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On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of Zhang Wentian's birth, a special article reviewed the initial origin of his red faith and explored the story of his red youth.
In 1917, the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China with the sound of a cannon. At this time, the land of China is full of spring tides, and ancient China is giving birth to a new life. Two years ago, the famous industrialist Zhang Xiao, in response to the needs of water diversion, founded the first water conservancy institution in China's history, the Hehai Engineering College, in Nanjing with the aim of "great work will be done, and storage is urgent." At the beginning of the school, the school paid attention to the cultivation of morality, clarified the school-running ideology of "morality as the foundation, talent as the end", and emphasized that "morality, physical fitness, can enter the academic language". In the summer of 1917, Zhang Wentian, a 17-year-old youth, inadvertently saw An admissions advertisement from The Shanghai "Declaration" and was immediately attracted by the unique atmosphere of the school. From July 15th to 17th, after three days of intense examinations, Zhang Wentian became the third batch of students of Hehai "Zhengke" with the 22nd place. From Shanghai to Nanjing, the inadvertent relocation implies that a young man shoulders the mission of "drowning in the world" and longs for the great ambition of being known in the sky.
The picture shows Zhang Wentian during his studies at The Hehai Engineering College
At this time, Hehai gathered a large number of famous teachers with real talents and practical learning and family feelings, Xu Zhaonan, the "president of the Chinese Students Studying in the United States" who returned from studying at Harvard University, served as the president, Huang Yanpei, director of the Department of Education of Jiangsu Province, served as the director of preparation, and Li Yizhi, who studied in both China and the West, served as the provost. In accordance with the "three stresses" education policy (paying attention to students' moral thoughts in order to cultivate a noble personality; paying attention to students' physical health to develop the habit of diligence and hard work; teaching the necessary academic and technical techniques of the River and Sea Project, paying attention to self-study counseling and field practice to cultivate practical application of wisdom), the school has widely stored instruments and equipment for students to experiment, organized visits to projects to feel inspired, and dispatched internships to increase experience, all of which have benefited Zhang Wentian a lot. The school has a two-year English course, teaching self-compiled English teaching materials, using English teaching, and students' English level is generally high. Therefore, Zhang Wentian was able to read the English version of Marxist works before the May Fourth Movement, and after the May Fourth Movement, he translated a large number of foreign literary works. At the same time, the school pays attention to empirical evidence, pays attention to practicality, and advocates the rational spirit of science, which also affects and runs through Zhang Wentian's life.
Hohai Engineering College Laboratory and Library
Under the influence of the enlightened atmosphere of the river and the sea, Zhang Wentian eagerly absorbed new knowledge, opened up new horizons, and accepted new ideas. In the Hehai Library, Zhang Wentian can read new cultural periodicals and magazines such as "New Youth", "Enlightenment", "Current Affairs New Newspaper" at any time; the school took the lead in establishing an alumni association, Zhang Wentian was elected as a member of the alumni association with outstanding writing ability and ideological strength, and met his own party introduction Shen Zemin (Mao Dun's brother and one of the 13 members of the Shanghai Initiation Group of the Communist Party of China). Zhang Wentian later recalled, "The publication of New Youth before May Fourth gave me a great influence, and my self-awakening began here... When I saw "New Youth" in school in 1917, my thinking changed greatly, I began to doubt and rebel against everything in the old Chinese society, and admired the ideas and lives of democracy, freedom and equality in Europe and the United States, and the democratic ideas of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie began. In Hehai, Zhang Wentian and Shen Zemin also served as editors of the campus publications "Hehai Monthly" and "Hehai Weekly", expressing their thoughts and thoughts and what they saw and heard.
