Associate Professor Ning Te-chen of National Chengkung University's history department laments the fact that prior to the 1970s the May Fourth Movement was played down and glossed over in Taiwan's modern history textbooks: "Just like the February 28th Incident, the May Fourth Movement was missing from past textbooks," he says.
成功大學歷史系副教授林德政為之感嘆，七○年代之前，台灣學生所讀的現代史，五四一章被輕描淡寫、一筆帶過。在他看來，「五四如同二二八，在過去的歷史課本中是缺席的。」