Red Genesis

The Hunan First Normal School and the Creation of Chinese Communism, 1903-1921

Liyan Liu

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781438445052
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia cinese

Winner of the 2013 Best Publication Award for Original Scholarship presented by the Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States How did an obscure provincial teachers college produce graduates who would go on to become founders and ideologues of the Chinese Communist Party? Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng, and others attended the Hunan First Normal School. Focusing on their alma mater, this work explores the critical but overlooked role modern schools played in sowing the seeds of revolution in the minds of students seeking modern education in the 1910s. The Hunan First Normal School was one of many reformed schools established in China in the early twentieth century in response to the urgent need to modernize the nation. Its history is a tapestry woven of traditional Chinese and modern Western threads. Chinese tradition figured significantly in the character of the school, yet Western ideas and contemporary social, political, and intellectual circumstances strongly shaped its policies and practices. Examining the background, curriculum, and the reforms of the school, as well as its teachers and radical students, Liyan Liu argues that China's modern schools provided a venue that nurtured and spread new ideas, including Communist revolution.

Chapter 1

Reform in Hunan, 1895–1900

On October 1, 1949, following the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at Tiananmen Square. Education played an important role in shaping the man who then stood at the pinnacle of power. Just as communist cadres would have a profound influence on subsequent Chinese history, so they themselves had been influenced by their schooling. During their youth, in a period of political upheaval and intellectual ferment, a “modernized” school system had supplanted the traditional Chinese educational system, which had been centered on the classical canon and directed toward the civil service examinations. Many important communist leaders, including Cai Hesen and Mao Zedong, had been educated at the Hunan First Normal School in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province, in the second decade of the twentieth century. How could this apparently ordinary normal school have fostered so many radical intellectuals who became early leaders of Chinese Communism? How had the end of the old examination system and the emergence of this new “modern” school system in the early part of that century affected both mentors and students?

To answer these questions, we must explore the link between the reorganization of the educational system and the growth of communism. We must examine the backgrounds not only of those radical students who formed the first generation of communist leadership but also of their teachers, the intellectual reformers, the curriculum of the school, its environment, the political and social forces in the school and in the surrounding city, and the contribution of these factors to the transformation in the thinking of radical students. Long before Mao stood at his moment of triumph in 1949, he and many of his allies had been heavily influenced by the First Normal School and their mentors there. The effect of that educational experience would have worldwide ramifications.

The origins of that educational experience lay in the reform movement in Hunan during the last decade of the nineteenth century, in the conservative opposition to reformist ideas, and in the nationalism that developed in response to the intrusion of foreign influence into Hunan.

Reform Reaches Hunan, 1895–1896

The Chinese people are well known for their great cultural pride. China, with its vast territory, large population, and long history, was the core civilization in East Asia for centuries. It served as a role model for its neighboring nations in cultural affairs, politics, institutions, and economics. In the middle of the nineteenth century, however, Chinese pride was seriously shaken by a series of humiliating foreign military incursions, beginning with the Opium War of 1839–1842. Worse came when China was defeated by Japan, seen by the Chinese populace as a “petty oriental barbarian,” in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. As a result, China was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, which clearly exposed the weakness of the Qing regime, and infuriated the nation. It also greatly shattered national prestige and traditional self-confidence. Externally, these setbacks invited further encroachment in the “scramble” for concessions, and internally they encouraged movements for reform and revolution. They made Chinese intellectuals pay serious attention to the reform of their country with the goal of standing up to the imperialist powers. Chinese intellectuals realized that if China were to survive in the modern world, it would have to relinquish some of the old and assimilate some of the new.¹ What to keep and what to change was the subject of considerable controversy, not least in the field of education.

In Hunan, the reforms began in 1895, three years before the Hundred Days Reform. Joseph Esherick, in his Reform and Revolution in China, argues that the late Qing reform program catered chiefly to elite interests whom he characterizes as the “urban reformist elite” and that the new local government institutions strengthened gentry power. The reforms in Hunan were encouraged, as Charlton M. Lewis points out, by a fortunate combination of reform-minded officials. First, Zhang Zhidong (1837–1909), the governor-general of Hunan and Hubei from 1889 to 1897 promoted educational, railway, mining, and industrial projects. In 1895, he supported Kang Youwei's (1858–1927) Society for National Strengthening (Qiangxue hui) and his newspaper, the Qiangxue bao. He had close connections with a number of reform-minded officials and elites in Hunan. He worked closely with Chen Baozhen (1831–1900), who served as the governor of Hunan between the years of 1895 and 1898. The third important official was the education commissioner, Jiang Biao (1860–1899). A native of Suzhou, Jiang received the highest jinshi degree in 1889. Deeply versed in classics, Jiang was also familiar with Western learning. He was interested in foreign affairs and had studied at the Interpreters College (Tongwen guan) in Beijing. He was a founding member of the Society for National Strengthening in 1895.²

