Peking University: A Corner Beneath the Colonial Curtain

Peking University has never been a symbol of freedom. It is merely a participant in illusion.

The so-called "May Fourth Movement" marks the beginning of this illusion. In reality, May Fourth was nothing more than a campus disturbance that neither changed China's structure nor truly enlightened anyone. Its later transformation into an "Enlightenment Movement" occurred entirely because a story was needed to package national construction: the Communist Party needed it as the starting point of "anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism," while Peking University needed it as the source of "spirit of freedom." The significance of May Fourth lies not in the 1920s, but in the globalized narrative that emerged after China's reform and opening-up. At that time, China desperately needed a symbol to connect with the Western "Enlightenment-Modernization" logic, so May Fourth was infinitely magnified.

In this narrative, Peking University is not a spark of thought, but a corner on the stage curtain. It first passively served as the backdrop for nationalist mobilization, then discovered that this illusion could bring prestige, resources, and study-abroad opportunities, so it actively maintained and even took pride in it. The so-called talented scholars are merely storytellers in the construction of "Chinese nation"; the so-called romanticism of the Republic era is merely the oil paint of fictional national narratives.

World War II, the Cold War, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution... During these moments that truly determined the course of history, Peking University had no independent stance. Its role remained consistent: blustering before weak governments, bowing before strong governments. It believes itself to carry the tradition of freedom, but in reality, it merely provides lighting and coloring for the illusion of "Chinese nation" beneath the colonial curtain.

Peking University has never been freedom; it is merely an excuse for illusion. Its existence is not to enlighten individuals, but to maintain the hallucination of a fictional nation.