Blue Shirts Society

1911–1914	Bai Lang Rebellion
1913	Second Revolution
1915	Twenty-One Demands
1915–1916	Empire of China (Yuan Shikai); National Protection War
1916	Death of Yuan Shikai
1917	Manchu Restoration
1917–1922	Constitutional Protection Movement
1917–1929	Golok rebellions
1918–1920	Siberian intervention
1919	Paris Peace Conference; Shandong Problem; May Fourth Movement
1919–1921	Occupation of Outer Mongolia
1920	Zhili–Anhui War
1920–1921	Guangdong–Guangxi War
1920–1926	Spirit Soldier rebellions
1921	1st National CPC Congress
1921–1922	Washington Naval Conference
1922	First Zhili–Fengtian War
1923–1927	First United Front
1923	Lincheng Outrage
1924	Second Zhili–Fengtian War; Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising; Beijing Coup

Blue Shirts Society
Blue Shirts Society
Traditional Chinese	藍衣社
Simplified Chinese	蓝衣社
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Lán Yī Shè
Wade–Giles	Lan2 I1 Shê4
IPA	[lǎn í ʂɤ̂]

Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People

三民主義力行社
Sānmínzhǔyì lìxíng shè
Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People 三民主義力行社; Sānmínzhǔyì lìxíng shè
Ideology	Chinese ultranationalism; Three Principles of the People; Anti-communism; Anti-imperialism; Pro-Chiang Kai-shek
Colours	Blue
Part of	Kuomintang

The Blue Shirts Society (BSS)(藍衣社), also known as the Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People (Chinese: 三民主義力行社, commonly abbreviated as SPTPP), the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社, SES) and the China Reconstruction Society (中華復興社, CRS), was a secret ultranationalist faction in the Kuomintang inspired by German and Italian fascists.^[3]^[4]

The rise and fall of the Blue Shirt Society was rapid, but obscure, and it was seldom mentioned again by either the KMT or the Chinese Communist Party after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the following KMT retreat to Taiwan.

Membership and development

Chiang Kai-shek founded the Blue Shirts in 1932.^[5]^: 64 Its leaders were young officers from the Nationalist army.^[5]^: 64 Although in its early stage the society's most important members came from the Whampoa Military Academy, and constituted elements of the KMT's Whampoa Clique, by the 1930s its influence extended into the military and political spheres, and had influence upon China's economy and society.^[6]^[7] Historian Jeffrey Crean notes, however, that while the Blue Shirts impacted elite politics, it had little impact on the rural people who were the vast majority of China's population.^[5]^: 64–65 Membership peaked at 10,000 in 1935.^[5]^: 64

Membership in the Blue Shirts Society was kept a strict secret:

With a view to attaining the object of immediately overthrowing the feudal influences, exterminating the Red Bandits, and dealing with foreign insult[s], members of the Blue Shirts Society should conduct in secret their activities in various provinces, xian, and cities, except for the central Guomindang headquarters and other political organs whose work must be executed in an official manner."^[8]
— Liu Jianqun (劉健羣)

Ideology and rhetoric

The Blue Shirts articulated a slogan of "Nationalize, Militarize, Productive."^[5]^: 64 Blue Shirt rhetoric stressed contempt for liberal democracy and the political usefulness of violence.^[5]^: 64 Blue Shirts favored a "permanent purge" of bureaucracy, and in their view a "mass violence organization" was necessary to achieve that purge.^[5]^: 64

Blue Shirt ideology was influenced by contact with the Nazi advisors to the KMT, such as Hermann Kriebel.^[5]^: 64 The organization was inspired by the German Brownshirts and the Italian Blackshirts, although unlike those organizations, the Blue Shirts were composed of political elites, not the popular masses.^[5]^: 64

Historians Paul Jackson and Cyprian Balmires, have classified the Blue Shirt Society as a ‘fascistic’ ultranationalist group rather than a ‘fascist’ group.^[1] Historian Jeffrey Crean notes that the Blue Shirts impacted only elite politics, not the vast majority of China's population.^[5]^: 64 According to historian Jay Taylor, the Blue Shirts hated the fascist Japanese and were fiercely anti-imperialists.^[2]

Whole New Culture Movement

Xiao Zuolin (肖作霖), a BSS member early on, drafted a plan called the Whole New Culture Movement and proposed the establishment of an organization called the Chinese Culture Academy to increase the BSS's influence in culture. Xiao got Deng Wenyi's support and carried out his plan by taking over several newspapers and journals, and by enrolling its members in universities. Its scheme of forging a movement for a new culture was adopted by Chiang, and on 19 February 1934, he announced the New Life Movement at a meeting in Nanchang. The plan involved reconstructing the moral system of the Chinese and welcoming a renaissance and reconstruction of Chinese national pride.

