Editing New Life Movement (section)

{{Short description|1930s Chinese civic campaign}}
{{Conservatism in China|History}}

The '''New Life Movement''' ({{zh|t=新生活運動|w=Hsin1 Shêng1huo2 Yün4tung5}}) was a government-led civic campaign in the 1930s [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of 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 [[Nationalist government|government]] and the [[Kuomintang|Chinese Nationalist Party]] launched the initiative on 19 February 1934 as part of an anti-Communist campaign, and soon enlarged the campaign to target the whole nation.{{sfnb|Yip|1992| p = 287}}

Chiang and his wife, [[Soong Mei-ling]], who played a major role in the campaign, advocated a life guided by [[Four Cardinal Principles and Eight Virtues|four virtues]], ''[[Li (Confucianism)|lǐ]]'' (禮/礼, proper rite), ''[[Yi (Confucianism)|yì]]'' (義/义, righteousness or justice), ''lián'' (廉, honesty and cleanness) and ''chǐ'' (恥/耻, shame; sense of right and wrong).{{sfnb|Chiang|1934}} The campaign proceeded with help of the [[Blue Shirts Society]] and the [[CC Clique]] within the Nationalist Party, and Christian missionaries in China.<ref name="schok">Schoppa, R. Keith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=M6_tAAAAMAAJ&q=New+Life+Movement The Revolution and Its Past] (New York: Pearson Prentic Hall, 2nd ed. 2006, pp. 208–209 .</ref>