Study On The Extravagance And Frugality Thought Of "Shen Bao"(1912-1927)

The Chinese society in the early period of the Republic of China was facing profound changes,and the development and changes of the real society objectively promoted the modern evolution of traditional Chinese ideas of luxury and frugality.At that time,public opinion paid a high degree of attention to this,and the performance of "Shen Bao" was particularly prominent.It publishes a series of news reports,theories and comments concerning luxury and frugality,and initially forms a discourse system with its own characteristics that explains the essence of luxury and frugality and its social effects.Specifically,it mainly includes a new theoretical interpretation of traditional luxury and frugality and the active thinking and exploration of modern luxury and frugality in political construction,economic development,moral culture construction,and social customs cultivation.In terms of its theoretical interpretation,the "Shen Bao" first put forward the judgment methods of morality,economy,and comprehensiveness around the criteria of luxury and thrift.Secondly,it endows the concept of luxury and thrift with a new era connotation,interprets luxury in the era,and thinks dialectically about thrift,and strives to rationally interpret the relationship between luxury and thrift in the new era.Not only that,"Shen Bao" also made a tentative discussion on how modern luxury and thrift ideas can be used to deepen social reforms.In terms of politics,it believes that the government’s practice of frugality during this period is not in place,and the phenomenon of complicated institutions,excessive staff and high military expenditures is very serious,and it needs to be further developed from two aspects of frugality to increase efficiency and frugality to nurture morality.And perfect the role of thrifty and political governance.At the same time,it is advocated to use the power of public opinion to encourage people to practice thrift and promote the concrete construction of a good government.At the economic level,in response to the country’s economic dilemma,it clearly emphasizes the rational use of the positive values of thrift and luxury to promote economic development.In its view,the idea of luxury and frugality is closely related to economic development,and the rational use of them is bound to produce positive effects,and more detailed arguments have been made on this.The value of insurance to develop the economy.In the construction of moral culture,it deeply criticized the phenomenon of moral degradation in the existing society,denounced that extravagance is its outstanding performance,emphasized that thrift is the foundation of various virtues,and required the use of thrifty virtue to cultivate the ideal personality of the people.At the same time,it also realizes that luxury embodies the objective needs of human desire and production to a certain extent,and advocates rational treatment of the value and function of luxury.In the process of cultivating social customs,in the face of the prevalence of extravagance affecting the evolution of social customs,"Shen Bao" actively explained the value of rational and thrifty consumption based on the idea of abiding by thrift in daily life,and listed the practice of thrifty and improved customs.It can be said that from theoretical interpretation to practical thinking,"Shen Bao" has made a more comprehensive and systematic discussion on the modernization of luxury and frugality.In terms of historical development,the early period of the Republic of China was an important link in the development of modern Chinese society.As an important part of modern Chinese thoughts,the modern thoughts on luxury and frugality shown in the "Shen Bao" are not only the continuation and development of related thoughts since the Ming and Qing Dynasties,but also have distinctive characteristics of the times.The above,fused the essence of Chinese and Western ideology and culture,and gradually formed a self-contained ideology,showing a strong modern patriotism,enriching the connotation of modern Chinese moral concepts,and highlighting the advancement of Chinese traditional luxury and thrift with the times.It has a great ideological promotion effect on the development of modern Chinese society.