Tao Xingzhi, a famous educator and thinker in China (1891.10.18-1946.7.25)
"The Great Biography of Tao Xingzhi"
by Zhou Hongyu
People's Education Press
Tao Xingzhi handwriting information picture
【Author said】
I have a deep relationship with Tao Xingzhi's research. The first task of staying in school after graduating from university in early 1982 was to participate in the editing and publication of the Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (8 volumes, Hunan Education Publishing House) organized by the school. After that, the topic of my master's thesis in education and the topic of my doctoral dissertation in history were related to Tao Xingzhi. Since then, I have embarked on a path of learning pottery and pottery. That's 40 years.
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In the long-term study of Tao Xingzhi, I have found that people are accustomed to studying Tao Xingzhi from the perspective of politics and education. In my opinion, analyzing from these two perspectives is "necessary" but "very insufficient". It is said to be "necessary" because these two are indeed the main areas of Tao Xingzhi's lifelong activity. Without the investigation of these two angles, the main aspects of Tao Xingzhi's life's activities cannot be reflected; it is said that it is "very insufficient" because there are great limitations in understanding Tao Xingzhi from these two perspectives--it is difficult to grasp the whole connotation of Tao Xingzhi's people as a whole.
I have always believed that culture and education are like twins, interdependent, mutually restrictive and mutually reinforcing. The inheritance and progress of culture are inseparable from the role of education, and the reform and development of education also depend on the support of culture. Culture and education always achieve the goal of symbiosis and co-prosperity in continuous adaptation and coupling. I think that only from the perspective of culture, tao xingzhi is understood as a comprehensive cultural giant in modern China, and the four worlds related to it are studied as objects, can it be possible to truly show the whole picture of Tao Xingzhi from the four perspectives of life, thought, practice and influence, which is also my original intention in writing "Tao Xingzhi's Biography - The Four Worlds of a Cultural Giant".
Tao Xingzhi grew up by receiving different cultures and education in China and the West, and the cultures of different periods and different nationalities directly affected the formation of his educational ideas. It can be said that Tao Xingzhi is not only an individual who has grown up in the collision and fusion of different cultures in China and the West, but also served as a messenger for cultural exchanges and integration between China and the West. The formation of Tao Xingzhi's educational thought is inseparable from the influence of Chinese and Western cultures, and with the maturity of his educational ideas, he has seriously examined and judged different cultures, and made choices and draws on conflicting cultures, thus completing the task of inheriting and innovating culture.
In my opinion, Tao Xingzhi has made great contributions to China and even the world in many aspects of the broad cultural world. In addition to the field of education, he has made outstanding contributions in many aspects such as language and writing, literary creation, mass art, popularization of science, press and publication, etc., laying a solid foundation for the prosperity of modern And contemporary China's cultural undertakings. Hence what I call a "cultural giant." The historical role of cultural giants is manifested in: standing at the forefront of the cultural development of the times, independent of the tide of cultural thought; leading the turmoil of culture and opening up the precedent of the times. Because of this, Tao Xingzhi is such a cultural giant who is dominant in many aspects.
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Looking back on Tao Xingzhi's life, I divide the activities and deeds of this cultural giant's life into four parts: "living world", "spiritual world", "creating world" and "receiving world". I believe that examining Tao Xingzhi's practice and contribution in modern China from these four aspects, exploring the daily life, spiritual pursuit, practical creation and role influence of this great man, and admiring his people, his words, and his deeds can not only further broaden the threshold of Tao Xingzhi's research, but also help people to deeply study and learn from the sages and better build the cause of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics.
Get close to Tao Xingzhi's "living world". Tao Xingzhi is the child of the conflict and fusion of Chinese and Western cultures in the 20th century. The era in which ancient China and the emerging West were in the era of military conflict, diplomatic disputes, and economic competition, or when two different social systems, historical traditions, and cultural systems coexisted but conflicted and blended with each other. The clash and fusion of Chinese and Western cultures has left a deep imprint on the people living in this era. If we do some cultural background investigation of the outstanding figures who were full of passion and hard work during the "May Fourth" period, it is not difficult to find that each of them is a typical cultural complex -- the birth of the conflict and fusion of Chinese and Western cultures. Tao Xingzhi was no different from the cultural heroes of that era, who had experienced both traditional culture and accepted the baptism of Western culture, which is the so-called: both old learning and new knowledge, tradition and modernity coexist. Therefore, in a sense, Tao Xingzhi provides us with a model of "people" who clash and blend Chinese and Western cultures. Tao Xingzhi's life ambitions were obviously shaken by the environment of the times, and there were four major changes - medical salvation, literature national salvation, political national salvation, and education national salvation. It is this growth path that has forged his spiritual character of firm and steady and unremitting efforts for the popularization of education in China, and has gradually acquired superhuman ability and made extraordinary contributions.
Get close to Tao Xingzhi's "spiritual world". The perfection of the ideological system is the spiritual driving force for the formation of the giant of Tao Xingzhi culture. Through the knowledge learning and cultural accumulation of his youth, as well as the influence of the external environment, Tao Xingzhi gradually formed his own spiritual world. This rich spiritual world is both a boundary marker for the formation of its cultural giants and a guide for its creative practice. As far as political ideas are concerned, Tao Xingzhi was initially a European-American liberal and old democrat, and finally developed into a new democrat who opposed Chiang Kai-shek, anti-authoritarianism, anti-dictatorship, supported the Communist Party of China, and had distinct socialist tendencies; from a philosophical point of view, at first Tao Xingzhi believed in Wang Yangming's concept of knowledge and action, later accepted Dewey's pragmatic ideas, and finally became a recipient of materialistic dialectics; in terms of educational concepts, from advocating nationalist education ideas, To accept Dewey's pragmatic educational ideas to the end to integrate Chinese and Western to establish the theory of life education. Tao Xingzhi has formed a special exemplary personality in the arduous study and unremitting pursuit: the broad mind of love all over the world, the great sentiment of being willing to dedicate, the fierce and sincere passion for education, the indomitable and resolute quality, the truth-seeking and pragmatic ideological style, and the creative spirit of pioneering and seeking new ideas. These excellent qualities have not only become the driving force and guarantee for his lifelong persistent pursuit of revitalizing the cultural and educational undertakings of the Chinese nation, but also inspired and spurred generations of young people to follow the path he guided and step on his footprints to seek a way out for China's educational reform and development. Approaching tao xingzhi's spiritual world, it can be found that the formation process of Tao Xingzhi's ideological theory is also a microcosm of the process of the times, reflecting that modern China has been oscillating and choosing between Chinese and Western cultures in the process of modernization.
Approach Tao Xingzhi's "Creating the World". Tao Xingzhi's creative world is a realm of life brewed in the living world and built on the spiritual world. The key to his ability to become a cultural giant is that he can creatively make outstanding contributions in the field of culture and education and create new theories, and build a creative world through his creative achievements in cultural theory and practice. Tao Xingzhi has always advocated creation, in order to promote the formation of a creative trend in China, he specially wrote the "Declaration of Creation", and its famous aphorism that "everywhere is the place of creation, every day is the time of creation, everyone is the creator" has inspired generations of confused young people. In his mind, creation is the eternal theme. Therefore, he set an example, no matter what kind of work he did, he devoted himself to the cause and created with great enthusiasm until he opened up a new world and created a new field. In terms of education, in order to truly realize the popularization of education in China, Tao Xingzhi has successively carried out seven major educational movements, creatively established new schools such as Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal School and Shanghai Shanhai Engineering Group, breaking the traditional education model and opening up a new situation in China's modern and contemporary education practice; creatively put forward the theory of life education, "life is education", "society is school" and "teaching is one", which not only provides important theoretical resources for the rise and development of China's modern and modern new education movement. Moreover, it provides reference and enlightenment for the construction of today's socialist education system with Chinese characteristics. In terms of literary and artistic creation, Tao Xingzhi created the "Tao School Of Poetry" with a clear and clear style, which opened up a new style of modern and contemporary Chinese poetry creation; he also advocated new writing and popular literature, worthy of being a pioneer in the reform of modern and contemporary Chinese language. In terms of scientific popularization, we have vigorously advocated scientific experiments and scientific investigations, established nature schools and children's science communication schools, compiled children's science series, cultivated backbone science popularization, and carried out the "science marriage" campaign, which has opened up a new situation in China's science popularization education. In my opinion, these innovative achievements have come together to create Tao Xingzhi's creative world.
Approach Tao Xingzhi's "Accepting the World". Tao Xingzhi has a broad audience for acceptance and research at home and abroad, and from the perspective of acceptance, these constitute Tao Xingzhi's acceptance world. Mao Zedong called him "a great people's educator," Dong Biwu praised him as "a saint today," Song Qingling praised him as "the master of all generations," and Lin Boqu called him "the standard-bearer of anti-Westernization education and anti-traditional education." General Secretary Xi Jinping has also mentioned Tao Xingzhi many times on different occasions, fully affirming Tao Xingzhi's thoughts, career, personality and spirit. Not only in China, Tao Xingzhi also enjoys a high reputation in the world. Akio Saito, a well-known Japanese historian of education, former director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, and professor at Tokyo Junior College University, pointed out: "Tao Xingzhi belongs not only to China, but also to the world. In 2007, David T. Hansen, a well-known American scholar and professor of philosophy and education at Columbia University Teachers College, introduced the world's top ten most influential educational thinkers in his book "Ethical Perspectives on Education: Philosophy of Education in Practice". One of the only Chinese educational thinkers is Tao Xingzhi. Juxtaposing it with dewey in the United States, Montessori in Italy and other world-famous educational thinkers shows the great influence of Tao Xingzhi in the international academic community and is highly recognized by international people. Tao Xingzhi's theory of life education is not only an educational idea that conforms to the trend of modern education in the world, but also a guide to universal education put forward in response to China's national conditions. It is precisely because Tao Xingzhi's educational ideas are practical, scientific and creative, so from the 1920s to the present, Tao Xingzhi's acceptance of the world has been thriving, fruitful and prosperous.
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In the history of the development of human civilization, certain periods often become important turning points in history with a series of huge events that suddenly arrived. For all the peoples of the world, especially the Chinese nation, the 20th century was such an unusual period. In this century, the Chinese nation has undergone the most painful, yet greatest, change in history: an authoritarian and authoritarian monarchy has given way to a people's democratic republican form of government, a self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy has been transformed into a commodity economy based on large-scale industrial production, and the ancient traditional culture has been strongly challenged by modern Western culture. After one historic earthquake after another, the magnificent edifices of modern civilization were finally gradually built on the ruins of the Old World.
This is an era when heroes are needed and heroes can be made, and cultural giants are needed and cultural giants are produced. As Engels said in his appraisal of the social and cultural conditions of the modern bourgeoisie: "This is the greatest and most progressive change that mankind has ever experienced before, an age in which giants are needed and giants are produced — giants in the capacity of thinking, passion and character, in versatility and knowledge." "Tao Xingzhi is a representative hero and cultural giant born in this great era. The cultural orientation and common characteristics of an era are often determined and constituted by the ideological concepts, behaviors, innovative achievements, speeches, writings, and later influences of the cultural giants or cultural groups that dominate the era. Tao Xingzhi's four worlds are actually the worlds that the cultural heroes and cultural giants of that era generally had. In fact, in that turbulent era, they were the heroes created by the times, and at the same time led the development of the times. In their fighting careers of more than half a century, they have constantly pursued truth, pursued progress, and made immortal contributions to the motherland and the people in the pursuit of the complete liberation of the Chinese nation, to the freedom and happiness of the masses, and to the development of modern China's education and culture.
(Author: Zhou Hongyu, Vice President of China Education Association, Director of Tao Xingzhi International Research Center, Central China Normal University)