Chinese nationalist movement that began on 4 May 1919 with the student protest in Beijing at the Versailles Peace Settlement decision that Japan should take over former German concessions in Shandong. In the New Culture Movement that emerged intellectuals grappled with Marxism and liberalism in their search for reforms. Socialist ideas became popular, and the movement played a major role in the revival of the Kuomintang and the creation of the Chinese Communist Party.