May Thirtieth Incident

May Thirtieth Incident, (1925), in China, a nationwide series of strikes and demonstrations precipitated by the killing of 13 labour demonstrators by British police in Shanghai. This was the largest anti-foreign demonstration China had yet experienced, and it encompassed people of all classes from all parts of the country. The Chinese Communist Party greatly benefited by the anti-imperialist sentiment prevalent in the movement, and party membership swelled from several hundred to more than 20,000.

The incident began early in 1925 when the terms of agreement decided upon between members of a mediation board and striking workers at a Japanese cotton mill in Shanghai were rejected by the company. On May 15 the workers sent eight representatives to negotiate with the management, but a melee resulted in which one worker was killed and the other seven wounded. The foreign-controlled Shanghai Municipal Council not only did not prosecute the Japanese who had opened fire but arrested several of the workers for disturbing the police. This led to a series of worker-student demonstrations, culminating in a mass demonstration on May 30 in which the British municipal police opened fire and killed 13 demonstrators and wounded many more. Following the incident a rash of nationalistic demonstrations erupted in all parts of the country. Chinese of all classes were outraged, and boycotts and strikes against British and Japanese goods and factories were organized by merchants and workers throughout the country. The unrest lasted three months, until the British fired the police officials in charge and paid an indemnity to the families of the dead and wounded.