53 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference jointly proposed that the adjustment of Teachers' Day be set up on the birthday of Confucius

The Surging News reporter Zhang Jiaran intern Wang Lulu

During the two sessions of the National People's Congress, the proposal to "adjust Teachers' Day to Be Set on Confucius's Birthday" was jointly proposed by 53 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

On March 7, Wang Xuedian, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and executive dean of the Institute for Advanced Study of Confucianism at Shandong University, told the www.thepaper.cn that during the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, he had joined forces with 52 other members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to jointly submit to the conference "a proposal on changing the adjustment of Teachers' Day to Kong's Birthday (September 28)."

He analyzed that in general, the reason why a specific date is selected as a festival should have significant social, historical and cultural connotations: either it is an important time node (such as the New Year), or it is closely related to major historical events (such as National Day and May Fourth Youth Day) and important historical figures (such as the Dragon Boat Festival).

"But on September 10, there is no specific historical and cultural connotation to rely on, which is not enough to reflect the importance of this day." In view of this, we propose to adjust the date of Teachers' Day from September 10 to Confucius's Birthday (September 28). Wang Xuedian therefore made a suggestion.

The Paper noted that the 53 CPPCC National Committee members included Chen Lai, professor of the School of Humanities of Tsinghua University and dean of the Institute of Chinese Studies; Wang Shiming, Ye Xiaowen, and Sun Qingju, deputy directors of the Culture, Literature, History, and Study Committee of the CPPCC National Committee; Guo Yunde, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles; Li Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Du Wei, former president of Hangzhou Normal University; Xu Jingkun, vice president of Jiangxi Normal University of Science and Technology; Yang Chaoming, president of the Confucius Research Institute; and Li Yepingren, professor of Shandong Normal University.

Their sectors include the Communist Party of China, the education sector, the social sciences, the sports sector, the cultural and artistic circles, the medical and health circles, the religious circles, the foreign friendship circles, the agricultural circles, the China Democratic Construction Association, the China Democratic League, the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, the All-China Youth Federation, the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the All-China Women's Federation, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, non-party personages, and specially invited personages.

People inside and outside the industry have repeatedly proposed

In previous years, the proposal to change Teachers' Day to Confucius's Birthday had been appealed to by a number of people inside and outside the education industry.

Beginning in 2004, Li Hanqiu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference," repeatedly called for Confucius's Birthday as Teachers' Day; in 2005, Professor Zhang Liwen of Chinese University submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress the Proposal on Designating Confucius' Birthday as Teachers' Day; in 2006, more than 50 scholars, including tenured professors Pang Pu and Chen Lai of Shandong University, jointly issued the "Proposal to the National People's Congress on Teachers' Day with Confucius's Birthday as Teachers' Day"; in 2008, Ling Zi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, proposed that Teachers' Day be changed to the birthday of Confucius.

In fact, as early as 2019, the Ministry of Education responded to the proposal to "change Teachers' Day to Confucius's Birthday".

In October 2019, the Ministry of Education mentioned in its reply to the "Proposal on Changing Teachers' Day in China from September 10 to Confucius's Birthday (September 28)" that the Ministry of Education attaches great importance to this opinion. In the previous work of revising the education law, we have carefully referred to the opinions and suggestions and made relevant work. Due to the need to exercise legal procedures for the rescheduling of Teachers' Day, the Ministry of Education will continue to carry out relevant research, listen to the opinions of all parties, actively reflect to the national legislature, and cooperate with relevant departments to do a good job.

"China's current Teachers' Day on September 10 was established by resolution of the Ninth Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on January 21, 1985. September 10 is designated as Teachers' Day, and the main consideration is to create an atmosphere of respect for teachers and re-teaching at the beginning of the school year. Wang Xuedian introduced.

A 2013 questionnaire showed that 75.1 percent of education administrators "fully agreed" or "basically agreed" with changing Teachers' Day to Confucius' Birthday.

"This shows that we already have a deep social foundation for making Confucius's Birthday a teacher's day." Wang Xuedian put forward four specific reasons: First, Confucius has an extremely important position in the history of world education and is the most representative educational symbol; second, as a great educator, the most representative cultural symbol of Chinese civilization, Confucius has always been respected by the people of all countries in the world; third, in China's history, there has always been a fine tradition of respecting teachers and emphasizing teaching, juxtaposing "teachers" with "heaven," "earth," "kings," and "relatives"; fourth, setting Confucius's birthday as Teachers' Day is becoming more and more recognized by the cultural and educational circles and the public.

It is recommended that schools organize recitation activities

As for how to change Teacher's Day to Confucius's Birthday, the proposal also proposes a "four-step" approach.

Wang Xuedian introduced: First, relevant departments should pay close attention to studying the adjustment of teachers' day time in order to respond to the long-term common concerns of the educational circles, ideological and cultural circles as soon as possible.

The second is to strengthen the publicity of the historical and cultural connotations of Kong's Birthday (September 28) to further enhance the cohesion and cultural self-confidence of the Chinese nation.

The third is to submit the proposal to adjust Teachers' Day from September 10 to Kong's Birthday (September 28) to the Central Office for the Construction of Spiritual Civilization and to solicit opinions from the whole society. On the basis of public solicitation of opinions, the Teachers Law was amended to officially adjust Teachers' Day from September 10 to September 28, Kong's Birthday.

Fourth, it is recommended that all types of schools at all levels organize teachers and students to hold activities such as worshipping Confucius or reciting the Analects on September 28 (Confucius's Birthday), and at the same time use this activity as a public ceremony for young students and the whole society to strengthen national cultural identity.

Editor-in-Charge: Jiang Ziwen

Proofreader: Yan Zhang