Tao Xingzhi
Encyclopedia
Tao Xingzhi was a renowned 20th century Chinese educator and reformer. He studied at Teachers College, Columbia University
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
which implied that once knowledge (zhi) had been obtained, then action (xing) would be easy.
at University of Illinois and Columbia University
in 1917, 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
, 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 satori] to 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.
In August 1923, Tao and Y.C. James Yen organized a National Association of Mass Education Movements (MEM). At the height of its literacy campaign in the 1920s, Yen estimated that the MEM had five million students and 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.
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, just outside Chongqing, to found the Yucai Middle School (School for Nourishing Talent). Tao received monthly stipends from Feng Yuxiang
and Zhang Zhizhong
, 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
's “On New Democracy.” One of the pupils at the school was Li Peng
, the adopted son of Zhou Enlai
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
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 1950's 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.
, by Wang Dazhi
, one of Tao's students and an alumnus of the college. In 2000, the college became the Nanjing Xiaozhuang University.
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...
and returned to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to champion progressive education. His career in China as a liberal educator was not derivative of John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, 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 Yangming
Wang Yangming was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educationist, calligraphist and general. After Zhu Xi, he is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox...
which implied that once knowledge (zhi) had been obtained, then action (xing) would be easy.
Biography
Returning from study in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at University of Illinois and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1917, 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
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, 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 satori] to 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.
In August 1923, Tao and Y.C. James Yen organized a National Association of Mass Education Movements (MEM). At the height of its literacy campaign in the 1920s, Yen estimated that the MEM had five million students and 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
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
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.
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, just outside Chongqing, to found the Yucai Middle School (School for Nourishing Talent). Tao received monthly stipends from Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was a warlord and leader in Republican China. He was also known as the Christian General for his zeal to convert his troops and the Betrayal General for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911, he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined...
and Zhang Zhizhong
Zhang Zhizhong
Zhang Zhizhong was a general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. He was born in Chaohu, Anhui, and attended the Baoding Military Academy from which he graduated in 1916...
, 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
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's “On New Democracy.” One of the pupils at the school was Li Peng
Li Peng
Li Peng served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China, between 1987 and 1998, and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from 1998 to 2003. For much of the 1990s Li was ranked second in the Communist Party of China ...
, the adopted son of Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
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
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
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 1950's 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 ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, by Wang Dazhi
Wang Dazhi
Wang Dazhi was a Chinese educator.-Biography:Wang Dazhi was born in Yi County, Anhui in 1903. He attended the Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal College, which was founded by Tao Xingzhi...
, one of Tao's students and an alumnus of the college. In 2000, the college became the Nanjing Xiaozhuang University.
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.