The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Tianjin port.

On the passenger ship coming from the south, two scholars walked down the gangway with their suitcases.

The elder is about 60 years old, named Zhong Guanguang, a pioneer of modern Chinese botany, and the first to use scientific methods to study plant classification in China. The youngest is only in his 30s, named Tan Xihong, the founder of the Department of Biology at Peking University and a pioneer of modern Chinese biology.

The two came back from Hangzhou. As representatives of Peking University, they had just gone to the south to meet Cai Yuanpei. They hoped that Cai Yuanpei would come back to be the principal, but they were politely rejected by the other party.

The current situation of Peking University is very bad. At the end of the semester at the end of June alone, more than ten professors left their posts. Among them are Ding Xielin, dean of the Chemistry Department, Yan Renguang, dean of the Physics Department, Feng Zuxun, dean of the Mathematics Department, Hu Shi, a professor of the Philosophy Department, and Li Siguang, Lin Yutang, Shen Jianshi, Qian Xuantong, etc., who were either dismissed by other schools or resigned themselves.

In addition, Gu Mengyu, Li Dazhao, Chen Qixiu, Yu Shude, Zhu Jiahua and others stopped teaching for political reasons. Jiang Menglin and Feng Xulun also disappeared, hiding and not daring to show their faces.

In September, the situation at Peking University became even more serious, almost equating to bankruptcy. Due to the severe shortage of teachers, Peking University can only announce that the holiday will continue, and the start of school is nowhere in sight. Including Lu Xun, Chen Yuan and more than a dozen teachers, some went to Xiamen, and some went to Tsinghua University.

The remaining Peking University teachers who have not yet left all hope that Cai Yuanpei can be invited back to preside over the overall situation, otherwise they will not see any hope of resuming the school.

"Oh, if this goes on, I'm going to the south too." Zhong Guanguang sighed.

Tan Xihong could only smile bitterly. They went south this time not only to persuade Cai Yuanpei to come back, but also with the task of inviting scholars to Peking University to fill the shortage of teachers in the school. When he was in Hangzhou, Tan Xihong went to invite an old classmate, but the old classmate persuaded him to stay in Zhejiang to teach instead.

Tan Xihong said: "There are also many scholars in Tianjin, let's visit some more."

Zhong Guanguang shook his head and said, "Peking University can't even pay the teachers' salaries now, how can I have the face to hire someone to teach?"

"I have to try. I have a classmate named Yan Zhiying who studies physics and is at home for a funeral now," Tan Xihong said, "and Zhou Hexuan who wrote "The Rise of Great Powers" can also talk to him. Please go back to Peking University to teach. world history."

Zhong Guanguang gave up hope and said: "Let's go to the hotel first."

The two walked out of the pier in a low mood, and suddenly heard the newsboy shout: "Read the newspaper, read the newspaper, discuss national education, do the sons of murderers and prostitutes have the right to study!"

"Hey," Tan Xihong suddenly became interested and waved, "Here's a copy of the newspaper!"

The newsboy ran over, spread his hands and said, "Ta Kung Pao, three cents and five cents."

"No more change." Tan Xihong handed over 6 large copper coins.

"Thank you, sir." The newsboy said happily, and he got a 5% tip for this business.

The two called a rickshaw, and Tan Xihong sat in the car to read the newspaper, and soon came across the article discussing the right to education. He recounted the situation and said to Zhong Guanguang: "Professor Zhong, this Zhou Hexuan seems to be enthusiastic about education, maybe he can be hired."

Zhong Guanguang reminded: "Don't forget that education foundation was initiated by Zhang Xueliang."

Tan Xihong was silent. Peking University became what it is now, mainly thanks to Zhang Zuolin. Directly sending troops to surround Peking University, Zhang Dashuai scared the teachers and students of the school enough.

The two went to the hotel to put away their luggage. Zhong Guanguang was getting old and he didn't want to make any more troubles, but Tan Xihong rushed to invite Zhou Hexuan excitedly.

Upon arriving at the newspaper office, Tan Xihong asked a staff member, "Is Mr. Zhou Hexuan in?"

"Here, that's Mr. Zhou." The staff pointed to him.

