What is Cai Yuanpei's life like?

Mr. Cai Yuanpei's great wish is that he wants to train talents for China all his life, and the road he takes all his life is to educate patriotism. His education does not forget patriotism, and patriotism does not forget education.

Cai Yuanpei was the most noble intellectual in modern China history. He has a great influence on education, scholarship, thought and even politics. He has done his duty as an intellectual all his life, and often tends to be innovative and enterprising. He has the power of pioneering and leading, and he is worthy of being a master.

without Cai Yuanpei, there would be no May 4th Movement. When it comes to the May 4th Movement, it will be associated with Cai Yuanpei. Without the students in Peking University advocating the agitation and promoting the cultural reform, there would be no May 4th Movement. Without President Peking University's enlightened and enterprising spirit and support for students' actions, there would be no May 4th Movement. At that time, the president of Peking University was Cai Yuanpei, and he was the first education chief of the Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911.

Cai Yuanpei's activities after he became the chief of education are relatively well known, but few people knew Cai Yuanpei before the Revolution of 1911. Undoubtedly, his contribution was mainly after entering the Republic of China. However, if we want to explore his cultural, ideological and political activities in the second half of his life, his ideological trend and political activities in the first half of his life can not be ignored. Cai Yuanpei is a successful and typical representative in the transitional period between the old and the new in modern China history.

Cai Yuanpei was born in Tongzhi for six years (1867). His hometown is Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and he is a fellow countryman of Lu Xun. Shaoxing is the well-known "master" origin. Shaoxing has a strong cultural atmosphere and is a place rich in literati. Cai Yuanpei's birth name is A Pei, and it was called Yuan Pei when he entered the school. My father is a manager of a money house, and the Cai family has been in business for generations. There are no people who have studied and graduated in their ancestors.

Cai Yuanpei entered the family school at the age of six, starting with Hundred Family Names and Thousand Characters, and finishing the Four Books and Five Classics. Later, the teacher taught him "eight-part essay", also known as "making art" or "current essay", as a way to cope with the imperial examination. In the third year of Guangxu (1877), Yuan Pei was eleven years old, and his father died. Because his father was generous and responsive, he was heavily in debt after his death, and his owner ordered him to pay compensation. Family friends wanted to raise money separately to help, but Yuan Pei's mother Zhou refused. It can be seen that Yuan Pei's generous nature is inherited by his father, but if he is careful and does not talk nonsense, he will be taught by his mothers.

during the three or four years from the age of fourteen to seventeen, Cai Yuanpei taught Wang Maoxiu, an old scholar in the same county. Under the influence of Mr. Wang, he admired Song Confucianism the most. During his schooling, in the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), Yuan Pei entered school at the age of seventeen to make up for the students (scholars), gave up "giving up his career", specialized in primary schools and Confucian classics, and studied extensively and freely, so he stopped studying at Wang Maoxiu's place. After leaving the private school, I set up a library to teach at home for two years, and went to Hangzhou to take the provincial examination (taking the exam), which was the first time. I stopped teaching at the age of 2 and studied at the home of fellow countryman Xu Shulan. Xujiajian has the "Guyue Library", which has a lot of books, so you can read extensively. He was inclined to exegesis and philosophy in learning and studying classics, while he was inclined to the biography of the scholars, the biography of wenyuan, and the history of arts and literature, which was also a popular method of studying at that time.

in the 15th year of Guangxu (1889), when he was twenty-three, Yuan Pei took part in the rural examination in Zhejiang and won a prize. The following year, he went to Beijing to take part in the examination, passed the examination, and became a Gong Shi. He had to pass palace examination to become a scholar, but Yuan Peiwei did not attend the undergraduate palace examination, and it took two years to become a scholar. Liang Qichao took the provincial examination in the same year as him, but he failed in Sun Shan. It can be seen that Cai Yuanpei was much smoother than Liang Qichao in the imperial examination. It turned out that the examiner Wang Haoyin appreciated his article and accepted him, so some people called Yuan Pei a "master of Artemisia". He is the 34th Jinshi in China Dimethyl, and Weng Tonghe, the examiner, appreciates him very much, praising him as "young, well-versed in classics, extremely ancient in literature and excellent in materials".

