Chapter 6 Section 6 My Self-Study History: Going to School

The first series of my autobiography Section 6 My Self-Study History: Going to School 4. After two family schools and four primary schools I started reading at the age of six, taught at home by a teacher Meng.At that time, children in class mostly started with 、 、 whichever was easy to catch and recite.Then I will read the Four Books and Five Classics.After that, I read "Earth Rhymes" instead of the four books. The book "Earth Rhymes" is probably nowhere to be found now.Most of the content is about Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, etc.; who wrote it, I can't remember. It seems a strange thing to say, that is, I have never recited the Four Books and Five Classics so far, only read them.This is rare among people my age.It is of course my father's intention to read "Earth Rhymes" instead of the Four Books.Forty-five years ago, he was a person who did not advocate children's reading.This was an exception at the time.Why is this possible?Probably because my father always cared about the overall situation of the country, and China was just a foreign aggressor and a Japanese force in those years.For example: Qing Xianfeng ten years (Western calendar 1860) Anglo-French coalition forces fell to Tianjin, the Qing emperor avoided Rehe. In the 10th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1884 in the Western calendar), during the Sino-French war, Annan (now Vietnam) was occupied by France. In the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886 in the Western calendar), Myanmar was invaded and occupied by the British.  In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894 in the Western calendar), during the Sino-Japanese War, Korea was occupied by Japan. Taiwan was ceded to Japan in the 21st year of Guangxu (1895 in the Western calendar). In the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897 in the Western calendar), Germany occupied Jiaozhou Bay (Qingdao). In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898 in the Western calendar), Russia forced Lushun and Dalian.

Under this string of facts, my father was very excited.Therefore, he tended to reform and reform very early.In his diary there is this passage: However, there is a kind that is despised by Qingliu and reprimanded by gentlemen. It is absolutely necessary not to read all the new books on Westernization and Western Studies.There is no permanent and unchanging situation in the world. I only strive for facts, and I cannot avoid people's ridicule. (Diary on the sixth day of April in the tenth year of Guangxu, on the order of reading) In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu, that was the year I started my studies, just in time for Emperor Guangxu's reforms.He is extremely in favor of the suspension of imperial examinations and the abolition of stereotyped shares; it seems to be based on this that there is no need to read the Four Books.It's a pity that there was no school in Beijing at that time.And "Earth Rhymes" is easy for children to recite, four-character rhymes, in which a little about the general trend of the world, I think it is very suitable. The following year when I was seven years old, the first "foreign school" (as people in the market called it at the time) appeared in Beijing, and my father ordered me to enroll.It was founded by Mr. Chen from Fujian, and it is called "Chinese and Western Elementary School".Now it seems that this name seems funny.About that time, it was because he read both Chinese and English.It's a pity that I have learned English since I was a child and I haven't learned it well until now.  When I was eight years old, I couldn't read English well.This year, the "Boxer Regiment" - later known as the Boxers - specifically killed people who believed in foreign religions (Christianity) or read foreign books.We had no choice but to burn "Elementary English" and "Advanced English" (the textbooks at that time) together.Later, because the Allied Forces of the Eight Powers of Europe, America and Japan were aroused to enter Beijing, the Qing emperor avoided Shaanxi, which was called "Gengzi Change" in history. After the Gengzi Change, new forces rose again, and the school revived.At the age of nine, I entered the "Nanheng Street Public Primary School" to study.At the age of ten, he was changed to the "Meng Yang School" and studied until the age of eleven.At the age of twelve and thirteen, he changed to study at home again. He was a child of several relatives and asked a Fengtian Mr. Liu (Ne) to teach him.From the second half of the thirteenth year to the first half of the fourteenth year of age, he entered the "Jiangsu Elementary School" - which is run by the Association of Jiangsu Sojourners in Beijing.  Therefore, I went through two family schools and four primary schools around the time of primary school.The inability to progress in a stable and orderly manner was related to the unrest in the society and the uncertainty of the academic system at that time.