Chapter 15 Section 2 to France

With a large number of Chinese workers flocking to France, many young people in China also want to study in France. The work-study society in France is gradually unable to adapt to the needs of the development of the situation. There is an urgent need for a corresponding organization to handle such things as arranging accommodation, introducing schools, and contacting workers. At the same time, since these tasks require frequent dealings with the French side, their support and assistance are very much needed, and the French government cannot take it lightly when more than 100,000 Chinese laborers come to France. It is beneficial to French society to actively help and settle them properly. In addition, the labor of the Chinese workers contributed to France's victory in the First World War. The French side is eager to have such a large amount of cheap labor coming to France.Based on the above reasons, China and France negotiated and organized the Chinese-French Education Association. On March 29, 1916, an inaugural meeting was held at the Free Education Association in Paris, where officers were elected and the constitution was passed. On June 22, the inaugural meeting of the Huafa Education Association was held. According to the principle of reciprocity, Ou Le (France) and Cai Yuanpei were elected as presidents; Mu Dai (France) and Wang Jingwei were vice presidents; Lu (Fa), Li Shizeng, and Li Shengzhang were the secretaries; Yishi (Fa) and Wu Yuzhang were accountants, and the clubhouse was determined to be located in Paris.The purpose of the Huafa Education Association is to "develop the friendship between China and France, with particular emphasis on the education of French science and spirit, and the development of China's morality, knowledge, and economy." Specifically carry out three tasks:

(1) Edit and publish Chinese and French newspapers and books to spread new French education; (2) Liaising with Chinese and French scholars, establishing academic institutions in China, introducing Chinese students to study in France, organizing education for workers studying in France, establishing Chinese schools or workshops in France, and organizing French study tours in China; (3) To develop economic relations between China and France, and to promote the development of Chinese labor education organizations. After the establishment of the Huafa Education Association, it once became the general hub of the work-study program in France. It was responsible for introducing domestic youths to France, contacting factories and schools, and paying maintenance fees.

In 1917, Cai Yuanpei, Li Shizeng, Wu Yuzhang and others returned to Beijing to establish the Beijing Huafa Education Association.In order to expand publicity, they republished "The Biography of Work-Study Program" and compiled and printed the book "Education Movement in Europe".This book introduces in detail the evolution process of the work-study program in France and the method of the work-study program in France, and has become a necessary primer for going to France. Around 1918, due to the vigorous promotion of the Huafa Education Association, celebrities from all walks of life in China donated money and funded it, and branches of the Huafa Education Association were established in various places, including Beijing Branch, Shandong Branch, Shanghai Branch, Sichuan Branch, Hunan Branch, and Guangdong Branch , Fujian Branch, Shaanxi Branch, etc.At the same time, the frugality societies in Shanghai, Chengdu, Changsha and other places also resumed their activities.For example, in December 1919, Xiang Jingyu, Cai Chang and others initiated the Hunan Women's Work-Frugal Society for Studying in France, and established a Zhounan girls' school and a Parisian tofu company.The association declared that it aimed to go to France for a work-study program and return to China to revitalize the industry. It pursued the creed that work-study is sacred, and that physical labor and mental labor go hand in hand. It has attracted many young women with aspirations.The Shanghai Society for Studying in France for Studying in France has also specially set up guest houses and clubs to receive work-study students studying in France waiting for ships from various provinces.Each branch has also established various types of preparatory schools for studying in France, providing a basic guarantee for studying in France.

In June 1917, the Preparatory School of the Beijing Society for Studying in France and Frugality was re-established and officially opened in August, with more than 70 students enrolled at that time.Afterwards, such schools were opened in Beijing, Hebei, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha, Shanghai, Fujian, Anhui, Tianjin and other places. The climax of the work-study program in France was also closely related to the political movement that broke out at that time and the pursuit of new thoughts by young students.When the work-study program in France was brewing and developing, the First World War and the October Revolution in the Soviet Union broke out, and the New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement emerged in China.Under the tide of advocating "science and democracy", socialism, anarchism, pan-labourism, new villageism, syndicalism, pragmatism and other ideological trends have poured into China, which has produced great fluctuations and influences among the young people Among them, work-study ideological trend and Marxism have directly promoted and promoted the work-study program.

In November 1918, Cai Yuanpei, one of the advocates of the work-study program in France, delivered a famous speech in front of Tiananmen Square, "Labor is sacred". Officials! Don’t envy the military officer who deducts military pay! Don’t envy the businessman who manipulates fares! Don’t envy the consultant who consults with Qianxiu! Don’t envy the congressman who sells votes”!In a word, it is "the sanctity of labor".Before and after the May 4th Movement, calls for "saving the nation," "reform," and "sanctity of labor" grew louder. As the "Republic of China Daily" said: "Sacred labor! Sacred labor! Be with labor! Be with labor! This kind of waste The voices in magazines and newspapers are loud enough, and generally young people who talk about the new culture will inevitably speak a few times." Some radical bourgeois and petty bourgeois intellectuals use the pan-labourism "everyone" Based on the idea of ​​"everything should be labor" and the anarchist "mutual aid theory", utopian socialism, pragmatism, syndicalism, and the theory of saving the country by industry are incorporated into it to form a work-study trend of thought.This trend of thought specifically proposes the combination of work and study, and the integration of knowledge and livelihood, so as to eliminate the difference between labor and mind, and then transform society.The work-study trend quickly spread among young intellectuals. The students of Beijing Higher Normal School established the Engineering Society in May 1919, implementing the engineering-study doctrine. In addition to studying cultural knowledge in class, they engaged in labor after school, such as taking pictures, lettering, Typing, carving, or working as carpentry, metalworking, etc., they started the monthly "Engineering" to vigorously promote engineering doctrine. At the end of 1919, Wang Guangqi was influenced by the "Mutual Aid Theory" of Kropotkin, the founder of Russian anarchism, and raised a sum of money to set up the "Work-Study Mutual Aid Group". He held "vegetarian canteens" in Peking University and other schools, and engaged in activities such as laundry, bookbinding, and making small handicrafts. After work, he went to various schools to attend lectures.Wang Guangqi believes that this is a society where "from each according to his ability, from each according to his needs", and hopes that this method will continue to expand, so that everyone in the whole society can work and study, and implement a "peaceful economic revolution".Afterwards, the "Work-Study Printing House" was established in Tianjin, the "Hubin Work-Study Mutual Aid Group" was established in Shanghai, and similar groups also appeared in Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and other places.Although their practice did not touch the essence of social problems, it was just a reformist attempt, but it had a direct impact on work-study programs. The term "work-study" stirs up the sacred thoughts of laborers, and the number of overseas work-study scholars has greatly increased."Li Weihan once recalled: "Because we had no or very little access to the Russian October Revolution and Marxist books and periodicals before going abroad, so what is the way to save the country? Where is the truth? We are still in ignorance. The books and periodicals of governmentism and utopian socialism (the library of Huafa Education Association mainly displays these books and periodicals, because Li Shizeng, Wu Zhihui and others flaunt anarchism), for the state described in the book that no one exploits and oppresses others , I think it is very fresh, and I think it should be the goal of our struggle. But what method and path should we use to achieve this goal? We have not been able to make further discussions, thinking that we can achieve this goal by taking the road of work-study program... It reflects our The petty-bourgeois engineering fantasy of the time."

After the May 4th Movement, Marxism was widely spread in China, which is another important reason for the climax of the work-study program in France. When the news of the October Revolution’s victory came, a group of advanced intellectuals felt rejoiced. Li Dazhao declared, “Today, the solemn blood of the Russians is used to directly cleanse the filthy people who have accumulated in Russia’s political circles, and indirectly to pour into our country. The seedlings of freedom make ordinary bureaucrats old, and confirm that autocracy cannot be revived, civil rights cannot be suppressed, republics cannot be restored, and imperial government cannot be revived.”This group of intellectual elites turned sharply to Marxism.Under the circumstances at that time, the Beiyang warlord government regarded the Soviet Russian revolution and Marxism as "a scourge" and "heresy" and strictly blocked it. Therefore, it was impossible to go directly to Russia, and it became a revolution in France, which is close to Russia. The goal of youth aspirations.On March 5, 1920, Wu Yuzhang said farewell to the work-study student meeting in Sichuan in France: "All the Russian revolutionaries have visited France. If we want to find out the source of their origin, we must go and investigate." It can be seen that going to France is not just about learning. Scientific culture, but also to learn revolutionary theory and experience. In April 1918, Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen and others initiated and organized the Xinmin Society with the purpose of "innovating academics, encouraging morals, and improving people's customs." In mid-August 1918, Mao Zedong came to Beijing with 25 members of the Xinmin Society who were going to France.With the help of Cai Yuanpei and others, these young people were enrolled in three preparatory classes for studying in France in Changxindian, Baoding, and Tianjin.According to Mao Zedong's initiative, these 25 young people started their work-study life in the school, where they worked in the morning and studied in the afternoon.Mao Zedong also ran around to solve the travel expenses for the members who were about to go to France, and according to the requirements of the Huafa Education Association, he personally formulated a work-study program in France, and proposed to send someone to France to contact and prepare.With the strong support and impetus of Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen and others, these Hunan youths went to France one after another in the second half of 1919.By the heyday of the work-study program in France, more than 300 young people from Hunan went to France, accounting for 1/5 of the number of people studying in France, becoming a main force, including Cai Hesen, Zhang Kundi, Li Weihan, Luo Xuezan, Xiang Jingyu, Xu Teli, Cai Chang , Li Fuchun, He Changgong, Xiao San and others later became leaders of the Communist Party of China. At the end of 1920, Zhou Enlai, who was in full bloom, also came to France. Around this time, a group of revolutionary youths yearned for the pursuit of Marxism and the Soviet-Russian road, such as Zhao Shiyan, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, Nie Rongzhen from Sichuan, Wang Ruofei from Guizhou, Chen Yannian, Anhui, etc. Chen Qiaonian, Xiong Xiong from Jiangxi, etc., all came to France one after another to join the ranks of work-study programs.According to the "Times" report on December 8 and 15, 1921, by 1920, there were more than 1,600 people studying in France for work-study programs, including 378 from Sichuan, 346 from Hunan, 251 from Guangdong, 89 from Fujian, and 85 from Zhejiang. , Hebei 147, Jiangxi 28, Henan 20, Jiangsu 69, Anhui 40, Hubei 40, Shanxi 28, Shaanxi nine, Guizhou nine, Guangxi seven, Yunnan six, Liaoning five, Shandong 15 people, and more than 100 people from unknown provinces.Among the students studying in France, ordinary middle school students are the most, with more than 470 people, followed by graduates of various French preparatory schools, with more than 300 people. In addition, there are normal students, college students, primary school students, agricultural and industrial schools, road mines, medical and other vocational schools. Graduates, there are also students returning from Japan.Some of these people were primary and secondary school teachers, journalists, businessmen, military officers, doctors, factory trainee technicians, etc. in China at that time.In terms of age, young people aged 21 to 25 are the most, followed by young people aged 16 to 20. The oldest is Cai Hesen’s mother, Ge Jianhao, who was 54 years old when she went to work-study in middle school in France. Xu Teli, Huang Qisheng (Wang Ruofei's uncle) and others are over 40 years old.Xu Teli was already a prestigious educator in Hunan at that time, and was hired by several schools to take up the teaching position. At the same time, he also served as the director of the Hunan Orphanage, and his financial income was considerable.For a person like him, sponsorship is a strong support for the work-study movement, but he resolutely put everything down and went to France for a work-study program. In his words, "I am 43 years old, and I will be 44 or 45 before I know it. The age of 60 is here. At the age of 60, I am still as ignorant as I was at the age of 43. Isn’t it a waste of life in the past 17 years? Isn’t there no progress in the things I have done in the past 17 years? When I am 60 years old, I will regret it. It's too late, why not start learning today?" His actions really shook the society.Among the students studying in France, the youngest is Wang Shutang, who is only ten years old. He Changgong, Tang Lingyun, and Xiong Xinwu are also in their teens. In addition, Cai Chang and Xiang Fu joined the ranks of the work-study program in France.Because of this, the work-study program in France has become an unprecedented grand event in the history of studying abroad in my country, and has been praised as an "expeditionary expedition".