Early reforms in Hunan accorded with the national atmosphere of the Self-Strengthening Movement (1861–1894). In 1895, Gov. Chen Baozhen established a mining bureau to exploit Hunan's extensive mineral resources. In the following years, Hunan also established a telegraph line between Changsha and Hankou, a police bureau, an arsenal, a chemical company, and a company that provided electric lighting for schools and examination halls. The electric company, however, lasted only until 1899, when it went bankrupt.³

More impressive was the attempt made to reform the educational system. As soon as Jiang Biao took the position of education commissioner of Hunan in 1894, he began to reform the traditional Confucian academies by emphasizing jingshi zhiyong (bureaucratic statecraft). He added geography and mathematics to the classical subjects required in the civil service examinations for the lowest shengyuan degree.⁴ Jiang also introduced classes in foreign languages, and purchased instruments for the study of chemistry and electricity. He established the Hunan Reform Study Society (Xiangxue hui), and a reform newspaper, Hunan Reform News (Xiangxue bao), to promote a cautious program of reform. Hunan Reform News mainly introduced Western politics, laws, and culture, which included news and knowledge of history, geography, mathematics, business, diplomacy, and science.⁵

By 1897, the reform movements in Hunan were flourishing and Gov. Chen Baozhen diligently sought to implement a thoroughgoing program of reform in the province. At first, his reforms received a broad consensus of support. Even the senior Hunanese elites welcomed the approval of young activists like Tan Sitong and Tang Caichang (1867–1900). However, those senior Hunanese elites, the “conservative” faction in provincial politics, later adhered to the traditional pragmatic conservatism of Hunan that emphasized jingshi. Pragmatic conservatism had revived and enjoyed considerable success under the leadership of Zeng Guofan during the Tongzhi Restoration.⁶ Since then, jingshi had remained a very important element in the culture of Hunan and its Confucian tradition. Those senior elites followed the statecraft theorists in stressing the importance of increased gentry involvement and power in local government. For instance, they invested heavily in new industrial enterprises.

Wang Xianqian (1842–1917) was the most prominent member of this group. He was a former compiler of Hanlin Academy and Jiangsu education commissioner. He had held posts in the State Historiographer's Office (Guoshi guan). In 1889, he retired from government service and returned to Hunan to be president of the famous Yuelu Academy in Changsha.⁷ Although he was a famous scholar, known for his classical commentaries, massive compilations, and extensive private library, Wang energetically advocated commercial investment by the gentry. He personally invested in commercial enterprises. Wang even supported the initial moderate educational reforms of Jiang Biao. He encouraged his students to read the reformist Current Affairs News (Shiwu bao), edited in Shanghai by Liang Qichao.⁸

The Climax and Failure of Reform, 1897–1898

Marianne Bastid claims that the “modern gentry” effectively initiated and played a vital role in educational reform. Paul Bailey agrees with Bastid's argument and states that the Confucian legacy fostered support for educational modernization among the gentry.⁹ The Chinese placed great emphasis on the transformative power of education.

The reform movement in Hunan reached its climax in September 1897, with the opening of the Current Affairs School (Shiwu xuetang). Wealthy Hunanese financed the school's buildings and equipment, and the government mines were expected to provide additional funds for the school. The Hunanese literati widely supported the school, as is evident from its endowment (an annual fund of $20,000 was subscribed by early July) and the keen competition for admission. In the initial round of entrance examinations, more than four thousand candidates applied, although only forty were accepted for the first class.¹⁰

The goal of the Current Affairs School was to train students to become “capable men” of an entirely new type. Students were educated in traditional Chinese as well as Western subjects. Because the philosophy and the curriculum of the Current Affairs School was totally new at that time, the school played an enlightening role in Hunan's educational reform.