in the 19th year of Guangxu (1893), that is, the second year of Jinshi, at the age of twenty-seven, Cai Yuanpei was awarded the title of Jishi Shu of the Imperial Academy to take charge of compiling national history. The new Hanlin is qualified to write and sell money to the provinces. This is called "having a windfall". In July, Cai Yuanpei had a trip to the south, first staying in Guangzhou, and after winter, he went to his relatives' house in Chaozhou and lived in the Yuan distribution shop at No.1 Wenxian Street. Once wrote a couplet for the host, the couplet said, "Let's look at one thing with an empty mind, and be kind to others." This shows that Cai Yuanpei's attitude towards people has always been open-minded and kind to others.

in the following year, I will go to Beijing to take the "scattered library" exam. Because Jishi Shu has to take a screening test after a certain period of time, it is called "disbanding the museum", and those who are qualified are awarded editing, while those who are unqualified are appointed as the magistrate of a county. Cai Yuanpei successfully passed the examination of scattered libraries and was promoted to the editing of the Hanlin Academy. In June of the same year, the "Sino-Japanese War" broke out, and the capital suddenly became nervous. He signed his name together with Wen Tingshi on the memorial of the British, German and Japanese invaders. This year, he worked as a teacher in Li Ciming's Beijing residence for half a year. Li Ciming, a great litterateur, died in November, and Yuan Pei wrote his posthumous work "Diary of Yuemaotang" in Fu Zi.

At this time, the reform of Kang and Liang was in its heyday, and Cai Yuanpei's thought was biased towards reform. During the Reform Movement of 1898, he co-founded an "Oriental Literature Society" with friends to study Japanese. Learning Japanese is a shortcut to acquire foreign knowledge. Cai Yuanpei's early western knowledge was mainly obtained from Japanese books, except for some western books translated from Chinese.

At that time, people under Kang and Liang came one after another. He admired Tan Sitong the most, and had a relationship with Liang Qichao in the same year. It is expected that he would take the reform route with Kang and Liang. However, because of his personality, he was ashamed to be attached to hot people. Yang Rui, a reformist, tried to win over and was rejected by him. In September, the 1898 coup took place, and the conservatives controlled the whole situation. All the new policies of the 1-day reform, except the Jingshi University Hall, were overthrown in an instant.

Cai Yuanpei sympathized with the reformists. He deeply felt that the failure of the reform was "because he didn't train innovative talents first, but wanted to seize power with a few people and repel the stubborn old, so he couldn't help but see the situation." Although he was not a member of the Kang Party, he was arrested for sympathizing with the Reform and having close friends. It was inevitable that he was suspected of being a reformist and had to leave his post and return to the south. This is a turning point in Cai Yuanpei's life. He has seen that the Manchu government has no hope.

after Cai Yuanpei returned to the south, he worked as a school supervisor (principal) in a middle school called "Chinese and Western School" run by Shaoxing gentleman Xu Shulan. This is the beginning of Yuanpei's service to the new school. The school is divided into high schools, junior high schools and high schools. Subjects are divided into liberal arts, mathematics and science, and foreign languages are English, French and Japanese. Cai Yuanpei, Huang Zhongyu and their children's teachers were the first choice in Shaoxing at that time, and students were even more talented in the future. For example, Jiang Menglin, who later served as the president of Peking University, Cai Yuanpei's successor, and Wang Lie, a professor of geology at the school, were the primary school students of the First Zhai at that time; Ma Jiguang, Secretary of Academia Sinica, and Shen Guanglie, Zhejiang Education Department, are high flyers of the Third Jail.

In Chinese and Western schools, the opposition between the old and the new is obvious. Because Cai Yuanpei is too protective of the new school, the old school's directors sometimes put pressure on it. Finally, he resigned in anger to show his unwillingness to compromise with the old forces.

when Cai Yuanpei was still in charge of the Chinese and western schools, the original wife gave birth to his second son, named Wuji, but soon Wang died of postpartum disorder. Before the first anniversary, there were many people who asked for a second wife as a matchmaker. Yuan Pei put forward five conditions: first, women should not bind their feet; Second, you must be literate; Third, men do not marry concubines; Fourth, after the death of a man, a woman can remarry; 5. Couples can divorce if they don't agree.

It was considered natural for a man to marry a concubine at that time, while remarriage and divorce were shocking. From this incident alone, we can know how greatly Cai Yuanpei was influenced by the Reform Movement because he attached importance to equality between men and women and broke the bad habits of traditional society. Due to the harsh conditions, it is difficult to find a suitable woman for the second room after several matchmaking. A year later, I first visited Huang Zhongyu, the daughter of Huang Erxuan in Jiangxi Province. She was talented and talented, so she got married in Hangzhou.

