Editing New Life Movement (section)

== Historical context ==
The New Life Movement was founded at a time when China, already weakened by Western [[imperialism]], faced the threats of rising [[Japanese militarism]], [[Warlord Era|domestic factionalism]] and [[communism]]. The launch of the New Life Movement was set in the context of 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 stated, "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".<ref name=":0">Mackerras, Colin.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=p_nJAwAAQBAJ China in transformation 1900–1949]. N.p.: Pearson Longman, 2018, p. 91.</ref>

Chiang claimed that Chinese were "unbearably filthy", "[[hedonism|hedonistic]]", "lazy", and physically and spiritually "decrepit", and thus leading lives that were "barbaric and devoid of reason."{{sfnb|Dirlik|1975| p = 954}} Chiang's political rival, [[Wang Jingwei]] 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" (隨便主義, ''suibian zhuyi'') and "self seekingness" (自理主義, ''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.{{sfnb|Dirlik|1975| p = 955}}

In Chiang's mind, these concerns were compounded by the influx of foreign ideas following the [[New Culture Movement]] and [[May Fourth Movement]] which fostered Western concepts such as liberalism, pragmatism and nationalism as well as more radical ideas including [[Marxism]] respectively. The Movement attempted to counter such threats through a resurrection of traditional Chinese morality, which it held to more suitable to Chinese society to modern Western values. As such the Movement was based upon [[Confucianism]], mixed with [[Christianity]], [[nationalism]] and [[authoritarianism]] which have some similarities to [[fascism]],<ref name="schok" /> which some  saw as rejecting [[individualism]] and [[liberalism]], while also opposing radical movements such as [[socialism]] and [[communism]].

Soong Mei-ling called for a program of spiritual enlightenment. She wrote in ''Forum'', an American magazine, in 1935, that "the mere accumulation of great wealth is not sufficient to enable China to resume her position as a great nation." There must be, she continued, "also revival of the spirit, since spiritual values transcend mere material riches. She played a major role both in launching the Movement and in representing its public face.{{sfnb|Li|2006 | pp= 101–102}}[[File:Soong May-ling stitching uniform for soldiers.jpg|thumb|150px|Soong Meiling stitching a uniform for soldiers]]

Soong Meiling insisted that while some puritanical Chinese politicians tried to co-opt the New Life Movement for their own ends, her husband made efforts to put an end to their activities. In her interview with [[Fulton Oursler]], a famous American journalist who interviewed her in Shanghai regarding the Movement in August 1937, she stated that: "No. China would never take Fascism or any form of the totalitarian state. We can't ever be really regimented. Every Chinese is a personality. He will always think for himself. He has an ancient and magnificent culture, a sense of justice, a love of freedom. The New Life Movement has definitely rejected all forms of regimentation as being opposed to the principles of Dr. [[Sun Yat-sen]] and so betraying the people."<ref>{{cite book|first=Emily|last=Hahn|title=The Soong Sisters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7tcqAwAAQBAJ&q=new%20life%20interview|year=2014|publisher=Open Road Media|pages=102–107|isbn=9781497619531}}</ref>

The New Life targeted the official, educated, and affluent classes in the belief that China's ills could be cured "by example
and exhortation from above." This [[Trickle-down economics|trickle-down]] philosophy of societal transformation neatly paralleled a [[Confucian]] belief: "The virtue of the
gentleman is like wind; the virtue of the commoner is like grass. Let the wind blow over the grass and it is sure to bend." This concept of "[[salvation in Christianity|salvation from within]]" was also purportedly on some level modeled on the Christian notion of changing the world by changing individuals.<ref>{{cite book|first=Laura|last=Tyson Li|title=Madame Chiang Kai-Shek China's Eternal First Lady|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRY0v7AH2ngC&q=limited%20albeit|year=2007|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=104|isbn=9780802143228}}</ref>

