"People's habits may seem stubborn, but in fact they are not that unbreakable." Dong Shuheng continued.
"President, what you said makes sense, but where should we start? I believe you will not use the knife on the people because of this matter." Zeng Xianfeng joked, knowing that Dong Shuheng must have a way.
In the Huaihai Navy, Dong Shuheng usually took the initiative on these strange problems. Lao Zeng felt that Dong Shuheng was a genius.
"Okay, Old Zeng, you kicked the ball to me again." Dong Shuheng said with a smile, and everyone also laughed.
"I think this problem cannot be solved in isolation. If we directly issue a "Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law", it will definitely be difficult to be accepted by the people, and even women themselves may not appreciate it."
"Actually, there are still many stubborn ills in our society that need to be corrected. Why don't we get together and carry out a major rectification? Just like the special rectification carried out within the entire Huaihai Navy last year."
"So I am thinking about launching a 'New Life Movement' this time. Starting from the lives of ordinary people, we will fundamentally and subtly make changes."
"President, the name 'New Life Movement' is well chosen so that people can understand it at once. In addition, it also allows people to know that what they want to change is their old life, giving people a feeling of a new atmosphere.
." Zeng Xianfeng interjected.
He did not mean to flatter Dong Shuheng, but the term "New Life Movement" proposed by Dong Shuheng was quite in line with his wishes.
"Old Zeng, now that you've said it, I'll continue. I plan to advance this New Life Movement in several steps. The first step is propaganda. Our military government propaganda departments at all levels and various newspapers must launch it.
We must use all the propaganda methods at hand and develop new propaganda methods.”
"For example, write various easy-to-understand propaganda slogans and write them in all conspicuous locations in some villages, towns and cities, so that ordinary people can see them every day. This method is simple, but the effect is very good."
"Another example is organizing a propaganda team to go to various villages, farms, and towns to preach directly to the people."
…
"I'm just making an analogy. We can brainstorm specific methods. Anyway, the goal is to let everyone know our policies."
"The second step is to legislate. Propaganda is just to let people know the truth. Legislation is to make these things legal and can also act as a deterrent."
"In terms of legislation, I hope that our military government's legal department, courts and law schools can work together."
Dong Shuheng looked at the people involved in the legislation and said: "You can't make things behind closed doors. This law is enacted for the common people to abide by. Therefore, before enacting the law, we must first visit and investigate. The main thing is to understand the original practices of the common people.
What? You need to find out how much the laws you enact conflict with the original habits of the people. This is related to whether these laws can be actually implemented."
"Finally, the drafted law needs to be heard by representative people from all walks of life to listen to everyone's opinions and see if this law is close to reality. Should we continue to revise it?"
The legal department, court directors and law school teachers who were working there all nodded in agreement.
Some of them are professionals and know the ways of legislation, but they have to admire Dong Shuheng's comprehensive consideration. The process set up by Dong Shuheng gave them a brand new legislative idea.
What Dong Shuheng said is completely the model of modern legislation of later generations. No country has done this in this era.
In 1854, not to mention the Manchus, even some Western powers followed an elite route in legislation. In other words, legislation was only a matter for a small group of upper-class elites. Who would verify the opinions of the people?
"The last step is to implement it. This is a matter for your various departments and the grassroots government. The military government headquarters here must make the 'New Life Movement' an annual assessment of the grassroots military government. There will be rewards and punishments, so that everyone can
It’s the motivation to do things!”
…
"Let's talk about what the New Culture Movement includes. I'll give you an example. People from all ministries are here today, and everyone will have to add more later. In particular, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has the heaviest task."
"Since it is the 'New Life Movement', I think it must be related to people's lives."
"The heads of various ministries are also here today. I'll give you a start, and you can add more later. I gave a rough thought and concluded that the 'New Life Movement' should be carried out from the following aspects."
"In terms of hygiene, wash your hands frequently, drink boiled water, be hygienic, don't spit everywhere, don't litter, set up health supervisors in various places, formulate health regulations, and punish violators. Improve medical and health facilities in all places, and set up a set up in each county
A general hospital and a clinic in each town. Encourage people to go to the hospital when they are sick. Pilot medical insurance in factories..."
"Residents under Huai Haijun's rule were allowed to cut off their braids for work and life needs, and everyone was encouraged to keep their hair short and wear new work clothes."
Regarding the matter of braids, Dong Shuheng finally made a decision, but he was not going to force everyone to cut off their braids. Huai Haijun only advocated that everyone cut off their braids. The reason was because of work needs. This was only for specific groups of people, such as the military.
,Worker……
Dong Shuheng really couldn't stand the turbans all over the streets. And he didn't want his soldiers to wear turbans under their helmets in the future.
