Chairman Mao once commented that he was "a great fighter in the academic circles and a model for the world" and could deserve these eight words of praise; it is hard for us to imagine how much that person made to China's cultural circles, but it is undeniable that there was indeed such a person in China at that time, and he single-handedly enabled China's education not to lag behind the West in such a turbulent era, and even the reason why China was able to move forward in the throes was even more inseparable from his educational influence. So who is this person? What exactly did he do that makes us think of it today with admiration?
Cai Yuanpei, this person's name may not be, Lu Xun, Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi and other people's names are loud, but he with his own "stubborn force", so that Peking University has become a famous school at home and abroad, and it is he who has influenced generations of Peking University students, so that whether they are exploring the way out of China or when building a new China, they can fight hard, fearlessly, and bravely move forward. What exactly did Cai Yuanpei do at Peking University? This has to fill people with curiosity.
In the Opium War, the British opened the door of China with guns and cannons, and while bringing a lot of Western toys, they also brought advanced Ideas from the West, but the weak Qing government, in the face of the insults of foreigners, did not choose to resist, but to seek peace, and vainly wanted to open a hypocritical flower of peace on the decadent feudal rule. At the beginning of its establishment, it was under the banner of cultivating "new talents" for the imperial court, and of course, a number of figures who were leading the trend at that time emerged, such as Yan Fu and Zhan Tianyou. However, the world changed, the Qing government was in a state of turmoil, Empress Dowager Cixi had no time to take care of anything else, and at this time she was planning how to overthrow the Penghu Reform Law launched by Liang Qichao and others, in an attempt to firmly grasp the power in her own hands, under the suppression of the conservative faction, the vigorous restoration movement soon failed. The greatest luck among the misfortunes was that the Lafayette who was obedient to the government did not have a killer for the place that was a higher education institution at that time, and the Kyoshi University Hall was a killer. But even so, the Beijing Normal University Hall was still damaged by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and it was stopped for two years.
After the end of the war, Kyoshi University Hall struggled in the stormy era. In this school that was called the authentic school of Taixue at that time, most of the students were the children of officials and eunuchs, who went to school with retinues, servants, and unprecedented style, and even these students were called laoshi in school, and the teachers who taught these "masters" were officials who served in the official government, they were both teachers and officials, which was somewhat similar to the Western Zhou Dynasty's "learning in the official government, the integration of politics and religion". These stupid children only need to mix in the school for a few days, you can get an official position, do not need to make efforts, and the teacher will only cling to the students, those with deep family background and extensive connections, you can imagine how bad the school spirit of the Beijing Normal University Hall was at that time, even if there were several changes in the principal, it was useless, it was impossible to change this situation, so in the eyes of the people at that time, the Beijing Normal University Hall had already become a bureaucratic institution, and it was a place where officials colluded with each other to hide dirt and dirt. Not a school at all. This situation continued even after the fall of the Qing government and the renaming of Peking University, even in the early republic of China.
And what was Cai Yuanpei doing at this time? He was the director of education of the Provisional Government of Nanjing at the time, and without even a simple office, he promulgated the "Interim Measures for General Education" and formulated a far-reaching modern education system in China, which also laid the theoretical foundation for his drastic reform of Peking University. However, the situation was turbulent at that time, Yuan Shikai was dictatorial, and Cai Yuanpei, who was straight, knew that continuing to stay in office would not be able to realize his educational ideals, so he resolutely resigned. Four years later, on December 26, 1916, Cai Yuanpei was appointed president of Peking University. Thus, he opened the prelude to the reform of Peking University.
The hope of the country lies in the young people, the hope of the young people lies in education, as an educator Cai Yuanpei knows this truth well, so at the beginning of his succession, although his good friends advised him many times not to jump into the fire pit of Peking University, otherwise the famous name of the world will be destroyed, but Cai Gong, who embraces the ideal of education and national salvation, is still "stubborn" and goes north. At the moment he entered Peking University, his low-key humility was deeply imprinted in the hearts of Peking University students. The new headmaster had no servants, no brocade dress, no cars to walk in, and some were just a suit that was washed a little white, an old top hat, standing in the auditorium and delivering his inaugural speech, and the content of this speech was even more blood-boiling after hearing it. "The princes must come here with a purpose, they come to study, and those who study business are not for personal prosperity, and those who study law are not for the purpose of becoming high officials..." Even today, it still sounds like Cai Gong's good intentions, not for the reputation of Peking University, but simply for China's education in the cheers, for xinxin students in the direction of progress.
Cai Yuanpei, who once taught at Peking University, knew that the key to peking's urgent reform was to change the study style first, so soon after he took office, he actively hired scholars who were enthusiastic and enthusiastic about academic research to teach at Peking University. The most well-known is to invite Chen Duxiu, the initiator of the New Culture Movement, to Peking University as the dean of liberal arts. There is also a touching little story about Cai Gongyan inviting Chen Duxiu to teach at Peking University, Chen Duxiu originally founded the "Youth Magazine" in Shanghai, but came to Beiping in order to raise funds to run a newspaper, he was already a figure revered by young people at that time, and he was quite knowledgeable, so when Cai Yuanpei heard that he had arrived in Beiping, he hurried to the hotel where he was staying to please, did not expect that Chen Duxiu was sleeping at this time, Cai Gong waited for several hours in the snow outside the door in order not to disturb his rest, And in order to be able to invite Chen Duxiu to teach, he also promised to make Peking University the forefront of the propaganda of "New Youth" magazine, and Chen Duxiu saw that Cai Gong was so sincere, so he decided to move "Youth Magazine" to Beijing and change its name to "New Youth", and came to Peking University in just ten days to take office.
It has to be said that the arrival of Chen Duxiu has brought a new vitality to Peking University, and under his inspiration, Hu Shi, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Shen Yinmo and other young scholars who have received advanced Western educational ideas have joined Peking University. At that time, Peking University not only had a group of advanced intellectuals like Hu Shi who had returned from studying abroad, but also traditional Chinese literati, such as Gu Hongming and Liu Shipei, who were known as "eccentrics". But the accompanying dispute between new and old teachers also inevitably appeared, in order to avoid this situation, Cai Yuanpei timely put forward "freedom of thought, inclusive", this measure once implemented immediately made Peking University a fertile land for research and scholarship at that time, students can learn from the new teachers of advanced Western ideas and science and technology, but also from the old-fashioned teachers to learn the essence of China's own culture, such a collision of ideas for the dark society at that time brought forward the light of progress, For the suffering Of China, many outstanding talents have been trained to save the country.
But unfortunately, at that time, when the warlords were divided, the great powers were humiliated, and the people were not happy, Cai Yuanpei's ideal of education and national salvation was shattered. After the end of World War I, China participated in the Paris Peace Conference as a victorious power, but the government at that time was weak and oppressive, and even accepted the shameless decision of other countries that Japan would take over all germany's privileges in Qingdao.
When the news of the defeat of the Paris Peace Conference reached China, it provoked a strong revolt among the Chinese, and on May 4, 1919, the May Fourth Movement, which had a profound impact on Chinese history, broke out. This is a patriotic movement against imperialism and feudalism, mainly among young students. Among the young students who marched, the majority of Peking University students were deeply influenced by Cai Gong's "five educations at the same time" educational ideology. They broke through the obstruction of the military and police, gathered in front of Tiananmen Square, and played a series of patriotic slogans such as "Fight to the death, return qingdao", "fight for sovereignty outside, punish the national thief at home", but the corrupt and incompetent government did not give these enthusiastic young people the answer they wanted, so when the parade went to Cao Rulin's house, these patriotic students could no longer bear the anger of being oppressed by the great powers but could not fight back, so they rushed into Cao's house and burned the Zhao family building.
The situation was further expanded, with military police coming forward to arrest 32 student representatives. When the news of the arrest of the peking university student representative reached Cai Gong's ears, the old principal was both relieved and anxious, so he contacted all parties to try to get the government to release the patriotic students, but the process was so tortuous that in the end Cai Gong could only submit his resignation to show his attitude. However, in the collective retention of the presidents of major universities and peking university students in Beijing, Cai Gong promised to be only the president of peking university students. Not long after, Cai Yuanpei felt that the corrupt and dark government could not realize his educational ideals, so he resigned resolutely.
Headmaster forever
The scholar who was called "the eternal principal" by the students of Peking University and let Dewey issue the feeling that "a principal can play a turning role in the nation and the times, except for Cai Yuanpei, can no longer find a second person" He used his life to interpret his ideal of education and national salvation.