peking University decided to March immediately the next day. The next day, nearly 3000 students from several universities took to the streets. The students gathered in Tiananmen Square and then went to the main national embassy in Dongjiaominxiang to submit a petition. But because it was Sunday, the ambassadors of all countries were not in the museum, and the students were very disappointed. The March was supposed to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Dongdan not far away to petition, but it is estimated that no important officials are working. Someone suggested going to Cao Rulin's house nearby to protest. As a result, the incident of burning Cao Zhai shocked the whole country, and the police arrested a large number of students for this. The process of the May 4th Movement has been recorded in many books and periodicals, so there is no need to repeat it. When the student parade became a patriotic trend of the whole people step by step, the government compromised and the Paris Peace Treaty did not need to be signed. Cao Rulin and others were forced to resign. It is obviously inappropriate for history to put them in the position of traitors. Cao Rulin himself mentioned the May 4th Movement in his later years: In retrospect, it was also beneficial to others and others. Although the three of us died of ignorance, we aroused the patriotism of most people and finally got the price. After Cao Rulin stepped down, he left politics and went to finance. 1937 after the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, he was still in the north, and the Japanese wooed him to leave the fake post, but he did not give in. He secretly established contact with the national government, and the government hoped that he would get some valuable information, which Cao did seriously. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Beiping was recovered, protected by Chiang Kai-shek's government, and then settled in the United States. There seem to be many bad guys in the books of China's modern history. It's easy to say, but it doesn't have much impact, if you just label the other party as a traitor or politically reactionary. For example, as we all know, when I was young, I participated in a student movement in Hunan No.1 Normal University and took the lead in encouraging the recall of President Zhang Qian. As a result, the name of reactionary headmaster Zhang Qian became a household name.