ABSTRACT
ON ITS MOST OBSERVABLE LEVEL, THE NEW CULTURE ERA, IN BOTH CHINA and in Singapore, was a time of protests, boycotts, and mass movements. While various literary, social, and cultural trends flowed throughout the period, demonstrations frequently punctuated the movement. Most often, these protests coincided with periods of national emergency and foreign aggression, functioning as tools for saving the nation. The protests of the era also form a framework for understanding the movement. In Singapore, the movement gathered momentum only after the demonstrations of June 19, 1919. For the next several years, protests erupted in the city on several different occasions. The anti-British protest of December 11, 1932 was the last in this chain of demonstrations, marking an end to Singapore's New Culture Movement. It is impossible to appreciate the movement without some understanding and acknowledgment of the era's significant disturbances.
