"Tao Xingzhi thought is the 'Tao', it is a macro theory, which is also where he still shines 75 years after his death. He led me like a faith, not only by blood, but also because of his charisma and spirit. In the past two days, Tao Xingzhi's great-grandson Tao Kan traveled to Anhui, Shanghai and Jiangsu to participate in many places to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Tao Xingzhi's birth, and to trace the educational ideas and concepts of his great-grandfather.
Pictured: Tao Kan went to Huangshan to participate in the 130th anniversary of Tao Xingzhi's birth. Photo by Zhao Weijie
Say Huizhou the land of aspirations
"Huizhou is not only the birthplace and first hometown of his great-grandfather, but also the place where his values and outlook on life were established." Tao Kan has visited his ancestral hometown of Huangshan many times to explore the footprints of his great-grandfather.
At the Chongyi Xuetang in Shexian County, Huangshan, you can still see the words left on the walls during Tao Xingzhi's studies: I am a Chinese to make some contributions to China. "With the aspiration of the heart, this shows that when my great-grandfather was a teenager, he was deeply influenced by Huizhou culture and determined his ambition to dedicate himself to the motherland." Tao Kan said bluntly that when Tao Xingzhi was studying in Anhui, his family was poor and he moved several times, but the teachers everywhere he went were willing to provide him with free reading, and it was the spirit of great love of Hui culture that played a fundamental and important role in the cultivation of Tao Xingzhi's later spirit of "love all over the world". Tao Kan confessed that Tao Xingzhi walked out of Huizhou at the age of 17 until his death in Shanghai at the age of 55, during which he rarely returned to his hometown. It was not that he did not want to go back, but that the civilian education, national disaster education, and anti-war education under the situation in China at that time made him have no time to go back, which may also be a lifelong regret.
Pictured: Tao Kan participated in the commemoration of the 130th anniversary of Tao Xingzhi's birth. Photo by Xu Jian
Say Baoshan the place of practice
Shanghai, known as Tao Xingzhi's "second hometown", especially has an indissoluble relationship with Baoshan. In 1914, Tao Xingzhi crossed the other side of the ocean from Wusong Wharf to study, and after returning to China, he founded the Shanhai Engineering Society in Baoshan Dachang to practice the educational concept of "teaching and doing one".
"Since my great-grandfather, Mr. Tao Xingzhi, our Tao family has been cultivating education in Baoshan for four generations." After graduating from Normal University in 2007, Tao Kan has been teaching in Baoshan for more than 10 years, working at Xingzhi Experimental Middle School and Shanghai Xingzhi Middle School founded by his great-grandfather after Yucai moved east. "My father once said to me, since I hope that more people will 'learn pottery' together, if the Tao family does not learn it themselves, what reason is there for others to really learn it?"
Today, Tao Kan is the deputy director of the Shanghai Tao Xingzhi Memorial Hall, which in his view is a broader platform to organize more students to participate in Tao Xingzhi's study and research.
Tao Kan understands that the "Tao Guan" is not only for remembrance and commemoration, but also for the cultivation of personality, ambition and values for young people, and has been built into an academic exchange center, a teacher training center, a multi-party cooperation center, and an international exchange center.
Pictured: Tao Kan gazes at the inscription on the wall of Tao Xingzhi's youth on the wall of the student dormitory.
Speaking of the Yangtze River Delta, the land of integration
Determined to be in Anhui, developed in Nanjing Xiaozhuang, mature in the Shanghai Shanhai Engineering Troupe, and promoted in the rural normal school in Zhejiang, Mr. Tao Xingzhi's educational ideas have always been rooted in the vast land of the Yangtze River Delta. Tao Kan summed up Tao Xingzhi's educational philosophy in eight aspects: "The great ambition of finding the dawn for Chinese education and the sense of responsibility of the times;the dedication spirit of "holding a heart and not taking half a blade of grass with it"; the broad mind of "teaching without class" and "loving the whole world"; the pioneering and innovative spirit of "daring to explore new principles that have not been discovered, daring to enter the frontier of uncivilized"; the truth-seeking spirit of "teaching people to seek truth" and "learning to be real people"; the lifelong learning attitude of "self-subversion"; the educator spirit of "having education and no home"; and the lofty belief of "serving the country and serving the people".
At the commemorative meeting held in Huangshan City on the 17th, representatives of teachers and students of Xin'an Primary School in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province and Xin'an Primary School in Shexian County, Huangshan City, jointly issued the "Proposal for Learning Pottery"; at the commemorative meeting held in Baoshan District on the 18th, the "Yangtze River Delta Youth Tao Xingzhi Education and Research Alliance" was established, and young teachers from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui worked together to inherit and innovate Tao Xingzhi's educational ideas. "Compared with the environment of our great-grandfather, we have very superior social conditions today, but we still need to carry forward the spirit of Mr. Tao Xingzhi, set great ambitions, set true aspirations, and achieve a career."
Special correspondent Cheng Xiangyang Zhang Shuhui Chief reporter fan jie of Xinmin Evening News