At the beginning of the 20th century, he went to France for work-study movements

In the history of modern China, the work-study movement in France in the early 20th century was not only a feat in the history of Chinese study, but also a major event in the history of the modern Chinese revolution and Sino-French relations, which had a significant and far-reaching impact in many aspects.

The rise of the work-study movement in France

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the face of internal and external troubles, Chinese young people began to go abroad in large numbers in an organized way to study abroad in order to seek the truth of national salvation, which developed into a large-scale study abroad movement in modern Chinese history. The work-study movement in France originated in February 1912 when Li Shizeng, Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Jingjiang, Wu Zhihui, Wu Yuzhang and others initiated and organized the French Frugal Society. The reason why they encourage domestic students to study in France is that the annual cost of studying in France is "not much compared to the cost of studying in Japan", and they also hope to achieve the purpose of transforming society by studying in France, saying that "improving society is the first priority to education." If you want to lose the world civilization in China, you must study in Taixi as the main picture...... If you want to create a new society and a new people, it is not necessary to study in Moji, but especially in a country with advanced people's morale and people's intelligence."

After the failure of the "Second Revolution" in 1913, the domestic education in France tended to come to a halt due to the destruction of Yuan Shikai, Li Shizeng, Cai Yuanpei and others went into exile in France to continue to promote the work-study movement in France, and carried out the work-study movement among the Chinese workers in France after the outbreak of World War I, initiated the organization of the "Work-Study Society", with the purpose of "working diligently, thrifty in learning, and advancing the wisdom of laborers", founded the Chinese Workers' School, selected some more knowledgeable Chinese workers, taught them general knowledge and Chinese French, and went to various factories to serve as translators after completing their studies. and taught other Chinese workers in his spare time. In order to more effectively promote cultural exchanges and exchanges between China and France, on June 22, 1916, Chinese and French people jointly initiated the establishment of the Sino-French Education Association in Paris, announcing the purpose of "developing friendship between China and France, especially the education of science and spirit in France, and the development of morality, knowledge and economy in China". The president of the French side of the Huafa Education Association is Ou Le, and the Chinese president is Cai Yuanpei. Since then, the Huafa Education Association has become the organizer and promoter of this special education movement in France.

After the defeat of Yuan Shikai's Hongxian Empire in June 1916, Cai Yuanpei and Li Shizeng, the Chinese leaders and members of the Huafa Education Association, returned to China one after another, and moved the work of promoting education in France back to China. In May 1917, they first established the Huafa Education Association in Beijing. Subsequently, branches were set up in Zhili, Shandong, Shanghai, Hunan, Sichuan, Fujian, Guangdong and Shaanxi to "promote studying abroad" and "persuade students to stay in France". At the same time, they published various introductory articles in journals to vigorously promote the significance of studying in France and studying. The reason why they advocate studying in France is not only because of the low cost of studying in France and the fact that legal persons are "friendly and unbounded" to other people, but also because France is the pioneer of modern European culture, and modern French education is suitable for China. For example, French education is not bound by the concept of "gentry class, government omnipotence, religious omnipotence, etc.", and this educational concept is most suitable for China. Moreover, the development of science in France is worth learning from - "the countries of Tessie have their own specialties, and the perseverance of invention and the broadness of all kinds of learning are most famous for legal persons".

Under the vigorous propaganda and promotion of the Huafa Education Association, and under the influence of the new trends of thought such as "work-study doctrine", "labor sacredness" and "populism" of the May Fourth New Culture, the work-study movement in France ushered in a climax from 1919 to 1920. From March 17, 1919, when the first batch of 89 students went to France for work-study, to December 15, 1920, when the last batch of work-study students went to France, a total of 20 batches of Chinese students went to France en masse, plus some students who went to France to study sporadically, the total number of Chinese work-study students in France was close to 2,000, which was spectacular, with a total of 30 schools accepting work-study in France, and more than 60 factories accepting work-study students, "almost all over France".

Friendly support from all sectors of French society

Although the work-study program in France is initiated by the Chinese organization, it is difficult to sustain without the cooperation and support of the host country, France. In fact, since its founding in 1912, the Society has been supported by friendly people in France.

The Frenchman Dormont, a foreign affairs adviser to the Beiyang government, once taught French on a voluntary basis at the Beijing Preparatory School for Studying in France founded by the Society for Studying in France. At the beginning of 1916, the Sino-French Cultural Exchange General Organ established in Paris, the Sino-French Education Association, was actually established by the initiative of French people, and on March 29, at the launching meeting of the Sino-French Education Association, as many as 32 French people attended and signed up, including university professors, principals of primary and secondary schools, teachers, former government education and cultural officials, parliamentarians, musicians and medical doctors, most of whom were cultural figures. Among them, University Professor Oule was elected by the General Assembly as the president of the French side of the Huafa Education Association, the parliamentarian Murdai was the vice president, the French secondary school teacher Bednar and the French agricultural and industrial school provost Fa Lu were the secretary, and the representative of the Republican Chamber of Commerce and Industry was the accountant. In the work-study movement in France, the French side of the Chinese French Education Association in Paris was specifically responsible for the liaison with the relevant schools and factories in France. Not only that, but the branch of the Sino-French Education Association established in China also has many French personalities involved, such as the French consular officer Wei Wuda as the vice president of the Shanghai Huafa Education Association, the French public school principal Gao Boai as the councilor, the president of the Sino-French Industrial Bank Li Yong as the accountant, and the French special member of the Chinese Workers in China to manage the Chinese workers Rong Suli as the secretary. The support of friendly people in France provided an indispensable external condition for the initial development of the work-study movement in France.

After the end of the First World War, with the rise of diplomatic relations between China and France, the work-study movement to France flourished, and the movement began to attract the attention and support of the French government. In November 1918, the French government envoy Grillet drafted an action plan to expand the influence of France and French culture in China, suggesting that the French government should fund the Sino-French Education Association to establish French schools in China to train Chinese young people who wanted to study in France. the establishment of a Sino-French secondary school and a Sino-French university in Beijing, as well as a management center, which led to the introduction of French language courses by the Chinese government in a number of provincial educational institutions; the creation of a French-language weekly in Beijing so that Chinese interested in receiving French education, culture and ideas can keep abreast of French thought; China and France are jointly responsible for the recruitment of Chinese workers, and France organizes French language education for these workers. Most of this plan has since been implemented. Later, at the suggestion of the French Minister to China, the French government, in October 1920, the French government officially added the "Supervision of Chinese Students in France" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strengthen the contact and management with work-study students. These measures of the French government also strongly promoted the work-study movement in France at the official level in 1919-1920.

Even when the French economy was in difficulty, the French government did not give up its support for Chinese work-study students in France. At the end of 1920, after the work-study students who went to France fell into difficulties due to the economic crisis in France, the French government also extended a helping hand and established the "Chinese Youth Association in France" in early 1921, which distributed 6 francs a day to hundreds of Chinese students who had no source of livelihood to help them tide over the difficulties. Since the autumn of 1922, the French government has changed its funding policy, set up scholarships to support work-study students who have entered colleges and universities, and reorganized the "Chinese Youth Association in France" to be responsible for this work. The maximum number of scholarships established by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Freemasonry is 26 per year, and the amount varies greatly depending on the student's field of study and the region in which the student is located, with the highest being between 6,000 and 7,100 francs per year and the lowest being 500 to 750 francs a year. According to statistics, in the seven years from 1922 to 1928, a total of 100 Chinese students were sponsored, with a total amount of 375,528.32 francs.

In short, the work-study movement in France has received strong support from the French government and some civil society, organizations and friendly people. In this regard, the work-study movement in France is a veritable Sino-French educational cooperation undertaking and has left a good story in the history of educational exchanges between China and France.

The important impact of the work-study movement in France

The primary significance of the work-study movement in France is that it has cultivated a large number of outstanding revolutionaries for China and left an important page in the history of the Chinese revolution and the founding of the Communist Party of China. Influenced by various socialist trends of thought and reflections on Western capitalist civilization after World War I and the end of World War I, the work-study movement in France cultivated a large number of revolutionary pioneers with a global vision for the founding and development of the Communist Party of China, such as Cai Hesen, Xiang Jingyu, Zhao Shiyan, Zhou Enlai, Wang Ruofei, Chen Yannian, Deng Xiaoping, etc. At the beginning of 1921, the early organization of the Chinese Communist Party in France was established in Paris. According to statistics, when the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in July 1921, there were 58 party members in the country, including Zhang Shenfu, Liu Qingyang, Zhou Enlai, Zhao Shiyan, and Chen Gongpei, accounting for 8.6% of the total number of party members in the country. By the time the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in January 1925, there were 994 party members in the country, and about 210 party members were studying in France, accounting for more than 20% of the total number of party members in the country. When Mao Zedong talked to Snow about the founding of the Communist Party of China, he fully affirmed the important role of the work-study movement in France, pointing out that "at the same time, many work-study people in France also established the Communist Party of China organization, which was established almost at the same time as the organization in China." ”

The work-study movement in France has cultivated all kinds of useful talents for China's educational, scientific, cultural and economic construction. According to the statistics of the Chinese Youth Association in France, as of January 10, 1923, there were 225 Chinese students studying in French colleges and universities, and 255 in secondary schools, majoring in law, medicine, science and engineering, literature, pharmacy, etc. According to incomplete statistics, there were nearly 40 work-study students who later obtained a doctorate in France.

The work-study movement in France has created a new mode of studying abroad in the history of studying in China and promoted the change of educational concepts. China's modern study abroad movement began in the 70s of the 19th century during the Westernization Movement, and by the beginning of the 20th century, some aspiring young people also studied abroad at their own expense, especially in Japan. However, in the minds of the Chinese at that time, studying abroad was only a matter for the rich, and they needed to have a solid family background to do it, and the work-study movement in France broke this traditional concept and created a new model of studying abroad through work-study, providing a new channel for those aspiring young people with poor family conditions to study abroad.

The work-study movement in France has also had a profound impact on promoting cultural exchanges and communication between China and France, and has played an important role as a bridge. On the one hand, a large number of Chinese students have come to France to bring Chinese culture and enhance the French people's understanding of Chinese culture through exchanges with local people in their studies and work. On the other hand, work-study students are also ambassadors of French culture to China, as the work-study students in France said in a statement: the purpose of the work-study program is to study European culture, especially French culture, in the hope of improving the fate of China when they return to the East in the future. In any case, they are the builders of Sino-French friendship, living with the workers in the factories, in the granges, with the peasants, speaking and talking, and communicating with the working society. In the school, he can communicate with teachers and students, learn about things, and communicate with the intellectual class.

(The author is a researcher at the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)