New Life Movement

The New Life Movement (Chinese: ; pinyin: Xīn Shēnghuó yùndòng) was a government led civic movement in 1930s China to promote cultural reform and Neo-Confucian social morality and to ultimately unite China under a centralised ideology following the emergence of ideological challenges to the status quo. Chiang Kai-shek as head of the government and the Chinese Nationalist Party launched the initiative on February 19, 1934 as part of an anti-Communist campaign, and soon enlarged the campaign to target the whole nation.

Chiang and his wife, Soong Mei-ling, who played a major role in the campaign, advocated a life guided by four virtues, 'Lǐ' (禮/礼, proper rite), Yì' (義/义, righteousness or justice), lián (廉, honesty and cleanness) and chǐ (恥/耻, shame; sense of right and wrong). The campaign proceeded with help of the Blue Shirts Society and the CC Clique within the Nationalist Party, and Christian missionaries in China.

The New Life Movement was founded at a time when China, already weakened by Western imperialism, faced the threats of rising Japanese militarism, domestic factionalism and communism. The launch of the New Life Movement was set in the context the Chiangs' growing concern with corruption, and moral decadence that they blamed on foreign influences. Historian Colin Mackerras writes that “Corruption was an abiding feature of Chiang Kai-shek’s rule" and that nepotism and bribery were rife among the bureaucracy. Chiang charged that “If we do not weed the present body of corruption, bribery, perfunctoriness, and ignorance, and establish instead a clean, effective administration, the day will soon come when the revolution will be started against us as we did the Manchus”.,

Chiang further claimed that the life of a Chinese man could be summarised with words such as “hedonism”, to signify his unprincipled and controlled pursuit of pleasure; “laziness” to represent his negligence and carelessness; as well as “unbearable filthiness” in every aspect of his life. Chiang's political rival, Wang Ching-wei described Chinese life as a life of "smoking," "sickness," "gambling," "filth," "ghosts" (i.e., superstition), and "indolence”. Wang argued the fundamental psychological basis of such behaviour was "lackadaisicalness" (suibian zhuyi) and "self seekingness" (zili zhuyi). He contended that “lackadaisicalness” led to lives without a sense of right or wrong, and hence with no distinctions or purpose. "Self-seekingness," he argued, led to the rejection of all outside interference with this kind of behaviour as encroachment on "freedom". There was no consideration for others and their rights, only of one's own comfort, inevitably obstructing social life and group solidarity.

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