Previously, Dong Shuheng was worried that cutting off his braids would affect the people under his rule from going to other places. This was not a problem, as long as those who often went to areas controlled by the Qing army did not cut off their braids, or at worst, wore fake braids.
"As for braids, we need to publicize them mainly from the perspective of hygiene and convenience. We are not asking people to cut braids to fight against the Qing Dynasty. There is no need. To put it bluntly, braids are just a hairstyle. Whether you keep them or not is up to you.
freedom of."
"But I want to make a request here. The army must cut off their braids. This is for combat needs. I will take the lead in cutting them off first when we get back."
When it came to the issue of braids, the people below, especially the older ones, frowned. They felt that Dong Shuheng's step of boasting was a bit too sudden.
"Old Zeng, I know you are a little worried. Please relax. This matter will not cause any trouble. We are not forcing it, we are just advocating it. This section will be placed under the health section of the 'New Life Movement' and will be managed by the health department.
Let the epidemic prevention department publicize it.”
"In fact, most ordinary people don't have time to take care of their braids. Fleas can easily breed in braids and can spread many diseases. This must be made clear to the people."
"Some people may say that the hair and skin of the body are inherited from the parents, so they cannot be cut. This is even more unreasonable. The traditional hair growth of Han people is to grow the whole hair, and those who have braids should not shave off the hair on the forehead.
What’s the difference between shaving half of it and shaving it all?”
Everyone nodded, and Zeng Xianfeng took the lead to express his position: "I think the president's proposal is feasible. We are not afraid of the Qing court causing trouble, so there won't be much resistance to the matter of cutting pigtails, except for some old die-hards among the people who have some opinions.
"
"Okay, then it's settled." Dong Shuheng finally said.
Dong Shuheng breathed a long sigh of relief when he could finally cut off his braids. However, he had to go bald for a while and wait for new hair to grow before he could wear a new hairstyle.
…
“Let’s talk about culture next, advocating the learning of new culture, compiling unified textbooks, promoting pinyin and simplified Chinese characters, piloting compulsory education in primary schools, and gradually popularizing new schools in the jurisdiction of Huaihai Haijun. One normal school will be established in Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Xuzhou.
To train primary and secondary school teachers.”
"In terms of family life, we advocate women's independence. Women have the right to participate in labor and can control their own labor income. Women must take maternity leave when giving birth to children, and both husband and wife have the obligation to raise children. The age of marriage for men and women must not be earlier than 16 years old, nor later.
Individuals who are 25 years old, unmarried and do not accept introductions from the government’s civil affairs department will be fined half of their annual income every year.”
…
When Dong Shuheng said this, he looked at everyone sitting here. He only said part of it, and he still relied on his subordinates to supplement the rest.
"President, just the legislation you just mentioned involves three aspects: education, health, and family relations. If we enact it at once, won't it be too much?" The first person to ask the question was the Minister of Justice.
"Okay, let me answer your question first. There is indeed a lot of legislation involved this time, but most of it is policy legislation. Their function is to coordinate the implementation of policies, so it doesn't matter if there are more."
"For example, the "Compulsory Education Law" that I mentioned above involves compulsory education, the "Health Law" that involves health work, the "Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law" that involves women's rights, etc. These laws only solidify our policies.
That’s all.”
"President, what's the pinyin or simplified Chinese character you're talking about?" This question came from the Minister of Education.
"Oh, Pinyin is a symbol that allows people to quickly learn the pronunciation of Chinese characters. It consists of initial consonants and finals. It can mark the pronunciation of all current Chinese characters through matching. The so-called simplified characters are the simplified Chinese characters."
"What we will do in the future is to popularize education. If we want ordinary people to be able to read quickly, we can no longer use the original enlightenment education methods." Dong Shuheng explained.
"As for the pinyin and simplified Chinese characters, I have asked the Academy's School of Literature to sort them out a long time ago. I believe they will be published soon."
In fact, Dong Shuheng has already told the School of Liberal Arts most of the content. They just need to improve the things Dong Shuheng has compiled. Therefore, Dong Shuheng is confident that he can take out these things quickly.
"Everyone, this 'New Life Movement' is not a matter of any one department, but a matter of the entire Huaihai Navy. It requires close cooperation from all departments."
"Old Zeng, when you go back, ask each department to submit a list of responsibilities. Everyone should think about what needs to be improved in the work they are responsible for. This can be combined with the New Life Movement."
"Each department must think clearly about two things. What matters does this department need to be included in the New Life Movement? The other thing is what responsibilities does this department have to bear in this New Life Movement?"
"Especially in terms of publicity, local governments and all departments must work together to make publicity reach the entrance of the village and be in the eyes and ears of the people."
"The propaganda department can also organize some performance teams and find the original troupes to rehearse some programs to promote the New Life Movement and perform them. This will make it easier for the people to accept it."