Issue and opponent: A group of Chinese students targeted the Chinese delegation signing the Versailles Peace Treaty, specifically, the Chief delegate. The Chief delegate for the Chinese delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference was Foreign Minister Lu Cheng-Hsiang. Activists were concerned with his Japanese expansionist policies due to part of the peace talks discussing the Chinese territory of Shantung Province. Chinese national consensus was that Shantung should be awarded to China, however, the territory formally held by Germany was to be given to Japan. This directly contradicted national sentiment. This encouraged a movement of Chinese students to oppose the signing of the Peace Treaty. Before this dilemma action, students had gathered multiple times to protest the Japanese hold on China. They held strikes and boycotts of Japanese goods and assembled in city centers advocating for anti-Japan policies.
Dilemma Action: On June 28, 1919, students and workers gathered outside the Lutitia Hotel in Paris. This hotel was the headquarters of the Chinese delegation for the Versailles Peace Conference. The group surrounded the Chinese delegates to keep them from entering and signing the Treaty.
Outcome: In the end, China refused to sign the Peace Treaty with Germany. Then, on July 22, the Student Union, the group organizing the protests, called an end to all the strikes. Even after the success of the dilemma action, the student group did not achieve its goals. Even though China did not sign the Treaty, Japan still held control of Shantung province.