Tao Xingzhi (; October 18, 1891 – July 25, 1946), was a renowned Chinese educator and reformer in the Republic of China mainland era. He studied at
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...
and returned to China to champion progressive education. His career in China as a liberal educator was not derivative of
John Dewey, as some have alleged, but creative and adaptive. He returned to China at a time when the American influence was zesty and self-confident, and his very name at that time (''zhixing'') meant "knowledge-action," reflecting the catch-phrase of the Neo-Confucian philosopher
Wang Yangming
Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese calligrapher, general, philosopher, politician, and writer during the Ming dynasty ...
which implied that once knowledge (''zhi'') had been obtained, then action (''xing'') would be easy.
Biography
![Hu Shih, John Dewey and others](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Hu_Shih%2C_John_Dewey_and_others.jpg)
Returning from study in the United States at
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, in 1917, he joined
Nanking Higher Normal School
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...
and then
National Southeastern University
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...
(later renamed
National Central University
National Central University (NCU, ; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Kwet-li̍p Chung-yong Thài-ho̍k'', Wade–Giles: ''Kuo2 Li4 Chung Yang Ta4 Hsüeh2'' or ''中大'', ''Chung-ta'') is a public research university with long-standing traditions based in Taiw ...
and
Nanking University
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...
), and he turned to "life education." He then also returned to his humble roots. "Originally," he wrote to his beloved younger sister, "I was a common Chinese, but gradually through ten years of life as a student, I developed a foreign, aristocratic tendency."
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
, the capital and center of modern/foreign China, he now found "vulgar, rushed, and crowded." Then "suddenly, like the Yellow River breaking its dikes..., I woke up
'juewu'', the Buddhist term for satorito the fact that I was being robbed of my Chineseness." He took to wearing a traditional scholar's gown, and turned to mass education. He then reversed his name to the more well-known form, ''xingzhi'', that is, "action-knowledge," directly implying that (Chinese) action/praxis will produce (Chinese) knowledge. He denounced "false intelligentsia" (''wei zhishi jieji'') for drawing on second hand, foreign experience of which they had no authentic knowledge.
![Hsu Chih-mo, Hu Shih, Wang Ching-wei and others](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Hsu_Chih-mo%2C_Hu_Shih%2C_Wang_Ching-wei_and_others.jpg)
In December 1921,
Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Pek ...
, Tao, and other educationists founded the
National Association for the Advancement of Education (Zhong-Hua jiaoyu gaijin hui) and he was elected as secretary-general. Through the society the educationists promoted the forming of modern education system in China.
In August 1923, Tao and
Y.C. James Yen organized the
National Association of Mass Education Movements (MEM). At the height of its literacy campaign in the 1920s, Yen estimated that the MEM had taught five million students with more than 100,000 volunteer teachers. Tao went on to become the nation's leading promoter of rural teacher's education. In March 1927, Tao founded the Xiaozhuang Normal College in Nanjing to train teachers and educators, who were then sent to staff rural schools that Tao was establishing in rural China. This teacher's college produced a number of innovative techniques such as the "little teacher model", which encouraged pupils to teach their family what had they had just learned in school, and the "each one teach one" technique of organized teaching networks. The school was closed in 1930 by the Nationalist government for political reasons.
[(Chinese]
"历史沿革" Official Website of Xiaozhuang University
Retrieved August 27, 2011
![Shexian 5195](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Shexian_5195.JPG)
In the 1930s Tao wrote children's literature, started the Life Education Association, and started a Work Study Movement. He was in the United States when war with Japan broke out in 1937, but returned to China, where he was made a member of the People's Political Council. In 1939, he moved to
Beibei
Beibei District () is a district in the Chongqing municipality, People's Republic of China. A satellite town in the north of central Chongqing, Beibei got its name because of the huge rock that extends to the middle of Jialing River, and is ...
, just outside Chongqing, to found the
Chongqing Yucai Middle School
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Co ...
(School for Nourishing Talent). Tao received monthly stipends from
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a warlord and a leader of the Republic of China from Chaohu, Anhui. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. He wa ...
and
Zhang Zhizhong
Zhang Zhizhong or Chang Chih-chung (27 October 1890 – 6 April 1969) was a Chinese military commander and politician, general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and later a pro-Communist politician in the People's Rep ...
, both fellow Anhui natives. A leader of one of the two CCP cells at Tao's school later recalled that Tao and his patron, Feng gave help to party workers when they were hunted by the secret police, and that Tao professed interest in
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
's "On New Democracy." One of the pupils at the school was
Li Peng
Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ch ...
, the adopted son of
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...
and future premier of China.
In 1946, after the Yucai School was harassed by the political police, he moved back to Shanghai. Fearing that he would meet the same fate as other intellectuals assassinated by right wing Nationalists, he worked frantically, leading to exhaustion and death.
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...
rushed to his home and called him a "non-Party Bolshevik." Tao's reputation was high for the next few years, but in the early 1950s he came under attack as a "bourgeois liberal." In the 1980s, the "Tao Xingzhi Study Society" was founded by Song Enrong, who edited a multivolume edition of Tao's writings.
Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal College
The Xiaozhuang Normal College, which Tao founded in 1927 and was closed due to political reasons in 1930, was reopened in 1951, after the founding of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, by
Wang Dazhi
Wang Dazhi (Chinese: 汪达之; Pinyin: Wāng Dázhī; April 21, 1903 – March 27, 1980) was a Chinese educator.
Biography
Wang Dazhi was born in Yi County, Anhui in 1903. He attended the Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal College, which was founde ...
, one of Tao's students and an alumnus of the college.
[敢于创新的人民教育家]
, ''China Education News'', July 19, 2003, Section 3. In 2000, the college became the Nanjing Xiaozhuang University.
[
]
See also
* Memorial of Tao Xingzhi
The Tao Xingzhi Memorial () is a memorial built in memory of the Chinese scholar Tao Xingzhi, located in Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coast ...
Notes
References
Further reading
* "T'ao Hsing-chih," in Howard Boorman, ed., ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970) III.243–248.
* Stacey Bieler, ''"Patriots" or "Traitors"? A History of American-Educated Chinese Students'' (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004).
* Yusheng Yao, "Rediscovering Tao Xingzhi as an Educational and Social Revolutionary," ''Twentieth Century China'' 27.2 (April 2002): 79–120.
* Yusheng Yao, "The Making of a National Hero: Tao Xingzhi's Legacies in the People's Republic of China," ''Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies'' 24.2 (July–September 2002): 251–281.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tao, Xingzhi
1891 births
1946 deaths
Educators from Anhui
National Central University faculty
Nanjing University faculty
Nanjing Normal University faculty
People from Huangshan
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni