The main process of the Chinese Culture Revival Movement

Chiang Kai-shek not only formulated the ideological program for the movement, but also became the chairman of the Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Culture Revival. He said, "The foundation of Chinese culture is ethics; therefore, 'Filial piety and brotherhood are the first and foremost of benevolence'. It begins with the idea that 'everyone should be close to his relatives and grow up with his elders' and that 'the old should have an end, the strong should have a use for their strength, the young should have a place to grow up, and widows, widowers, orphans, orphans, and the abandoned should have a place to live'. The second is democracy; therefore: 'the people are the most important', 'the people are the foundation of the state, the foundation of the state is peaceful', and 'the way of the road is also, the world is public'. Three for science, this is the right virtue, the use, the way of life, so Confucius to the political emergency, no greater than to make the people rich and life. And to make the people rich and live a long life, then there is no poverty, and there is no widowhood, and there is no inclination of peace. I firmly believe that ethics, democracy, and science are the essence of the Three Principles of the People, which are also the cornerstones of the traditional culture of the Chinese people."

Traditional culture is all-encompassing, with the right to experience and the right to change. The three generations of ritual and music culture, which Confucius, Mencius and Xun claimed, were unified in the way of internal sainthood and external kingship. But after the Song and Ming philosophies, the two are gradually separated, so that Confucianism has become only a kind of spiritual cultivation. Mr. Sun Yat-sen, with the boldness and courage of a revolutionary pioneer, sketched out a new image of Confucianism based on the philosophy of benevolence and love, and the social ideal of "commonwealth", opening up a broad prospect for the revival of Confucianism in modern times. However, the Three Principles of the People, as its political program, was initially only three very specific goals (the expulsion of the Tartars; the establishment of the Republic of China; and the equalization of land rights) and lacked theoretical transcendence. Later, when they were defined as of the people, by the people and for the people, they completely lost the characteristics of Chinese culture.

The significance of Chiang Kai-shek's speech lies in the fact that, within the framework of Sun's ideology of the Three Principles of the People, the essence of the Eastern and Western cultures were integrated together, so that Zhang Zhidong's cultural development model of "applying Chinese culture to Western culture" could be realized as a program of thought that could link traditional culture with modern society and at the same time be operable. On the basis of this program, Chiang proposed that the basic line of the Chinese cultural revival movement is to "abide by the classics and know the norms, innovate and adapt", indicating that the revival is not a retrofitting of the past, and that on the one hand, we should carry forward the traditions, and on the other hand, we have to absorb the positive factors of foreign cultures. Its future was to "absorb the essence of Chinese and Western cultures and integrate a new third culture." The CRRC, headed by Chiang himself, and staffed by party and government officials, began its work on three levels: "promoting ethics and morality, fostering the concept of the rule of law, and promoting production and construction". Ethics and morality here have a richer connotation than the "Three Principles and Five Rules", including loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faith, righteousness, harmony and equality. Dr. Sun Yat-sen once said, "With morality comes a nation, and with morality comes a world." Gu Fengxiang, the Secretary-General of the Cultural Revolutionary Society, said, "To build a sound society, we must maintain family relationships in the spirit of filial piety, brotherhood and benevolence", and build a commonwealth society of mutual assistance and fulfillment in the spirit of fraternity, in which we care for one another as we care for our elders, and we care for one another as we care for our infants. The so-called "promotion of production and construction" is not just about economic development, but also refers to the improvement of the standard of living of society, i.e., "full employment and equalization of wealth, peace and harmony". As for "fostering the concept of the rule of law", it mainly refers to the promotion of the transition of society from a "disciplinary" to a "constitutional" government. Although ethical construction was the main focus of the Chinese cultural renaissance movement, it was the economic practice of socialism, which was not actually manifested in the form of a "movement", that was the more essential content of the movement. The same Confucian capitalism, in Japan, Confucianism is as a social resource, in the civil society contributed to the formation of the East management culture; in Taiwan, but through the Three Principles of the People and by the highest authorities as the value standard of social development, consciously pursuing the "modernization of the East". Naturally, it is necessary to "first establish the big one". In the view of the movement's leaders and even of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, "the great one" is the virtue of the middle ground and the livelihood-based economy with the ultimate goal of a commonwealth society.