In connection with the New Life Movement, some Blue Shirts attacked what they deemed as symbols of Western decadence like dance halls and movie theaters.^[5]^: 65 Some threw acid on Chinese dressed in Western attire.^[5]^: 65

In March, Chiang issued guidance, consisting of 95 rules of the New Life Movement, being a mixture of Chinese traditions and western standards. It was a vast propaganda movement, with war mobilization and military maneuvers on a scale that China had never experienced before. But because the plan was so ambitious and rigid, and because its policies created too much inconvenience in the everyday lives of the people, it fell into disfavor. Nearly three years later in 1936, Chiang had to accept that his favorite movement had failed. Deng, Kang and Jiang Xiaoxian (蔣孝先), Chiang's nephew and bodyguard, also BSS members were appointed General Secretariats of the New Life Movement, with supervision of public lifestyles enforced by BSS cadres. By controlling the mouthpieces of the KMT, the BSS openly expressed advocacy of fascism in its publications.^[9]^{[neutrality is disputed]}^{[better source needed]}

With the New Culture Movement failed but still officially ongoing, the BSS spread its influence into the cultural centers of Shanghai and other major cities that used to be the CC Clique's power base.^[10]

Other

Blue Shirts supported Korean independence activist and left-wing nationalist Kim Won-bong-led Korean National Revolutionary Party.^[11]^[12]^[13] Among the Korean nationalists who worked for the Blue Shirts, the 'right wing' formed the White Shirts Society in southern Korea in 1945.^[14] The founder of White Shirts, Yeom Dong-jin also associated with other Blue Shirts members to join the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics of the National Revolutionary Army (Chinese: 國民政府軍事委員會調查統計局, aka. "Jungtong"), which performed the espionage, assassination and intelligence services for Chiang's Kuomintang regime.^[15]^[16]^[17]

Notes

^ There is generally consensus among scholars that the BSS was an extreme anti-communist and ultranationalist, but there are differences of opinion on whether BSS can be considered a 'fascist' organization.^[1]

References

General

Jung Byung Joon [ko] (1995), 몽양여운형평전 [Biography of Mongyang Lyuh Woon-hyung] (in Korean), 한울, ISBN 978-89-460-2229-4
Payne, Stanley G. (2001). A history of fascism, 1914-1945 (reprinted ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 337. ISBN 9781857285956.
Lestz, Michael; Cheng, Pei-kai (1994). Fascism in China 1925-1938: A Documentary Study. Pingtung, Taiwan: National Pingtung Normal University. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
Feng, Qihong (1998). 法西斯主義與三〇年代中國政治 [Fascism and Chinese Politics in the 1930s] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei, Taiwan: Department of History, National Chengchi University. ISBN 9789570210026.
Ding, San. Lanyishe suipian. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2003. ISBN 7-02-004232-5
Eastman, Lloyd E. The Abortive Revolution: China under Nationalist Rule, 1927-1937. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1974. ISBN 9780674001756.
Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. "A Revisionist View of the Nanjing Decade: Confucian Fascism." The China Quarterly 20, no. 150, Special Issue: Reappraising Republic China (1997): 395–432.
Chung, Dooeum. Élitist Fascism: Chiang Kaishek's Blueshirts in 1930's China. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2000. ISBN 9780754611660.
Zarrow, Peter (2005). China in war and revolution, 1895-1949. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 255–258. ISBN 9780415364478.

