Chinese Cultural Renaissance
The Chinese Cultural Renaissance or the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement (Chinese: 中華文化復興運動; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Wénhuà Fùxīng Yùndòng) was a movement promoted in Taiwan in opposition to the cultural destructions caused by the Communist Party of China during the Cultural Revolution.[1]
Movement
Chiang Kai-shek, the then President of the Republic of China who launched the movement on November 1966 - on the 100th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birthday - by publicly announcing the official start of the renaissance movement.[2] It was the Kuomintang's first structured plan for cultural development on Taiwan. Chiang himself was the head of the movement promotion council.[2] Future president Lee Teng-hui was also involved in the movement and served as the president for the cultural renaissance.[1]
Chiang announced ten goals:[2]
- To improve educational standards and promote family education with an emphasis on the Confucian principles of filial duty and fraternal love
- To reissue Chinese classic literary works and translate important works with a view toward disseminating Chinese culture abroad.
- To encourage the creation of new literary and art works that are relevant to contemporary society and informed by the ideals of the cultural renaissance
- To launch the government planning and construction of new theaters, opera houses, auditoriums, and art galleries, as well as stadiums throughout the country, and to improve existing facilities.
- To utilize all mass media for the promotion of the cultural renaissance with an emphasis upon encouraging good customs and morals.
- To guide the modernization of national life under the influence of the Confucian Principles of the "Four Social Controls" (propriety, rectitude, honesty and a sense of shame)[3] and the "Eight Virtues" (Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faithfulness, justice, harmony and peace), a goal to be achieved with the help of the newly launched New Life Movement.
- To promote tourism and the preservation of historical relics
- To increase support for overseas Chinese education, including the publication of newspapers and the promotion of cultural activities abroad.
- To maintain close ties with foreign institutions and intellectuals, particularly those whose research focuses on China.
- To revise tax statutes and regulations in order to encourage wealthy individuals, private industries, and businesses to make donations to government-endorsed cultural and educational establishments.
References
- Wachman, Alan M. [1994] (1994). Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization. M.E. Sharpe publishing. ISBN 1-56324-398-9. pg 274.
- Guy, Nancy. [2005] (2005). Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02973-9.
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De Bary, William Theodore; Lufrano, Richard John, eds. (2001). Sources of Chinese Tradition: From 1600 Through the Twentieth Century. Introduction to Asian civilizations. 2 (2 ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-231-11271-0. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
The meaning of Li, Yi, Lian, and Chi[.] [...] li, yi, lian, and chi have always been regarded as the foundations of the nation [...] they may be interpreted as follows: Li means 'regulated attitude.' Yi means 'right conduct.' Lian means 'clear discrimination.' Chi means 'real self-consciousness.'