It was also in 1897 that the Hunanese gentry began to perceive a radical dimension in the educational reform program; this in turn destroyed the elites' support for reform one year later. The first radical shift apparent to the gentry was the appointment of Huang Zunxian (1848–1905) in 1897 as salt intendant and later as the judicial commissioner. A native of Guangdong, Huang was a distinguished diplomat. He had twelve years of government service in Tokyo, San Francisco, London, and Singapore. Deeply impressed with Japan's success in the Meiji period, he was eager to apply the lessons to China. He wrote a book on Meiji Japan that was widely read in Hunan. This book later helped to inspire the Guangxu Emperor's Hundred Days Reform of 1898.¹¹

In fall 1897, Huang suggested that Xu Renzhu (1863–1900) replace Jiang Biao as educational commissioner. Xu, then 34 years old, was a son of a prominent Hanlin compiler and a good friend of Tan Sitong. An active reform advocate in Beijing, Xu took Jiang Biao's place as educational commissioner in fall 1897, and introduced Kang Youwei's teachings to Hunan. Xu also was a good friend of Liang Qichao; he was able to mobilize considerable government support of Liang's work at the Current Affairs School.¹²

Huang Zunxian, the judicial commissioner of Hunan, was also a good friend of Liang Qichao. In 1896, Huang and Liang worked together to set up the Current Affairs News (Shiwu bao) in Shanghai. Soon after he arrived in Changsha, Huang suggested that Liang Qichao be invited to accept the post of dean of Chinese Studies at the new Current Affairs School; he also proposed that Li Weige,¹³ a translator for the Current Affairs News be appointed as dean of Western Studies.¹⁴ When Liang arrived in Changsha, he brought with him three of Kang Youwei's students, Han Wenju (1855–1937), Ou Jujia, and Ye Juemai, who became assistant deans at the school.¹⁵ The appointments of the faculty at the Current Affairs School were approved by the provincial elites. The school was soon dominated by Liang Qichao's Cantonese friends and his Hunanese followers, a group of young Hunanese gentry activists such as Tan Sitong, Tang Caichang, and Xiong Xiling (1870–1942). These people were remarkably young. In 1897, Tan, the oldest, was 32; Tang was 30; Xiong was 27; and Liang Qichao was only 24.

Xiong Xiling, a native of Fenghuang, Hunan, was the son of a military officer. Called the “boy genius of Hunan,” he obtained the highest jinshi degree in 1895 at the remarkably early age of 24. Xiong had entered the political life of Beijing with a three-year appointment to the Hanlin Academy in 1894, but he was obliged to return to Hunan because of his series of memorials opposing peace with Japan.¹⁶

Tan Sitong and Tang Caichang were the most radical reformers among the Hunanese activists. Both were brilliant scholars and ardent reformers. They represented a new type of patriotic idealist that was just starting to appear in China. Tan was born into a leading Hunanese gentry family in Beijing in 1864. He had a traditional education but was attracted to knight errant ideals. Although his native town was the turbulent district of Liuyang, in Hunan, most of Tan's time was spent outside Hunan. He traveled extensively throughout China. Shocked by China's defeat in the 1894–1895 war with Japan, he began to read works on Western science and technology; he also contacted Kang Youwei and began to study Buddhism. He wrote his best-known work, Renxue (On Benevolence), as an attempt to synthesize Confucianism, Buddhism, and Western science into a worldview. Tan believed that ren (benevolence) was the source of everything. He saw the inequality of traditional society, the “three bonds and five relationships,” and the autocratic system of government as being in basic conflict with ren. His views were among the most extreme of the reformist group.¹⁷

Tan took the civil service examination several times, but earned only the first, or shengyuan, degree. He did not receive an official position in the government until the last three years of his life. In 1896, he received a supernumerary appointment in the local government at Nanjing. The following year, he returned to Hunan at the invitation of the governor Chen Baozhen to take part in a reform program.¹⁸

Tang Caichang had a background similar to that of Tan Sitong. Also from Liuyang, both he and Tan studied under a local scholar, Ouyang Zhonggu, who was a devotee of the Han learning and of the late-Ming Hunanese Confucian scholar, Wang Fuzhi.¹⁹ Tang, too, spent a great deal of time traveling outside Hunan and was exposed to the New Text scholarship.²⁰ In 1896, Tang and Tan launched study societies in their home districts, where they earned a reputation as the “two heroes of Liuyang.” In 1897, Tang went back to Changsha to join the provincial reform movement. In Changsha, the two worked together in setting up the new-style Current Affairs School. They also cooperated in establishing a military academy and a newspaper, Hunan News (Xiangbao) in Changsha. ²¹

By November 1897, Hunan's reform movement had new leadership, headed by Tan Sitong, Tang Caichang, Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian, and Xu Renzhu. Changsha was now ready for more radical reform. Their movement coincided with the German occupation of Qingdao and Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong in November 1897 and the beginning of the “sc...