Specific

^ ^a ^b Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul (2006). World Fascism: A-K. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781576079409.
^ ^a ^b Jay Taylor, ed. (2022). The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China, With a New Postscript. Harvard University Press. p. 104. The Blue Shirts hated the fascist Japanese and were fiercely anti-imperialist—as, understandably, were most Chinese.
^ Wei, Ni (2003). "民族"想象与国家统制: 1929-1949年南京政府的文艺政策及文学运动 ["National" Imagination and State Control: The Nanjing Government's Literary Policy and Literary Movement, 1929-1949] (in Chinese (China)). Shanghai City: Shanghai Education Publishing Co. ISBN 978-7-5320-8663-4. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
^ Zhang, Qizhi; Chen, Zhenjiang; Jiang, Pei (2002). "Chapter 9: First Ten Years of the Nanjing National Government". 晚清民國史 [History of the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei, Taiwan: Wu-Nan Book Inc. ISBN 978-957-11-2898-6. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Crean, Jeffrey (2024). The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History. New Approaches to International History series. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-23394-2.
^ Hans J. Van de Ven (2003). War and nationalism in China, 1925-1945. Psychology Press. p. 165. ISBN 0-415-14571-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
^ Suisheng Zhao (1996). Power by design: constitution-making in Nationalist China. University of Hawaii Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-8248-1721-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
^ Frederic E. Wakeman (2003). Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese secret service. University of California Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-520-23407-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
^ Anthony James Gregor (2000). A place in the sun: Marxism and Fascism in China's long revolution. Westview Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-8133-3782-8.
^ Hung-mao Tien (1972). Government and politics in Kuomintang China, 1927-1937. Stanford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 0-8133-3782-8.
^ Ji-yun, Lee. "한국독립운동을 지원한 장제스와 쑹메이링" [Chiang Kai-shek and Song Mei-ling, who supported the Korean independence movement]. Independence Hall of Korea (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-10-17. 국민정부 조직부를 통한 임시정부 지원 ... 중국국민당의 준군사 조직이였던 삼민주의역행사의 황푸군관학교 출신 김원봉에 대한 지원이었다. [(Chiang Kai-shek) supported the Provisional Government (of the Republic of Korea) through the Nationalist Government Organization ... The Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People, a paramilitary organization of the Kuomintang, supported Kim Won-bong, a former Huangpu military school.]
^ "일제가 가장 무서워한 김원봉, 우린 왜 모르지?". OhmyNews (in Korean). 25 February 2008. Retrieved 2024-10-17. 김구 중심의 우파 민족주의 세력과 김원봉 중심의 좌파 민족주의 세력 [right-wing nationalist forces centered on Kim Gu and left-wing nationalist forces centered on Kim Won-bong]
^ "제 정당의 통합노력과 양대 정당체제의 성립". National Institute of Korean History (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-10-17. 민족혁명당은 중국국민 당정부와 긴밀한 관계를 이루면서 활동했다. 이 당은 장개석(蔣介石：장제스)이 이끄는 남의사(藍衣社 ; 중국국민당의 비밀특무기관)와 정보를 교환하고 재정과 무기의 원조를 받았다. [The (Korean) National Revolutionary Party had close ties with the KMT government. The party exchanged information with Chiang Kai-shek's Blue Shirts Society and received financial and weapons aid.]
^ Bae, Jin-yeong (October 2016), "치열하게 살다 안개처럼 사라져간 韓·中의 反共투사들" [The Korean and Chinese anti-communists who fought fiercely and disappeared like mist], Monthly Chosun (in Korean), The Chosun Ilbo, archived from the original on May 15, 2023, retrieved May 15, 2023
^ Jung 1995, pp. 486–488.
^ Fenby, Jonathan (2009). Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost. New York: Carrol & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-3984-4.
^ Yeh, Wen-hsin (1989). "Dai Li and the Liu Geqing Affair: Heroism in the Chinese Secret Service During the War of Resistance". The Journal of Asian Studies. 48 (3): 545–562. doi:10.2307/2058639. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 2058639. S2CID 154372685.

[2] There is generally consensus among scholars that the BSS was an extreme anti-communist and ultranationalist, but there are differences of opinion on whether BSS can be considered a 'fascist' organization.^[1]

[ultranationalist-1] Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul (2006). World Fascism: A-K. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781576079409.

[anti-imperialist-3] Jay Taylor, ed. (2022). The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China, With a New Postscript. Harvard University Press. p. 104. The Blue Shirts hated the fascist Japanese and were fiercely anti-imperialist—as, understandably, were most Chinese.

