Time flies so fast, the year is coming to an end again, and it's going to be the New Year soon. When it comes to the New Year, it is a national celebration, and most of the posts are on holiday with their families. However, in the Republic of China period, which is not far from now, the New Year is completely different from now.
In the early years of the Republic of China, whether it is Chinese New Year's Eve or the first day of the Lunar New Year, all government agencies must work normally. When Chinese New Year's Eve, call the civil servant who is working to greet him, this is not a prank, if you find that a civil servant is not on the job, he really wants to be laid off.
Lao She worked as the principal of a primary school in Beijing in the early years of the Republic of China. During the Spring Festival, the school as usual, the New Year's Day, he can only take two hours to go home to visit, the mother saw him come back, thought he could accompany her for the New Year, who knew that Lao She said that he had to rush back to school after a while, the mother was stunned, sighed and said: "Let's go, boy!" Although Lao She was sad in his heart, he still had to rush back to school.
On the way, he saw the street so lively, remembered his mother's home so deserted, and tears covered his eyes. This experience was recorded in his article "My Mother". As the head of a school, he also did not have the right to declare the Spring Festival holiday, because this was a mandatory regulation of the Beiyang government, and even the Ministry of Education did not dare to make an exception.
With the founding of the Republic of China, the old calendar was regarded as feudal dross.? Stepping on a foot on traditional festivals and entering the revolutionary era does not need such waste as the lunar calendar. This is the picture depicted in the cartoon in Hunan's "National Daily" on February 10, 1929.
On January 1, 1912, after Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the provisional president in Nanjing, he officially telegraphed the provinces: "The Republic of China has switched to the solar calendar, and November 13, 4609 A.D. in the Yellow Emperor's era is the New Year's Day of the First Year of the Republic of China." "Sun Yat-sen introduced the Western calendar, changed the traditional Zhengshuo, took the Gregorian calendar as the standard year, and set January 1, 1912 as the New Year's Day of the first year of the Republic of China. On January 13, Sun Yat-sen issued the Decree of the Provisional President on promulgating the Almanac, ordering the Ministry of the Interior to compile and print a new almanac.
After Yuan Shikai became the interim president, he continued to implement the new calendar. Although the government vigorously implemented the new calendar, it also took into account the needs of the people's lives, and the old calendar was attached to the new calendar. Since then, the Gregorian New Year has been called New Year's Day, and the Lunar New Year has been called the Spring Festival. This title is still in use today.
At the beginning of the Republic of China, Vientiane was renewed. The "braid cut" that is still talked about today is a symbol of removing the old cloth and replacing the new. In fact, in terms of clothing, titles, habits, etc., the government is trying to "connect with the international standards.". Naturally, the traditional calendar, like the braids, was seen as feudal. Vigorously advocate the new calendar, the government must be the first to set an example, so at this time, as long as you work in the government department, the Spring Festival will not want to take a break, the festival that belongs to the New Year will be given to the New Year's Day. Therefore, there is a scene of Lao She tearfully bidding farewell to the old mother mentioned above.
Although the government vigorously advocates, but the people do not seem to buy it, the Gregorian New Year, only the government agencies pay homage to each other, the people are cold and cold, while the Spring Festival is lively, many businessmen also close their doors during the Spring Festival and post the traditional Spring Festival. Of course, there are also some radical revolutionary youths who oppose the Spring Festival, and in Changsha, some people have put white notes on the doors of some merchants with closed doors pasted in the old years of the Spring Festival.
However, such extreme examples are still a minority, and the folk Spring Festival is still prosperous and lively. The new calendar is also in a very awkward position in the folk. The daily life of society still follows the lunar calendar. The military and government agencies and schools are "superficially able to comply with the new calendar." General social life, such as commercial settlement and wage payment, follows the old calendar.