At that time, "River Sea Monthly" and "River Sea Weekly"
In 1919, the third year of Zhang Wentian's entry into the river sea, the great May Fourth Movement broke out. The news of the May Fourth Movement soon reached Nanjing, and Zhang Wentian, Shen Zemin, and other young students were excited, and overnight they set up a group to support the Beijing students, took the lead in telegraphing solidarity, took the lead in striking classes, actively carried out propaganda and organizational work, and became the backbone of the Nanjing area. Principal Xu Zhaonan was elected as the interim chairman of the Nanjing University And High School Academic Association, always standing at the forefront of leading the patriotic movement, inspiring Zhang Wentian, Shen Zemin, Wang Wei, Liu Yingshi, Ding Shengwu, Dong Kaizhang and a number of young backbones of Hehai. Zhang Wentian actively threw themselves into this great movement, participated in the "National Shame Commemoration Conference" held in the playground of Nanjing Xiaoying, opened a "National Goods Sales Department" in the school, took to the streets to carry out speeches, parades, petitions, boycotts of Japanese goods, and other movements, organized and participated in the "three strikes" movement of the Nanjing Federation of Students, and went to Beijing as a backbone to "petition," effectively supporting the patriotic movement throughout the country. Zhang Wentian even more profoundly pointed out that at a time when the country's survival and demise are in full swing, there will be no result in running to petition the traitorous government, and only by relying on one's own strength and abolishing the traitorous government can the Chinese nation be saved from sinking into a bitter sea. In the wave of anti-imperialist patriotic movements for more than a month, Zhang Wentian actively participated in the actual struggle, from an obscure student to a patriotic youth with radical ideology and eye-catching attention. Xu Deheng, a well-known patriotic democrat who was one of the leaders of the Beijing Student Union and the All-China Federation of Students in the May Fourth Movement, still clearly remembers at the age of 90, "Comrade Zhang Wentian and Comrade Shen Zemin are very good, and the May Fourth Movement is a student of the Hehai Engineering College." He was very young, about seventeen or eighteen, very active, so I was very impressed. ”
Zhang Wentian (center), Shen Zemin (first from right), and Shen Zemin's brother Shen Yanbing-Mao Dun (first from left) in 1920
Zhang Wentian said that the main work he did when he participated in the May Fourth Movement in Nanjing was propaganda. Since June 23, a group of insightful people among Nanjing students have founded the "Nanjing Student Federation Daily", which is more than 20 days earlier than the famous similar publications "Xiangjiang Review" and "Tianjin Student Federation Daily". After schools across the country were ordered by the Beiyang government to take an early holiday, Zhang Wentian was still allowed by Xu Zhaonan to stay on campus for food and lodging, and was able to continue to serve as an editorial section member of the Nanjing Federation Daily Journal, writing and publishing articles.
The Journal of the Nanjing Federation of Students was discontinued on September 21, and a total of 70 issues were published. In the 51 journals that have been found so far, nearly 30 books have been published by Zhang Wentian, and Zhang Wentian is one of the authors who have commented the most. Zhang Wentian's works are concise and clear-cut, sharp and spicy, aiming at major domestic and foreign events such as the Paris Peace Treaty, railway loans, the North-South Peace Conference, the Fengji trend, and the cabinet difficulty in giving birth, ridiculing current politics, attacking shortcomings, strongly opposing imperialism and warlord governments, ruthlessly criticizing feudal ideas, and profoundly fighting back against the countercurrent of the new cultural movement. Through what he saw and felt in Nanjing, he also analyzed the things in everyone's lives from point to point from point to point, from street lamps, telephones, roads, running water, and other things in life, to expose the corruption and incompetence of the reactionary government. These articles are a true record of Zhang Wentian's social and political activities and ideological conditions during the May Fourth Movement, beating the pulse of youth in the May Fourth era. Although these miscellaneous feelings are only three words and two words, they can hit the point, which shows the sharpness of Zhang Wentian's eyes, the rigor of his thoughts, and the sharpness of his writing.
Journal of Nanjing Federation of Students
Among them, "Social Problems" is the most high-profile article. At the beginning of the new democratic revolution in 1919, before the founding of the Communist Party of China, when many people did not know what Marxism was, Zhang Wentian, who was only 19 years old, had already openly tried to examine social issues with the Marxist materialist view of history in this article, and in the absence of a Chinese translation of the "Communist Manifesto" in China, he completely listed the ten outlines of the "Manifesto" to the reader. Peng Ming, a well-known expert in the study of the May Fourth Movement and a professor at Chinese Min University, even claimed to praise this article after reading this article: "It can be said that it is rare among the May Fourth youths who can write such an article so early. In 1983, on the occasion of commemorating the 100th anniversary of Marx's death, the Central Compilation Bureau and other units exhibited Zhang Wentian's article as a newly discovered precious document of early dissemination of Marxism to the audience in the exhibition "The Works of Marx and Engels in China" held at the Museum of the Chinese Revolution.
The Journal of the Nanjing Federation of Students was the earliest publication to disseminate Marxism, and Zhang Wentian was the first person to spread Marxism in Nanjing and even in Jiangsu. Zhang Wentian's activities in the Journal of the Nanjing Federation of Students fully demonstrated his talent as a theoretician and propagandist in the future. Deng Xiaoping praised Zhang Wentian as a "passionate warrior of the May Fourth New Culture Movement," and in terms of ideological and theoretical achievements, Zhang Wentian was one of the most progressive young students in the country, and the chapters he originally wrote about the battles were a brilliant starting point for his great life.