[4] Wei, Ni (2003). "民族"想象与国家统制: 1929-1949年南京政府的文艺政策及文学运动 ["National" Imagination and State Control: The Nanjing Government's Literary Policy and Literary Movement, 1929-1949] (in Chinese (China)). Shanghai City: Shanghai Education Publishing Co. ISBN 978-7-5320-8663-4. Retrieved 2024-09-30.

[5] Zhang, Qizhi; Chen, Zhenjiang; Jiang, Pei (2002). "Chapter 9: First Ten Years of the Nanjing National Government". 晚清民國史 [History of the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei, Taiwan: Wu-Nan Book Inc. ISBN 978-957-11-2898-6. Retrieved 2024-09-30.

[Crean-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Crean, Jeffrey (2024). The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History. New Approaches to International History series. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-23394-2.

[7] Hans J. Van de Ven (2003). War and nationalism in China, 1925-1945. Psychology Press. p. 165. ISBN 0-415-14571-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.

[8] Suisheng Zhao (1996). Power by design: constitution-making in Nationalist China. University of Hawaii Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-8248-1721-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.

[9] Frederic E. Wakeman (2003). Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese secret service. University of California Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-520-23407-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.

[10] Anthony James Gregor (2000). A place in the sun: Marxism and Fascism in China's long revolution. Westview Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-8133-3782-8.

[11] Hung-mao Tien (1972). Government and politics in Kuomintang China, 1927-1937. Stanford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 0-8133-3782-8.

[12] Ji-yun, Lee. "한국독립운동을 지원한 장제스와 쑹메이링" [Chiang Kai-shek and Song Mei-ling, who supported the Korean independence movement]. Independence Hall of Korea (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-10-17. 국민정부 조직부를 통한 임시정부 지원 ... 중국국민당의 준군사 조직이였던 삼민주의역행사의 황푸군관학교 출신 김원봉에 대한 지원이었다. [(Chiang Kai-shek) supported the Provisional Government (of the Republic of Korea) through the Nationalist Government Organization ... The Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People, a paramilitary organization of the Kuomintang, supported Kim Won-bong, a former Huangpu military school.]

[13] "일제가 가장 무서워한 김원봉, 우린 왜 모르지?". OhmyNews (in Korean). 25 February 2008. Retrieved 2024-10-17. 김구 중심의 우파 민족주의 세력과 김원봉 중심의 좌파 민족주의 세력 [right-wing nationalist forces centered on Kim Gu and left-wing nationalist forces centered on Kim Won-bong]

[14] "제 정당의 통합노력과 양대 정당체제의 성립". National Institute of Korean History (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-10-17. 민족혁명당은 중국국민 당정부와 긴밀한 관계를 이루면서 활동했다. 이 당은 장개석(蔣介石：장제스)이 이끄는 남의사(藍衣社 ; 중국국민당의 비밀특무기관)와 정보를 교환하고 재정과 무기의 원조를 받았다. [The (Korean) National Revolutionary Party had close ties with the KMT government. The party exchanged information with Chiang Kai-shek's Blue Shirts Society and received financial and weapons aid.]

[Bae_2016-15] Bae, Jin-yeong (October 2016), "치열하게 살다 안개처럼 사라져간 韓·中의 反共투사들" [The Korean and Chinese anti-communists who fought fiercely and disappeared like mist], Monthly Chosun (in Korean), The Chosun Ilbo, archived from the original on May 15, 2023, retrieved May 15, 2023

[FOOTNOTEJung1995486–488-16] Jung 1995, pp. 486–488.

[17] Fenby, Jonathan (2009). Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost. New York: Carrol & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-3984-4.

[18] Yeh, Wen-hsin (1989). "Dai Li and the Liu Geqing Affair: Heroism in the Chinese Secret Service During the War of Resistance". The Journal of Asian Studies. 48 (3): 545–562. doi:10.2307/2058639. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 2058639. S2CID 154372685.

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Notes: Acting leaders italicised ; By-elections denoted with (b)

Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People 三民主義力行社 Sānmínzhǔyì lìxíng shè

Ideology	Chinese ultranationalism^[a] Three Principles of the People Anti-communism Anti-imperialism^[2] Pro-Chiang Kai-shek
Colours	Blue
Part of	Kuomintang