With the ruling ability of the Beiyang government at that time, it was not possible to play a game of chess in all parts of the country. The diary of Wu Yu, a famous scholar of the early Minchu Dynasty, wrote on New Year's Day in 1915 that "hang the national flag and fly to celebrate the New Year." However, on February 13 of this year, the Chinese New Year's Eve of the lunar calendar, Wu Yu "drank with Xiangzu, Changqian, and Kai and Huan girls to finish this year." This shows that he still regards the lunar calendar Chinese New Year's Eve as the end of the year. That night, the "sound of firecrackers did not stop" in the city, and the next day was the first day of the Chinese New Year, Wu Yu "let people hold the film and Pay Respects to Mrs. Shaojing". It can be seen that he has spent two years, why is he not afraid of being punished? Because Wu Yu was in Sichuan, which was in a semi-divided state, he was naturally not afraid.
By 1918, the Beiyang government also felt that such a reform that went against the will of the people was not desirable, and the Spring Festival finally began to allow holidays.
In 1928, Zhang Xueliang changed his northeast and China achieved nominal unification. The national government after reunification obviously failed to learn the lessons of the Beiyang government, not only reiterating that the Spring Festival holiday was not allowed, but also deciding to end the parallel two calendars and completely abolish the old calendar to show its determination to "revolutionize". The National Government believes that the coexistence of the old and new calendars will "ridicule the nations", "resist the national system", and "be extremely contrary to the purpose of our revolution".
In May 1928, the Ministry of the Interior of the National Government put forward the "Case for the Abolition of the Old Calendar and the Use of the National Calendar", which proposed that the measures were very severe, and it was strictly forbidden to privately sell the old calendar, the new and old calendars. In terms of holidays, all organs, schools, and organizations are strictly ordered to "do not allow holidays in accordance with customs except for the provisions of the national calendar." The traditional calendar thus became a forbidden "abolished calendar". In the Spring Festival of 1929, if someone shouted "Happy Spring Festival" and "Wishing you prosperity" on the street, they would be regarded as reactionaries.
In order to cooperate with the new calendar, in 1931, the Ministry of Education promulgated the "Amendment to the Regulations on School Semesters and Holiday Days", in which the winter vacation was unified from January 18 to January 31. Such holiday regulations are completely based on the new calendar, so it is difficult to guarantee that the Spring Festival will coincide with the winter vacation. This kind of "pit daddy" holiday method, not only the students will complain bitterly, but even the teachers will complain.
The Spring Festival of 1934 was February 14, and an issue called "School Life" published a small poem written by students: "Today is the 'The NewYearsday' of the abolished calendar. But the 'boss' still called us at school Study, and I remembered how sorry it was. On February 13, Ji Xianlin, who was studying at Tsinghua University, wrote in his diary: "Tomorrow is the first day of the old Chinese New Year, and tonight is the Chinese New Year's Eve." I think I still have a head of feudal ideas. I have always been a champion of the New Year, especially the old calendar year, because it reminds me of the beautiful and poetic New Year's life in my childhood. ”
At that time, a newspaper commented: "The solar calendar sphere of influence unifies the desk calendar of various organs. However, the lunar calendar, although people do not have a large number of books, is firmly remembered. These two families of yin and yang have their own spheres of influence and rule across the borders, this is the yin-yang calendar, you live your year, I live my year. On January 2, 1930, the Kuomintang's "Shanghai Party Voice New Year's Day Special Issue" published "The Work of Implementing the National Calendar to Abolish the Old Calendar", which also acknowledged that it was difficult to implement the solar calendar, and that "customs are inherited, and it is difficult to return to the accumulation of heavy burdens."
In view of this, at the beginning of 1934, the National Government in Nanjing stopped the compulsory abolition of the lunar calendar, and had to admit that "for the old calendar year, except for public service organs, folk customs should not be too interfered with." Folk can justifiably celebrate the Lunar New Year again. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, people found that the traditional Spring Festival, which was once claimed to be abolished, could play a role in strengthening the cohesion of families, society and the country. Since then, the Lunar Spring Festival has been more lively than the Solar Spring Festival, both nominally and in fact.