Pet Shop Boys - a new life, 1987

"the lyrics of "A New Life" easily lend themselves to an alternative interpretation involving Chinese history. In 1930s the Chinese Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-shek instituted "The New Life Movement," which sought to unite China and overcome foreign cultural infuences (including European colonialism, Japanese militarism, and Marxism) through a Chinese tradition-oriented, highly moralistic "neo-Confucianism." Unfortunately, its zealous and often brutal enforcement was oppressive and even fascistic in nature. As a result, it proved extremely unpopular with most of the Chinese citizenry. My site visitor believes that more than just the song's title points toward a possible connection, citing the following lines from the lyrics: 'Stars collect overhead They look down over China and I might as well be dead' Could it be the song specifically mentions China because its narrator lives there during the 1930s and longs to escape from its oppression? In this way, the references to "a new life" might be rather ironic in nature as the narrator wants to escape to a better new life away from "The New Life Movement." Further, the line "It's time to make a move though you don't sympathise" may suggest the narrator's wish to leave behind an ideology with which he or she disagrees."