There is no tradition of individual-based liberalism in Chinese history. The cultural ideal of "equal wealth, peace and harmony" dictates that the ruling authorities must play some kind of role in the production and distribution process of the market economy to play a coordinating and balancing role, rather than indulging in individual behavior and believing that natural selection can naturally lead to the formation of a rational institutional pattern, as advocated by Western liberal economists. Taiwan's official statement is clear: "Our economic policy is formulated on the basis of livelihoodism and is a planned free economy." The so-called freedom means that the private economy is allowed to develop freely; the so-called planning means that the public economy takes social responsibility as its axis of action, and the two are complementary to each other, *** with the promotion of the public and private sectors. From the social development goal of equalizing wealth, peace and harmony, the free private economy is not completely laissez-faire. The authorities, on the one hand, restrained personal capital to prevent polarization, and, on the other hand, averaged land rights so that "those who cultivate land are entitled to it". Some scholars have compared the livelihoodist economy with the capitalist and socialist economies, arguing that while capitalism favors the individual and freedom, and socialism favors the group and fairness, the livelihoodist economy takes both into account. In other words, in solving the problem of equity and efficiency, which are the opposite of each other, Minshengism is the socialism that takes the middle way and transcends capitalism.

This kind of thinking has a traditional cultural background. "Heaven and earth nourish all things, and the sages nourish the virtuous and all people," says the Yi Chuan (The Book of Changes). It is the duty of the government to "enrich the people" and "educate the people". Sun Yat-sen, starting from the humanism of "correct virtue, utilize, and live generously", proposed that the development of Chinese industry should be carried out in two ways: 1) individual enterprise; 2) state management. He especially emphasized that "in order to completely solve the problem of people's livelihood, not only should we solve the problem of production, but also pay attention to the problem of distribution at the same time". Undoubtedly, the "socialization of distribution" in Sun's "industrial plan" had to be premised on the existence of a sizeable sub-company economy; in 1958, the output value of Taiwan's sub-company enterprises accounted for 50% of the total industrial output value. With the rapid development of private enterprises, this ratio gradually declined, but stabilized in the 1970s when it fell to about 20%.

Chiang Kai-shek argued that "the content of politics, in a comprehensive manner, is no more than the four words of national livelihood". But he did not think that politicians were equal to specialists in economic management. Fu Gao-yi noted that on the surface, the Central Standing Committee of the KMT was the highest decision-making body for economic policy. In reality, however, in the decades after 1949, some technically trained officials were given great power to direct the development of industry. During the years of Taiwan's economic takeoff, 43 of Taiwan's top 44 economic planning officials were college graduates; 52 percent of them had degrees in the United States and 9 percent in Europe. Notably, a higher proportion of these officials were engineers than economists. This is because Minshengism does not worship the market, but focuses on the coordination of social systems engineering, emphasizing the role of the government in obtaining scientific and technological results, allocating funds for key projects and guiding economic development. For this reason, some researchers have compared experts like Yin Zhongrong and Li Guoding to traditional Confucian strategists.

It was the presence of such Confucian strategists that enabled the high investment ratio of public sector undertakings in government investment to be maintained, and that the livelihoodist nature of Taiwan's economy to be organizationally assured. In 1974 and 1975, during the oil crisis and worldwide recession, Taiwan's economy fell sharply, with a huge foreign trade deficit. However, Taiwan's policy-making institutions, which paid great attention to harmonizing the relationship between the growth rates of employment and income, did not, as in the case of capitalist countries in general, resort to layoffs to ensure income growth, nor did they suppress wages to maintain full employment. Rather, they ensured that the people would be able to strive for simultaneous increases in employment and income during the difficult times through the government's adoption of fiscal and financial measures and the use of the power of the public sector economy.

After the reform and opening up of China, the mainland's mainstream canonical books and dictionaries have interpreted with an affirmative attitude: "The actual result of the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement carried out by the Taiwan authorities is the act of paying attention to and reflecting on the history and culture of China, and the movement promotes Taiwan compatriots to care more and more about the destiny and future of the country and the nation." Taiwan's cultural people are putting effort into the work of preserving traditional Chinese culture, or at least emphasizing that a whole China cannot be divided. The Council for Cultural Restoration has numerous specialized agencies, each with its own responsibilities, such as the Committee for the Promotion of Scholarly Publishing, which is responsible for organizing and publishing ancient thought texts and popularizing the essence of scholarship among the younger generation. The Committee for the Promotion of Ethics and Morality is the Committee for the Counseling of National Life, and in 1967, the CRRS launched the "Youth Practice Movement for the Revitalization of Chinese Culture," which formulated the "Norms for Young People's Life" (青年生活规范), which consists of 30 articles. "The Code consists of five major sections, namely, general rules, food, clothing, housing and transportation, and is based on the principle of feasibility and aims to cultivate sound and excellent nationals, taking into account the past and the present. After that, the CRRC formulated the "Guidelines for National Life," which set out the basic requirements for all nationals in the areas of food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and recreation in daily life, and in 1970, the revised "Examples of National Etiquette" was formally enacted to extend the goal of training young people to the life of society as a whole. In 1970, the revised "National Etiquette Standards" were formally enacted, expanding the goals of youth development to include the ideals of society as a whole.

It is a traditional Chinese virtue to emphasize education. In 1969, compulsory education was extended from six to nine years. This not only helped economic development and social justice, but also helped Chinese culture take root in society. Dr. Sun Yat-sen considered language education to be an important tool for unifying the country and uniting the nation. Chiang Kai-shek also instructed that "the national language is the foundation of a country's culture, and students of both liberal arts and sciences should pay special attention to it". History is the first thing to die. During the Japanese colonial period, Chinese history was forbidden in Taiwan's schools. After the restoration of Taiwan, in order to strengthen national identity and cultivate national self-confidence, Taiwan's education department insisted on the policy of emphasizing on "national education" and "moral education", and from elementary school to colleges and universities, the subjects of "Life and Ethics", "Basic Textbooks of Chinese Culture", and "Basic Textbooks of Chinese Culture" were all taught. From primary schools to colleges and universities, courses such as "Life and Ethics," "Basic Textbooks of Chinese Culture," and "National Thought" were taught in an effort to make Chinese culture and morality "take root and flourish. After Taiwan's economy had achieved significant development, the Cultural Affairs Rehabilitation Council adopted the "Outline of Modern National Life" in 1986, stating that the goals of the cultural renaissance movement were to "upgrade the quality of modernized citizens, establish modernized happy families, and create a modernized social state". ". In response to the erosion of people's spiritual life by materialism in industrial and commercial society, this "Modern National Life Movement" focused on the promotion of filial piety and brotherhood, diligence and thrift, propriety, order and tidiness, in the hope that this would enable people to establish a standard of living, pay attention to physical and mental cultivation, emphasize family ethics and promote social harmony. In particular, it is hoped that through the promotion of filial piety, from filial piety to love for one's family, to love for one's country and one's nation, "so that mankind in the world will recognize the spiritual value of our Chinese culture, and inspire the community to be good to each other.

Mr. Jin Yaoji, a famous sociologist, pointed out that "the root of Chinese cultural tradition is at home, and the focus of Chinese cultural renaissance must also be at home". The industrial and commercial society has rationalized the relationship between human beings, and humanistic resources are becoming scarce. An Eastern-style modern society should be characterized by the duality of economy and ethics. The Wensu Hui designated April, the month of Chiang Kai-shek's death, as the "Month of Teaching Filial Piety," in order to promote family harmony, social cohesion, and national unity, which is a move to cultivate the roots of Chinese culture. Specific measures taken by the Cultural and Restoration Association include the selection of models of filial piety, the compilation and printing of "Filial Piety Fax", the encouragement of the three-generation system, and the construction of ancestral halls and genealogical repairs, among others. In the 1980s, it also launched a "five-year plan to strengthen family education" in conjunction with the education department.

The authorities' emphasis on filial piety does have the consideration and effect of "promoting this filial piety, expanding it into national sentiment, and fulfilling the great filial piety for the nation", but at the same time, it also contains the motive of turning filial piety into loyalty, and seeking a social base for the authoritarian party-state. Institutionally, the KMT regime differed from other authoritarian states only in degree. However, from the perspective of its practice since the 1950s, it belonged to what Huntington called neo-authoritarianism, which is also known as the politics of the wise in traditional culture. This new authoritarianism can be understood from two angles. The first is that Taiwan is isolated overseas and needs some kind of authority to maintain its cultural identity with the Chinese nation; the second is that the "developmental diseases" that are prone to occur in the process of modernization, such as inflation, unemployment, inequitable distribution, and social dislocation, need to be prevented and overcome by a strong central governmental institution, so as to provide a good social environment for modernization. The government has to be a strong central government body to prevent and overcome these problems and provide a good social environment for modernization.