Their wedding was unique in form and harmonious in congratulatory message. It was known that he advocated equality between men and women, and he deliberately said at the wedding banquet, "If Mrs. Huang's academic performance is higher than Mr. Cai's, then Mr. Cai should treat it as a teacher's courtesy, which is more than equality. If Mrs. Huang is not as good at learning as Mr. Cai, then Mr. Cai should regard it as a disciple. How can it be equal? " Cai Yuanpei replied: "Learning jargon has its own order, and people's motto is always equal." It was all agreed by the audience.

after Cai Yuanpei left Chinese and western schools, he still devoted himself to the cause of education. Between Gengzi and Xin Chou, that is, from 19 to 191, a primary school was set up for overseas Chinese farmers in Shaoxing. In Zhejiang province, he proposed to change a college into a normal school, but it was blocked by local gentry and the ruling party and failed. In the spring of this year, he transferred to Nanyang Public School as the general teacher of the special class.

Shanghai Nanyang Public School, the predecessor of Jiaotong University, was founded in the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897). It is divided into four parts: Normal College, Upper College, Intermediate Court and Outer Court, and the outer court is primary school. In the spring of the 27th year of Guangxu (191), a "special class" was set up. Forty-two scholars and juren who were studying in private schools and were interested in western learning were enrolled. They were scheduled to teach them foreign languages and the study of the world, and those who achieved excellent results were sent to the "special subject of economics". Cai Yuanpei is the general teacher of this special class.

At that time, all the students in the special class wanted to learn Japanese, so Yuan Pei used his half-baked Japanese culture and education students to choose professional books on politics, law, diplomacy, finance, economy and philosophy, and asked the students to write notes every day. Its main purpose is to inspire young people's thirst for knowledge, make them widely absorbed, advance from their own ideas to the country and expand it to the world. It is also based on the people, and the people are still ignorant, so that young people can cultivate their talents to develop the masses, and one person is conscious and aware of everyone. What it tells us is that there are thousands of words and laws, and one is patriotic. " Among many students, he admires Shao Lizi, Li Shutong, Huang Yanpei, Wang Shichun, Hong Yunxiang and others.

Cai Yuanpei has become increasingly active in the cultural and educational circles in Shanghai. There are two things related to his new education: one is to organize a patriotic girls' school, and the other is to launch the China Education Association.

the patriotic girls' school was initiated by Huang Zhongyu, the wife of Cai Yuanpei, and was supported by Ms. Luo Jialing, the wife of a wealthy Jewish businessman in Shanghai. Then Cai Yuanpei and Jiang Guanyun rented the school building, and it was formally established in the winter of the 27th year of Guangxu (191). The number of early students was only about ten. China Education Association was jointly planned by Yuan Pei and people from Shanghai cultural and educational circles such as Ye Han, Jiang Guanyun and Huang Zongyang, with Cai Yuanpei as the president. It was founded in the 28th year of Guangxu (192) and advocated innovation. Due to lack of financial support, it only advocated writing in the early days.

In the 28th year of Guangxu, Yuan Pei was thirty-five years old and began to learn Latin. Ma Xiangbo, a Catholic, was his teacher. Cai Yuanpei believes that Latin is the foundation of European languages, and most of them originate from Latin. If you don't know it well, you can't understand all the ancient western cultures. He also selected 24 students to study with him in Ma Xiangbo. Later, based on these students, Ma Xiangbo founded Aurora College, which is the origin of Aurora University.

This year, Cai Yuanpei took advantage of his summer vacation to travel to Japan, but he met the "Chengcheng School Incident" in Tokyo. Chengcheng School is a preparatory class for the military academy specially designed for Japanese students. On the orders of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Wu Jingheng led the accelerated normal students to study in Japan, and nine of them planned to enter Chengcheng School, but the Qing envoy to Japan refused to walk them. Wu Xianggong protested and was called to the Japanese police to be deported. Wu Jingheng met Cai Yuanpei on his return ship.

The two men "talked about the impossibility of constitutionalism, and both knew that the revolution was inevitable". On July 1th, the ship arrived in Shanghai, and colleagues from China Education Association launched a welcome meeting. At the meeting, it was decided that the education commission should set up its own schools and teach its children by itself, so there is no need to study in Japan.

Therefore, the Education Commission has a plan to run its own school.

