The 70th anniversary of Zhang Boling's death: "Three Questions of the Olympic Games" and "Three Questions of Patriotism" and rethinking

Haosu Zhang (College of Liberal Arts, Nankai University)

February 23, 2021, is the 70th anniversary of the death of Nankai founder Zhang Boling (1876.4.5-1951.2.23).

Statue of Zhang Boling of Nankai University in Tianjin.

Because Zhang Boling served in the National Government in his later years, which caused great controversy, in the first thirty years of Zhang Boling's death, he commented on Zhang Boling with a relatively objective attitude, and faced very huge political pressure. The mainland once treated Zhang Boling as cold and secretive, and once had the evil rumor of "enslaving education"; in Taiwan, a pseudo-document "President Zhang Boling's Will in His Later Years" concocted to serve political needs also appeared. In 1979, Zhang Boling's ashes were properly buried in the Tianjin Martyrs' Cemetery, and the official tribute was called "patriotic educator". In 1981, Liang Jisheng's long essay "Patriotic Educator Zhang Boling" was the first academic monograph to systematically discuss Zhang Boling's thought after the end of the Cultural Revolution, laying the foundation for Zhang Boling's research. After a full thirty years of twists and turns, Zhang Boling gradually studied from "covering the coffin" and formed a "conclusion".

Looking back seventy years later, Nankai School can be said to be the material legacy left by Zhang Boling, and has entered the social field "privately and non-privately". So, what is the spiritual wealth left by Zhang Boling? Today, when ordinary people hear the name Zhang Boling, what else will they think of besides the founder of Nankai?

Zhang Boling has few systematic treatises on educational thought, but his speeches and speeches are infectious, and they have a great influence at that time, such as Zhang Xueliang (1901-2001) in his early years because he listened to Zhang Boling's famous speech "China is not dead, there is me", and he temporarily aroused his patriotic passion, and he still remembered it in his old age. The "Three Questions of the Olympic Games" and the "Three Patriotic Questions" that are well known to people today are also zhang Boling's seemingly inadvertent, but they are widely circulated and profound, and it is worth constantly reflecting on - such remarks seem to have a long relationship with Zhang Boling's lifelong concept of secondary school and university education, but they reveal another aspect of this educator: Although education is the most brilliant achievement in Zhang Boling's life, behind it, it still contains the deep care for transforming national culture and education, and its historical influence also exceeds that of one city and one school. To some extent, Nankai School is just a small testing ground for Zhang Boling to improve society. Zhang Boling's ideological legacy has not yet been fully explored and interpreted today.

The Deep Meaning of Sports: Revisiting the "Three Questions of the Olympic Games"

Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Zhang Boling's most well-known title was perhaps "China's First Olympic Champion."

A hundred years later, a speech by Zhang Boling was published in tientsin Young Men (May 23, 1908), an English publication run by the Tianjin YMCA, which introduced the history of the ancient Olympic Games and the current situation of the modern Olympic Movement, and specifically suggested that China should send athletes to participate in the Olympic Games and strive to bid for the Olympic Games. This speech was later condensed into the famous "Olympic Three Questions", namely:

When will China send someone to the Olympics?

When will China be able to send teams to the Olympics?

When will China be able to host the Olympics?

In the poor and weak Qing Dynasty, why should we specifically investigate and emphasize the Olympic Games, which seem to have little to do with people's livelihood? Looking at Zhang Boling's lifelong educational speech and social deeds, the status of sports is really important. If we talk about the core, it is nothing more than "sports to save the country" and "sports people".

What is "sports to save the country"?

First of all, we must know that sports has never been a simple competition, but has always been closely entangled with world politics and regional differences, and the historical cases of disputes caused by sports are really indomitable. This was even more evident in Zhang Boling's time.

The Far East Games (formerly known as the Far East Olympic Games), in which Zhang Boling participated, aimed to "help promote the cause of various economic sports, develop the organization of various competitive sports, and enhance the interest in sports and carry forward the noble spirit", but in fact it has always been closely related to the struggle for political sovereignty in East Asia, and the athletes "each has revitalized the martial spirit for his country" ("Chronicle of the Far East Games (XI)", The Times, May 16, 1915). For example, the Second Far East Games (1915.5) was held in Shanghai, when the dispute over the "Twenty-One Articles" was at its most dramatic, and Guo Yubin (1892-1981), who studied at nankai school and was nicknamed "Scud", defeated Japanese runners in the "880 yard race" and "one mile race" (Note: Relevant research says that the victory over the Japanese athlete Ji Ziying, Ran Ji Ziying is actually a Beijing athlete, this is not the case), won the gold medal twice, which is not only the first time that a Chinese athlete won the championship on the international field. It also became a stimulant for the national spirit at that time, and people at the time said: "The championship was obtained by the famous old and sick country, and this is also enough to be proud" (Di Kan: "Visiting the Far East Games", Fudan, No. 1, 1915), "Chinese is not weak in the end, and if you can work hard, then the sports in the special zone can be superior to other countries, and all national strength and culture will also have an outstanding day" (Ting Gong: "Remembering the Far East Games Again", Concordia, No. 30, 1915). Guo Yubin triumphed, and alumni Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) led his classmates to greet him at the entrance of the school with a pennant and held a celebration meeting for Guo. This deed was also mentioned many times by Zhang Boling in subsequent speeches, calling it the "Nankai Spirit".

The controversy behind the famous "first Chinese Olympic expedition" Liu Changchun (1909-1983) refused to represent puppet Manchukuo in the 10th Olympic Games, and this controversy is closely related to Japan's ambitions to invade China after the 918 incident. At that time, Liu Changchun responded indignantly that he would participate in the competition as a Chinese athlete: "To the people of the Republic of China, this trip naturally represents China." (Another saying is that "the conscience of Gou Yu is still there, and the blood is still flowing, how can he forget the motherland and be a horse and cow for the puppet puppet country?") After Zhang Boling received the news, he immediately contacted the International Olympic Committee, a Chinese sports organization, to register for Liu Changchun, and Zhang Xueliang donated 8,000 silver yuan to fund Liu Changchun's trip to Los Angeles, which is known today. In passing, it should be mentioned that from the Japanese historical data, the Japanese report of the Eighth Far Eastern Games (1927.8) has a very militaristic expression - "Our army has gloriously become the winner of the country and won the Emperor's Cup with the chrysanthemum pattern." (International Photographic Intelligence, "Special October Issue," 1927). The cessation of the Far East Games in 1934 was also closely related to Japan's strong pressure to make the puppet state of Manchukuo eligible to participate in the competition - this year, at the opening ceremony of the 18th North China Games held in Tianjin, more than 400 cheerleaders of the Nankai School, under the command of Yan Renying (1913-1953), the captain of the "Sea Monster" and the grandson of Yan Xiu, the father of Nankai School, suddenly used black and white hand flags to play eight big characters of "Don't Forget the National Shame, Recover the Lost Land", shocking the audience. The next day, the Japanese Embassy in China protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government in Nanjing, which became one of the reasons for the bombing of Nankai during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

However, if sports are only regarded as a means to serve realpolitik and enhance public sentiment, it is inevitable to underestimate the depth of Zhang Boling's thinking. Zhang Boling vigorously advocated the "sports people" when he established Nankai, stemming from the modern education and supervision concept he received, and actually had the two major intentions of educational concept and social transformation, so Nankai School has made outstanding achievements in sports and is allowed to be crowned as a national crown.

When Zhang Boling was thirteen years old, he was admitted to the Beiyang Marine Division School, and had just graduated, but before he could board the ship, he was defeated by the Battle of Jiawu and the destruction of the Beiyang Marine Division. He witnessed the great shame of the "three easy national flags" and the weakness of Chinese soldiers, which had a huge stimulus to Zhang Boling. Therefore, Nankai Education has always attached importance to sports, and clearly stated that "to strengthen our race, sports first". In Nankai School, "without physical education, education is not complete" and "people who do not know sports should not be school principals" (Zhou Lizhong: "The Deeds of Mr. Zhang Boling", "The Commemorative Album of the Eightieth Birthday of Mr. Zhang Boling"), the principal of the University of Zhang), has a deep impact. Zhang Boling himself is good at sports, when coaching Yan's family hall, Zhang Boling tried to introduce modern educational concepts into private schools, including physical education attempts, including track, football, dumbbells, gymnastics, billiards and so on. "Acknowledging the status of science and physical education and establishing free and democratic exchanges between teachers and students in the common study and recreation of teachers and students were all rather unusual experiments at the time." It is these that mark the young teacher Zhang Boling, one of the founders of a new philosophy of education in China. (Hu Shi: "Zhang Boling: A Generation of Teachers", "Other China: Zhang Boling's 70th Birthday Commemorative Anthology") From the perspective of direct educational effects, there are many athletes among Nankai students, which are characterized by the balanced development of moral, intellectual and physical education. As mentioned above, Guo Yubin was named a second-class professor in the Department of Biology at Beijing Normal University in the 1950s, and there are many academicians and alumni of Nankai who are particularly good at sports (see Hu Hailong: "From nankai's "academicians" to go").

Zhang Boling's concept of physical education, in addition to aiming at strengthening students' physique, also specially proposes the role of sports in promoting personality. Zhang Boling used "Renxia" to translate the English Sportsmanship, pointing out that the fundamental of sports lies in cooperation and fairness. Zhang Jiwu (1891-1975), director of physical education at Nankai School, wrote "The Movement of Nankai" and formulated dozens of specific standards for "benevolence", which have detailed norms for the sportsmanship that athletes, spectators and referees should hold. Zhang Boling said: "Just defeat is more valuable than improper victory" ("List of Middle School Departments of Tianjin Nankai School", September 1929), "All those who have true talents will not use improper methods to win, such as Guo Yubin racing, purely with his two-footed strength to win." (Zhang Boling: "Those who want to achieve things must bring three points of stupidity") Nankai takes "public energy" as the school motto, and sports is most famous for basketball "Five Tigers", and its competitive characteristics are good at unity and cooperation, giving full play to the strengths of each person, so it turns to the north and south, not only invincible in the country, but also many times to defeat foreign teams. If we search for Zhang Boling's detailed definitions of "ability" and "modern ability", it can be seen that the content echoes closely, like a copy - the fundamental goal achieved by sports is to "cure the two fundamental problems of Chinese", that is, "only private concepts, no public concepts" (public) and "no progress, not thoroughness" (can). (Zhang Boling: "We must get rid of the old concepts of selfishness and complacency")

Knowing this, we can find that the "three questions of the Olympic Games" certainly have a special connotation of dealing with national difficulties, and in addition to Zhang Boling's consistent concept, there is a deeper meaning than "Shang Wu".

The operation guide of "Patriotic Three Questions"

Are you Chinese?

Do you love China?

Would you like China to be good?

The famous "patriotic three questions" has become a well-known hot topic in recent years. These three questions were raised by Zhang Boling in 1935, and if their words are superficial, their meanings are profound.

To understand the profound meaning of Zhang Boling's "three questions", of course, we should combine the context of the speech: In July 1935, the "He Mei Agreement" was reached, and the sovereignty of Hebei was lost, and the people's hearts were in turmoil. At the opening ceremony of Nankai School that year, Zhang Boling made a speech entitled "Understanding the Environment, Working Hard", and issued three suggestions of publicity, sincerity, and hard work as a prescription for coping with national difficulties. Readers who are familiar with Zhang Boling's remarks know that Zhang Boling has always advocated "stupid and unsquenchable dryness", "thick skin and flesh, and slow brains", and "resisted the forces that pounced on him" with a long-term and sincere spirit of struggle.

In this speech, Zhang Boling repeatedly compares China with foreign countries (especially Japan), such as "We progress, others progress faster... There is a point of inferiority, the overall situation has lost, all their progress is useless", "When it comes to hard work, I really admire the Japanese", etc., all reflect the characteristics of Zhang Boling who is good at taking the enemy as a teacher. Under the tide of national danger, it is not surprising to oppose Japanese aggression and advocate national self-improvement, but Zhang Boling's entry angle and general theory are often different. After the 18th North China Games triggered protests from the Japanese side, Zhang Boling's classic phrase "to be more ingenious to hate", in addition to showing his patriotic feelings, is more enough to reflect Zhang Boling's practical and accessible thinking and handling strategy, which are by no means reached by Taoist pedantics.

From 1927 to 1932, Nankai teachers and students conducted at least four large-scale field trips in the northeast, wrote a large number of survey reports and papers, and compiled the "Northeast Geography Textbook" (1932), which made full use of Chinese and Japanese statistical data such as the South Manchuria Railway, allowing him to be the leader in the study of northeast china at that time. Fan Yuanlian (1875-1927), the director of Nankai School, who was the director of education in the Republic of China, also pointed out in his speech: "We should not shout a false story every year today, we should study Japan in detail", and this kind of concept has a fairly concentrated expression among Nankai characters. For another example, Zhang Boling gave a speech at Shanghai Daxia University entitled "Impressions on the Northeast China Problem" (1931), especially quoting He Lian (1895-1975) as saying that "there were nine statistical boycotts of Japanese goods, arriving and arriving, buying and buying, Japan did not suffer losses, Chinese businessmen did not suffer losses, and it was Chinese consumers who suffered losses" survey conclusions. He Lian was the founder of the Nankai Institute of Economics, who led the economic research atmosphere at that time with the concept of "sinicization", but while carrying out "domestic research", he also soberly pointed out that blind fanaticism actually played the opposite role, which was exactly what people believed at the time to "sincerely explore and find China's solutions to Chinese problems" (Kandeliff: Nankai Economic Research Institute).

Zhang Boling explained it from another common sense perspective. In his view, the crux of the matter is in the shallow taste and personal intelligence. To use the cliché of nankai school motto, it is the lack of cooperation "public" and "ability" to do things. The "patriotic three questions" are precisely the result of this disease. After the "three questions" that we are familiar with, Zhang Boling said:

Then you have to be willing to Chinese are good people.

Don't be too narrow and not too big. Grow up to each other, not down. Always criticize people, that's down the long.

At a time when the country was in trouble, it was the essence of Zhang Boling's thinking to abandon prejudices and treat others with generous goodwill to deal with the stupidity, weakness, poverty, scatteredness, and selfishness of the people at that time. Zhang Boling governs the school, that is, attaches great importance to the value of "cooperation". In January 1921, nankai school was suspended due to the nearby smallpox epidemic, and Zhang Boling asked 20 faculty members and student representatives to meet at the Beijing Xiangshan Kindergarten and agreed that "school affairs are open, responsibility sharing, and teacher-student cooperation" is Nankai's future policy. Chen Wenbo, a teacher of the Chinese, recorded in "Summary of the Xiangshan Conference Case and My Personal Impressions" (Nankai Weekly, No. 1, 1921): "Do the facilities of the school meet the needs of the country? Is the input of students in line with the needs of society? Will the talents they cultivate have the ability to transfer customs, refresh their ideas, and improve society in the future? If you can't, it is from an early age that you have been educating. ...... If education is carried out only to increase the knowledge and skills of individuals, it is not enough to call education sacred. My people... There was a hope of improving society, so the next break was to hold the Fragrant Hills Conference. The establishment of education, social reform, and the struggle to save the people and survive are also echoed in Zhang Boling's actual social practice, which should be understood as the "true spirit of Nankai." Looking back on the past, the value of Zhang Boling's concept is still prominent.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Boling was elected vice speaker, provisional chairman, and chairman of the presidium of the National Committee of Political Participation. Later, he was the director of the examination dean, still teaching "public energy", and wanted to improve the atmosphere of quan selection, which shows that his concept is consistent. Although Zhang Boling's involvement in politics in his later years was deeply defeated, the source of his thinking lies in the great importance attached to cooperation in the "three patriotic questions." If we take the purpose of the Xiangshan Conference as the purpose, it is Bo Ling's famous saying: "Those who are pessimistic are most likely those who do not do things, and those who really do things are most likely to be optimistic" (Selected Materials on the History of Nankai University, 1919-1949, p. 727). The gain and loss of one lies in Si!

