Happy May Day 劳动节（节日课件素材）

May 1st, International Workers' Day The Explainer is where we explain an aspect of Chinese life. Simple. So now you know. It may seem like the most socialist red letter day on the calendar, but May 1 International Workers’ Day, celebrated as a holiday in China, does not have its roots in the Middle Kingdom, nor the Communist Bloc. Instead, it can be traced back to 1886 – and the American Midwest. As Chicago police tried to break up a peaceful rally on May 4 to support workers striking for an eight-hour day, a dynamite bomb was thrown into their ranks. The explosion and ensuing gunfire killed seven police officers and at least four civilians, while scores more were injured. Four labor activists and anarchists were later hanged for the bombing despite the absence of any credible evidence. (What was lacking in evidence, however, was more than made up for with in public hysteria, packed juries and biased, partisan judges.) The miscarriage of justice was a boon for the labor movement, however. The Knights of Labor doubled their membership within a year, and the struggle for a shorter working day was renewed on a national level. In 1889, the Second International convened in Paris and declared May 1 International Workers’ Day to commemorate the ‘Haymarket Martyrs,’ and took the eight-hour-day campaign worldwide. By setting the date three days earlier than the event itself, the socialist movement was taking a leaf out of the church’s book, co-opting a pre-existing and ancient pagan festival celebrated across Europe to welcome summer. On the Chinese calendar, Lixia (literally "start of summer") fulfills the same purpose and typically falls on the same week as May Day. Chinese people first celebrated International Workers’ Day in 1920, when Communist Party co-founders Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao held May 1 assemblies with students and labor unions in Shanghai and Beijing, respectively. In December 1949, the newly founded People’s Republic declared a one-day holiday on May 1 e