Wu Jingheng joined Nanyang Public School as a teacher, but there was a sensational drop-out because of him. On October 17 of the same year, the fuse was a small ink bottle, which caused the students in the special class to sacrifice their qualifications for special economic subjects and drop out of school. Cai Yuanpei also resigned. The reason was that there was a conflict between Wu Jingheng and the school, and more than a dozen students were expelled, and Wu also resigned.

this incident had a great influence on the academic circles in the late Qing dynasty. Cai Yuanpei, Wu Jingheng, Zhang Taiyan and Jiang Weiqiao set up the Patriotic Society on the second floor of the China Education Association, with 55 members, all of whom were dropouts from Nanyang College.

members of the society advised their sisters to go to school, and since then, there have been more and more girls' schools. After the establishment of the Patriotic Society, several people with progressive and innovative ideas, such as Cai Yuanpei, got along with a group of enthusiastic young students day by day, influenced each other, and their speeches and thoughts developed rapidly, which soon aroused a bigger wave and shocked Shanghai and even China as a whole.

In January, the 29th year of Guangxu (193), due to the fierce remarks made by the China Education Association, conservative people used Shenbao to criticize it. Wu Jingheng advocated that in Su Bao, Yuan Pei, Zhang Taiyan and he took turns to write articles to confront them. Zou Rong's Legacy In March, 31 students from Nanjing Lushi School, including Zhang Shizhao, dropped out of school and joined the Patriotic Society with the help of Cai Yuanpei. At the same time, a student tide broke out in Zhejiang University Hall, and students were withdrawn to build their own "Xinmin Shu", and Cai Yuanpei and Wu Jingheng were invited to support it.

At that time, the feeling of enmity with Manchu was rising day by day. Cai Yuanpei published an article "Relieving Hatred with Manchu", which was published in Su Bao. It is believed that the difference between races is blood and customs. Manchu descent has been mixed with Han nationality for a long time, and its language and writing customs have also been assimilated by Han nationality. The so-called Manchu is just a sign that it has a hereditary title in politics and enjoys the privilege of eating regardless of industry. As long as the Manchus consciously give up their privileges, there is no need for the Han people to kill all the Manchus.

At the end of March, with the launch of the anti-Russian movement, Cai Yuanpei cut his hair and put on uniforms with 96 students who volunteered to join the "Anti-Russian Volunteer Team" and trained in the morning and evening to prepare for resisting Russia's occupation of the three northeastern provinces of China. However, the Qing court not only failed to understand the patriotic enthusiasm of young students, but thought that they were plotting to rebel, and strongly suppressed them. As a result, they only forced the radical young people to the road of anti-Qing.

in may, Zou Rong's revolutionary army and Zhang taiyan's refuting kang Youwei's book on revolution were published successively, which was particularly sensational.

At this time, the president of China Education Association was changed to Huang Zongqing, but there was a dispute between the association and the society. Zhang Taiyan advocated not cooperating with the society, while Wu Jingheng was more partial to the members. Cai Yuanpei had a mild attitude and didn't take sides casually, but Cai Yuanpei, who has always maintained a peaceful attitude, was angered by Wu Jingheng's sarcastic remarks and said angrily, "I was going to study in Germany, so I resigned from the society."

just say it and leave. Although everyone tried to stay, he made up his mind to go. After packing, he left Shanghai by boat on the 2th, and everyone went to see him off when he left.

Only about half a month after Cai Yuanpei left Shanghai, the sensational "Sue reported the case" happened. Zhang Taiyan and Zou Rong were arrested, Wu Jingheng escaped, and the Patriotic Society was also affected and dissolved. At the time of the crime, Cai Yuanpei arrived in Qingdao by boat and received a telegram from his brother Cai Yuanjian, saying that "the Qing court has agreed with the German envoy to call Qingdao German officials to arrest Cai". Yuan Pei had to return to Shanghai and re-participate in the activities of people with lofty ideals in Shanghai. At this time, when the Russians invaded Mukden, Cai Yuanpei and Liu Shipei launched a "Comrade Meeting with Russia" with more than 1 members.

In the 3th year of Guangxu (194), Yuan Pei published a "New Year's Dream" in the Russian News, arguing: "We naturally have a China in mind, but now we are unrealistic to build a country, fearing that we will never have a chance." It also puts forward three things that should be done in diplomacy: first, restore the three northeastern provinces. Second, eliminate the spheres of influence of various countries. Third, withdraw the concession. This article can quite reflect his thoughts at this time.

For the Russian Comrades' Association, with Alarm Daily as the organ newspaper, the editorial work of the newspaper began.