Several important alumni in the history of Nankai are also known for their good cooperation. During the Southwest United Congress, although the nankai forces were weak, they still maintained the "Luo Third Colonel, Brother Column." as one, such as cementation. Share the hardships, rejoice together. Unity, mission", the role of Mei Yiqi (1889-1962), the first graduate of Nankai, is quite important. All this shows the success of Bo Ling's teachings. The value of the so-called "three questions" is not what content is asked, but actually how to "work hard" after asking.

Bo Ling thought in scattered dots

Is Zhang Boling a thinker?

This issue seems to have been somewhat controversial. Indeed, compared with cai yuanpei, Hu Shi and other more thunderous names, Zhang Boling's academic quality and ideological system seem to be inferior. However, in scattered speeches, speeches and system design, we can see a set of "outside-in" sets of ideas: Zhang Boling's ideological value does not lie in the academic debates in the study, but in his extremely rich practical experience and keen practice, so he can internalize his personal understanding into systematic thinking, and then explain it in a very simple and vivid way to influence the audience and disciples - in the memories and interviews of old Nankai alumni, Zhang Boling is often called a thinker, which shows its real influence (see Hu Hailong: Oral Jingu: The Spirit of Public Energy in the Context of Nankai School, Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 2020). Contemporary researchers have tried to sort out the ideological systems of practitioners such as Zhang Boling, and there have been new results recently, which can echo each other.

Zhang Boling often likes to send "three questions" in a row to guide the audience's thinking and lead to the core content of the speech. Zhang Boling was very good at speaking, and in the turbulent historical background at that time, the "three questions" were very easy to shake people's hearts and resonate.

Are you Chinese? - Yes

Do you love China? - Love

Would you like China to be good? - Yes

Whether it's 1935 or 2021, none of these three questions seem to have a different answer. However, if we only focus on the "three questions" and ignore the discussion after the "three questions", it is tantamount to buying a pearl and returning the pearl - Zhang Boling's follow-up discussion is in line with his lifelong practice, and through it has cultivated a large number of Nankai alumni and supporters, which constitutes a force that has a considerable influence in modern history, and its spirit still seems to play a practical role. In the words of Hu Shi: "Nowadays, these seem to be ordinary, but Zhang Boling has really integrated most of these ideals into the overall education of the school, which is really his great achievement." ”

Zhang Boling's language art lies in oral talk, but the audio of his speech has not yet been discovered, which is a great pity. As readers of Zhang Boling, we should note that speech is a special style different from written papers, its content must not be directly equivalent to the entire idea of the speaker, its real influence remains in the "historical scene" that is difficult to restore, and the existing written text can only partially show the purpose of the speech (and many speeches are taken notes by the listener and have not been reviewed by the speaker). The most obvious is that Zhang Taiyan's (1869-1936) speech content and vernacular text are quite wonderful, but his series of lectures in Shanghai (1922), which were initially listened to by hundreds of people, and finally only a few dozen people barely observed, the effect of which can be imagined; and hu Shi's (1891-1962) famous broadcasting, and his good oratory, and through the training of speeches, is also quite related. In this regard, there have been several studies in the academic circles: the Harvard edition of the "New Compilation of the History of Modern Chinese Literature" edited by Wang Dewei attaches importance to the value of speeches, pointing out that "the speeches of historical figures, disseminated through phonographs, have become a kind of presentation process that everyone can hear, feel, and then experience and react to." This is the material (and physical) side of literary production. Zhang Boling's speeches and speeches also seem to have corresponding historical value, or can become a literary-ideological heritage that can be used as references. In previous studies, school history is often limited to "the history of one school" or even "the history that only alumni pay attention to", but this narrow vision is not enough to bend the actual value of the school as an academic and cultural institution, only with the identity of "university president" or "educator" as the entry point for Zhang Boling's research, under the existing academic vision, it is not conducive to deeply understanding this figure who has made great contributions and legends in modern history.

Editor-in-Charge: Shanshan Peng

Proofreader: Yan Zhang