Chapter 56 first quarter

If you want to ask who made the greatest contribution to the education of the Republic of China, I think it should be Cai Yuanpei from Shaoxing, Zhejiang.If Sun Yat-sen is the father of the Republic of China, then Cai Yuanpei is the father of modern Chinese universities. From 1917 to 1923, Cai Yuanpei served as the president of Peking University.During his tenure, he turned this university into the number one university in China that "includes hundreds of schools and grand ceremonies", possesses the most cutting-edge wisdom in the country, gathers the best students in the country, and has played a great leading role in the whole country.The New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement in 1919, two major events that will last forever in the annals of national history, both originated from Peking University, with Peking University as the main force. This is a rare pride for Chinese and foreign universities.

The reason why Cai Yuanpei was able to do so well in running schools was first of all because his "qualifications" were irreplaceable at the time of the transition from the old to the new: culturally, he was a Jinshi, Hanlin, and editor in the former Qing Dynasty, and he also studied at the University of Leipzig in Germany. He studied philosophy, psychology, and art history; the cultural veterans admired him, and the young and cutting-edge also supported him.Politically, he was a veteran of the Anti-Qing Restoration Association, and the chief education officer of the provisional government after the founding of the Republic of China—no matter what requirements were used, he was impeccable.

Cai Yuanpei accumulated such perfect qualifications, as if he was preparing for the helm of Peking University; the modern higher education in China, which was basically barren after the founding of the Republic of China, was waiting for such a person to develop.Unquestionable qualifications, coupled with advanced school-running concepts and an open mind, he made the spirit of the university illuminate the entire nation for a time, and also made Peking University rich enough to survive today. In fact, Cai Yuanpei's performance is not just running a Peking University.When the Nanjing Provisional Government was established, he served as the Minister of Education.There are only three people in that Ministry of Education including himself: the chief minister, the deputy minister and a secretary; and the dignified Ministry of Education does not even have an office, and borrows two houses from other ministries to work.However, under such crude conditions, Cai Yuanpei formulated a series of educational regulations and policies, which quickly pushed China's education from modern times to modern times.What has continued to this day, among other things, only the most common name - school, was ordered by Cai Yuanpei in 1912 to abolish the title of "school" and replace it with "school".

This distinguished educator was widely respected.In terms of the evaluation of the characters in the Republic of China, there are no differences between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and there seem to be only two people, one is Sun Yat-sen, and the other is Cai Yuanpei. When Cai Yuanpei died in Hong Kong in 1940, the Kuomintang's "Central Daily" praised him as "Wanliu Admired, a senior scholar";And today, there are well-known "angry youths" from Peking University who frequently kill their fathers and interrogate their mothers, but as long as the former President Cai is mentioned in "Scream in the Iron House", he immediately changes his state of being cast down and hating that he was not educated back then.

Cai Yuanpei has received such admirable evaluations from various groups, classes, and eras. Apart from admiration, we may occasionally think that he is more famous not as a scholar, but as a leader and manager. .Scholars only face knowledge, ideas, and the spiritual world, take good care of their own feathers, and maintain a morally perfect image. Is it really possible to be a "teacher of all ages" without reproach? From the treatment of Einstein and Feng Shengsan, we have seen a learned and noble figure who cannot escape the social reality and makes those who need idols feel complicated.