Although Meiling acknowledged that the Blue Shirts were "stupid, overzealous, dizzy with success", she also stated that the government did not officially support most of their activities or condone their behavior. Several prominent figures within the KMT itself, however, also openly criticized the New Life Movement. [[Soong Chingling]], Meiling's elder sister who long espoused socialist ideals in contrast with Meiling's more traditional Christian ones, dismissed the New Life Movement as a "pedantic" exercise that "gives nothing to the people" and that such profound emphasis on ancient Confucian ideals of proper behavior were largely impractical and ill-advised in a time when millions of Chinese families were still starving daily. She further argued that, "The aim of revolution is the material welfare of human beings...if that is not reached then there has been no revolution." Their essential differences, with Chingling focusing mostly on the Chinese people's considerable material necessities, and Meiling on what she saw as their people's lofty spiritual needs, contributed to the rift between the two once-close sisters, which eventually led to Chingling leaving the KMT entirely and joining the Communists.<ref>{{cite book|first=Laura|last=Tyson Li|title=Madame Chiang Kai-Shek China's Eternal First Lady|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRY0v7AH2ngC&q=pedantic|year=2007|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=102–107|isbn=9780802143228}}</ref>

The leading prominent liberal voice in the KMT, [[Hu Shih]], stated that as "there is neither any panacea to save the country nor will there be any miracle cure to revive the nation", the problems that the Movement sought to address were indeed considerable and prevalent, but Chiang's methods of countering them were much less valid, and that the ROC should focus on renewing the material well-being of the Chinese people before trying to revive their so-called spirituality. According to Hu Shih, "When children were scouring rubbish dumps to find half a burnt-out coal, or a bit of filthy rag, how could you accuse them of dishonesty if they pocketed a lost item they had picked up? The first responsibility of the government is to make sure the average man can live a decent life…To teach them how to lead this so-called new life can only be the last thing."<ref>{{cite book|first=Jung|last=Chang|title=Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n16IDwAAQBAJ&q=hu%20shih%20new%20life|date=October 2019|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|page=174|isbn=9780451493514}}</ref>

[[James Gareth Endicott]], who served as Meiling's New Life Movement adviser and had a close relationship with her, protested to Meiling about what he saw as the KMT's drift towards non-liberal ideologies, feeling that she was perhaps among the more reasonable members of the Nationalist government. Although Endicott supported some aspects of the Movement, he disagreed that it should be involved in the government. After she urged him to share his growing concerns with Chiang personally, Endicott brusquely told Chiang that if he failed to base the government's domestic policies on the needs of the people, including instituting agrarian reform, then revolutionary forces would eventually rise against him. Chiang replied that while he had plans for land reform, he could not carry them out "while there are so many Communists around to take advantage of it", ending their discussion after a heated exchange.<ref>{{cite book|first=Laura|last=Tyson Li|title=Madame Chiang Kai-Shek China's Eternal First Lady|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRY0v7AH2ngC&q=pedantic|year=2007|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=164–165|isbn=9780802143228}}</ref>

Chiang's original inception of the New Life Movement purportedly stemmed from his personal negative experiences in both the [[Soviet Union]] and in Communist parts of China, where he became repulsed by their harsh reality of [[class struggle]]. "The poor were told it was right to rob the rich; employees were encouraged to betray or even kill their employers; children were urged to denounce their parents. To Chiang, these 'struck at all the fundamental principles' of traditional Chinese ethics. He took it upon himself to resurrect the ethics of [[ancient China|old China]], in which loyalty and honour were essential."<ref>{{cite book|first=Jung|last=Chang|title=Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n16IDwAAQBAJ&q=loyalty%20and%20honour|date=October 2019|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|page=173|isbn=9780451493514}}</ref>

Chiang Kai-shek used the Confucian and [[Methodist]] notion of self-cultivation and correct living for the Movement; to this end it prescribed proper etiquette on every aspect of daily life. He considered the New Life Movement a key part of the program to carry out the "principle of the people's livelihood" in [[Sun Yat-sen]]'s [[Three Principles of the People]].