Blue Shirts Society
Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People 三民主義力行社 Sānmínzhǔyì lìxíng shè | |
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| Leader | Chiang Kai Shek |
| Succeeded by | Tsotanhui Clique |
| Youth wing | Three Principles of the People Youth Corps |
| Ideology | Chinese ultranationalism Three Principles of the People Anti-communism Anti-imperialism Conservatism (Chinese) Pro–Chiang Kai-shek |
| Colours | Blue |
| Part of | Kuomintang |
| Blue Shirts Society | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 藍衣社 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 蓝衣社 | ||||||||||
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| Part of a series on |
| Conservatism in China |
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The Blue Shirts Society (BSS; Chinese: 藍衣社) was a secret ultranationalist faction in the Kuomintang. While it is often described as being inspired by German and Italian fascists, its ideological classification remains a subject of academic debate.
The Blue Shirts Society, which was primarily composed of military officers, and the CC Clique, which was dominated by civilian bureaucrats, remained engaged in an intense factional struggle within the Kuomintang. In 1938, with the creation of the Three Principles of the People Youth Corps as an organization operating outside of direct party control, Chiang Kai-shek placed the Corps largely under the influence of the Blue Shirts Society. This shift allowed the Blue Shirts to expand their political role at the expense of the CC Clique. In the aftermath of the Second World War, many leading figures of the Blue Shirts Society, such as Kang Tse, Liu Chien-chun, and Ni Wen-ya, were incorporated into the faction led by Chen Cheng, commonly known as the Tsotanhui Clique.
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 1949 proclamation of the People's Republic of China and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan.