Jilin Yuwen High School (), also known as Yuwen Middle School, is a high school in the Chinese city of

Jilin City Jilin City (), alternately romanized as Kirin, is the second-largest city and former capital of Jilin province in northeast China. As of the 2020 census, 3,623,713 people resided within its administrative area of and 1,895,865 in its buil ...

Jilin Province Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

. The school is situated next to the

Songhua River The Songhua Postal Romanization, or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, russian: Сунгари ''Sungari'') is one of the primary List of rivers of China, rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from the Chang ...

. The school was center of left-wing political thought during the 1920s. Among prominent alumni is

Kim Il Sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

, the first

leader of North Korea The supreme leader () of North Korea is the ''de facto'' paramount leader of the Workers' Party of Korea, the state and the Korean People's Army. The title has not been written into the national constitution as a separate office, but it currentl ...

. There is a museum, a schoolroom memorial and a statue dedicated to him at the school. There is also a slogan proclaiming Sino-Korean friendship on the roof.

History

The school was founded in 1917. The school was heavily influenced by left-wing ideology in the late 1920s, and was described as the most progressive in the city. Many prominent Chinese left-wing intellectuals have taught in the school, including

Guo Moruo Guo Moruo (; November 16, 1892 – June 12, 1978), courtesy name Dingtang (), was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official. Biography Family history Guo Moruo, originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born on November ...

and Shang Yue. In 1964

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

allowed the school to continue use the name "Yuwen". In 1978

officials approved Yuwen as the focus of the first run high school, and in 2003 the local government identified the school as a model high school. Since 2005 there has been an international cooperation program with Australia. There have also been recent cultural exchanges with schools from countries such as United States and Japan.

Kim Il-sung

North Korean president

attended the school for two and a half years starting from 1927. The school was described as the most progressive in the city of Jilin. Kim organized protests against "reactionary teachers" and Japanese-made goods in 1928. Kim was part of the South Manchurian Communist Youth Association there in 1929. Kim was arrested in the spring of 1929 and was consequentially expelled from the school. Kim Il Sung struggled to continue his studies in Yuwen High School. He had to live in a cheap dormitory owned by the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

, as recalled by his younger friend from the school. Kim survived from

his mother ''His Mother'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by Kalem Company. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Gene Gauntier and Jack J. Clark in the leading roles. It was one of more than a dozen films produced by the Kalem Company filmed in Ir ...

's modest earnings after his father died. Kim wrote in his memoirs that he tried to spare his only pair of shoes for school by walking barefoot. Kim also complained about the blatant nature of the class society of Jilin. There is a bronze statue of Kim Il Sung, portraying him in a guerrilla uniform, at the school grounds. A schoolroom where Kim Il Sung studied is retained as a memorial, and there is a modest museum at the school. Kim also studied in the Korean Huadian School (also known as Hwasong Middle School), which was also in Manchuria. When he chose to enroll in the Chinese-language Yuwen Middle School, he would have had other choices beyond Korean Huadian School, because there were other Korean language schools in Manchuria.

Visits by North Korean officials

Since 1964 the

Pyongyang Akinori school Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population ...

has been a

sister school A sister school is usually a pair of schools, usually single-sex school, one with female students and the other with male students. This relationship is seen to benefit both schools. For instance, when Harvard University was a male-only school, Rad ...

, and related visits have been received since then. A slogan on the roof of the building proclaims: "Long Live Sino-Korean Friendship". In September 2010, North Korean leader

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

made Yuwen Middle School his first stop during a trip to China. Kim stayed there for some 20 minutes. Only days later, upon his return, Kim pronounced his son

Kim Jong Un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's secon ...

as his successor. The visit to Yuwen associated with Kim Il Sung's youth thus became a political message of a young successor's viability.

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Choe Yong-rim Choe Yong-rim (, born 20 November 1930) is a North Korean politician who served as the Premier of North Korea from June 2010 to April 2013 and was a member of the 6th Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea.

visited the school, too, in November 2010. On 15 April 2014 around 400 to 500 North Koreans gathered at the school in honor of

Kim Il-sung's birthday The Day of the Sun () is an annual public holiday in North Korea on 15 April, the birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, founder and Eternal President of North Korea. It is the most important national holiday in the country, and is considered to be ...

. Volleyball and other sporting events were held on the same day in Jilin. No Chinese officials attended, but Chinese security was present. On 6 July 2014 officials from the DPRK's

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

consulate-general joined Chinese officials and Chinese-Koreans in a ceremony to lay floral baskets at Kim Il Sung's statue.

People

Former teachers

* * Ma Jun *

* Shang Yue

Alumni

Peng Huanwu Peng Huanwu (; October 6, 1915 – February 28, 2007) was a Chinese physicist. He was a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and a leader of Chinese nuclear weaponry projects. Life and career Peng was born in Changchun, Jilin Province; ...

Awards

*Teaching Quality and Improvement Award *Excellent Teaching Achievement Award

References

External links

*
Photo of the schoolPhotos
at

Naenara Naenara () is the official web portal of the North Korean government. It was the first website in North Korea, and was created in 1996. The portal's categories include politics, tourism, music, foreign trade, arts, press, information technology, ...

{{Authority control 1917 establishments in China Educational institutions established in 1917 Buildings and structures in Jilin High schools in Jilin Museums in Jilin Schools in China