The revolutionary actions of Zhang Wentian and Shen Zemin caused great panic among the reactionary authorities, and the Jiangsu Overseer repeatedly ordered the school to expel patriotic student leaders and activists from Hehai and planned to carry out arrests, and the principal Xu Zhaonan did his best to delay perfunctorily, and when "it was really impossible to resist", he ordered them to "withdraw from school" to prevaricate the Supervision Bureau and save them from arrest by the Military Administration. Xu Zhaonan's measures have reserved a precious "spark" for the Chinese revolution, and continue to care for and make it shine. Although Zhang Wentian did not complete his studies in "Hehai" and did not get a diploma, this did not affect his future study and work in the slightest. With a solid theoretical foundation and firm ideals and convictions, he still shone brightly in the revolutionary cause in the future. Later, the school also issued a certificate of study for Zhang Wentian, which provided him with effective help for him to study abroad.
The first principal of Hehai Engineering College, Xu Zhaonan
In the winter of 1919, Zhang Wentian was introduced by Zuo Shunsheng and Huang Zhongsu to officially participate in the "Young Chinese Society" founded by Li Dazhao and others. In February 1920, a member joined the news published in "Young China" recorded: "The new Canadian member association joined a total of three members in December last year and January this year. The three were arranged in the following order: Zhang Wentian (Jiangsu), Rui Xuezeng (Shanxi), and Mao Zedong (Hunan). At that time, Zhang Wentian and Mao Zedong had not yet met, but for the first time, their names were juxtaposed together, writing a great foreshadowing for the future side by side. Under the guidance of the purpose of "the spirit of undergraduate science, the activities of society, and the creation of young China", and following the covenant of struggle, practice, perseverance and frugality, Zhang Wentianyong took on the responsibility of young China. At that time, "China's young elite, all here", the best of this group eventually became Communists. In May 1920, after dropping out of school, Zhang Wentian and Shen Zemin went to Japan to study together, and a year later, the two returned to Shanghai, and the first thing they did was to find the Shanghai Communist Group and the Socialist Youth League, and actively participate in the red activities. In July 1921, Zhang Wentian and Shen Zemin came to Nanjing from Shanghai to attend the Nanjing Conference of the Young Chinese Society. During their activities in Nanjing, in the name of the "Marx Research Society," they vigorously promoted the work of building socialist youth leagues, and led many Hehai students to come into contact with Marxism, such as Yan Li and Cao Zhuangfu, who all embarked on the revolutionary road from Hehai, and Hehai became a well-known "Red Hat University."
In July 1921, Zhang Wentian attended the Nanjing Conference of the Young Chinese Society (Zhang Wentian was the first on the right in the third row)
In order to commemorate Zhang Wentian, Hohai University held a photo exhibition of "Zhang Wentian's Life" in 1985, and in 1995, with the support of the Central Party History Research Office, it established the "Zhang Wentian Exhibition Hall" and became the base of moral education in Jiangsu Province. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Zhang Wentian's birth in 1990, a bronze statue of Zhang Wentian was erected on the Hehai campus, always encouraging the "Hehai" students to "love the country and water, be pragmatic and re-do", and make contributions in the great journey of governing water and rejuvenating the country. On the occasion of the centenary of Zhang Wentian's birth in 2000, Hohai University also established the "Zhang Wentian Class", and Comrade Zhang Wentian's wife and old Red Army Liu Ying personally visited the school to award the first "Zhang Wentian Class" and take a group photo with the whole class in front of the bronze statue of Zhang Wentian.
Comrade Liu Ying took a group photo with the students of "Zhang Wentian Class"
Bathed in the ancient charm of Jinling in QingliangShan, feel the vicissitudes of stone city. Zhang Wentian embarked on the revolutionary road from Hehai and left a red gene for Hehai to pursue the truth, follow the party and the people, and bravely shoulder the great task of national rejuvenation. For more than a hundred years, generations of Hehai people have held the reputation of "Red Hat University" on their heads, adhered to the "four services", adhered to the principle of cultivating people with virtue, planted the feelings of the family and the country, inherited the mission of water control, promoted the construction of "double first-class", served the national strategy and the urgent needs of the industry, composed the triumphant song of "governing the water to save the country", "governing the water and serving the country" and "governing the water to strengthen the country", created water conservancy projects that attracted worldwide attention, and cultivated hundreds of thousands of outstanding pillars of socialist construction. Let us inherit and carry forward the revolutionary spirit and lofty demeanor of Comrade Zhang Wentian and other revolutionaries of the older generation, unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, and make greater contributions to educating people for the Party, educating talents for the country, and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!
Bronze statue of Zhang Wentian on the campus of Hohai University
Wentian Hall on the campus of Hohai University
(Some of the material in this article comes from Zhang Wentian's relatives Zhang Xiujun and Zhang Dongyan, thank you here!) ）
Disclaimer: The above content is reproduced from Hohai University, and the content posted does not represent the position of this platform.
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