Zhou Hexuan was leading people to go out, when Tan Xihong walked over and said, "Mr. Zhou, hello, I am Tan Xihong, the director of the Biology Department of Peking University."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Zhou Hexuan shook hands puzzledly, not knowing why this person was looking for him.

"Is Mr. Zhou going out?" Tan Xihong asked.

"Well, take someone out to do a questionnaire survey." Zhou Hexuan nodded.

The questionnaire survey was relatively new, so Tan Xihong volunteered to follow along and went out with several newspaper employees.

On the street, Zhou Hexuan said to his subordinates: "When doing a questionnaire survey, the sampling must be as comprehensive as possible. Xiao Zhou, Lao Zhang, Brother Zheng, and Li Min, you are responsible for the east, west, north, south, and north of Tianjin City respectively. I will come to the concession area in person. .The survey objects should cover people of different age groups and different occupations, and each survey should be recorded in detail. Do you understand?"

"Understood, President!" Everyone responded one after another.

Tan Xihong asked curiously: "Mr. Zhou, is this questionnaire useful for you?"

Zhou Hexuan explained: "Ta Kung Pao is going to do a series of in-depth reports on citizens' right to education. This questionnaire survey is to collect people's views on this."

"Oh, I understand," Tan Xihong praised, "This is just like doing a scientific experiment. It needs to collect and analyze data. I didn't expect that running a newspaper is so particular."

Zhou Hexuan said: "The news that is written with a pat on the head is inevitably out of touch with the actual situation. The policy of our "Ta Kung Pao" newspaper is not to party, not to be selfish, not to sell, and not to be blind. Blind reporting."

Tan Xihong affirmed: "This is also a scientific attitude."

The two hadn't walked a few steps before Zhou Hexuan found a peddler and said, "Hi, I'm a surveyor for Ta Kung Pao."

"What?" The peddler looked confused.

Zhou Hexuan said in detail: "In the Hope Primary School in the north of the city, there was a student whose father was a murderer and whose mother was a prostitute. The parents of other students objected to his study and asked to be expelled. What do you think about this?"

The peddler said, "Of course I will be fired!"

"Why?" Zhou Hexuan asked while recording.

The peddler said: "Dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix. The son of a mouse can make a hole. The son of a murderer can't even study. How many people will be killed if he becomes a bad person in the future."

Zhou Hexuan asked again: "The Constitution of the Republic of China stipulates that all citizens have the right to education. Do you think this student has the right to study?"

The peddler took it for granted, "What books are you still studying? My father is a murderer and my mother is a prostitute. Such a person is definitely not a good thing when he grows up. It will be easier to die earlier."

"Okay, thank you for your cooperation," Zhou Hexuan said, "May I ask your name, age, occupation, and have you ever studied?"

The peddler smiled and said, "My name is Li Quan, I'm 32 years old, I'm a candy seller, I can't read."

Zhou Hexuan questioned seven or eight people one after another, even the Indian police officers investigated, and the answers they got were surprisingly consistent: the sons of murderers and prostitutes should not study!

Tan Xihong witnessed the whole process and couldn't believe it: "How could this happen? How could this happen?"

"Don't worry, take your time." Zhou Hexuan stopped another person wearing glasses, who seemed to be an intellectual.

The man said: "Of course you have the right to study. Now that the Republic of China is in place, a progressive civilized society must give every citizen the opportunity to receive education."

Zhou Hexuan asked: "What if this person grows up to be a bad person? Knowledgeable bad people are more harmful than illiterate people."

"Then they should be educated more. Schools can guide people to be good and correct their dangerous behavior concepts." That humane said.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "Thank you for your cooperation. May I ask your name, age, occupation and education level."

The man replied happily: "My name is Lu Xingfang, my name is Runliang, I am 29 years old, a master of finance, and an employee of a foreign company."

After this question, Tan Xihong said: "It seems that scholars are still sensible."

"That's not necessarily true." Zhou Hexuan said.

Soon I asked a vegetable seller again, she said: "It is good to study more, this murderer's son, maybe he will be good when he grows up."

After working for half a day, a total of 500 questionnaires were received, and the final statistics were as follows: 87.2% held a negative view, thinking that the offspring of murderers and prostitutes should not study; while only 12.8% held a positive view (most of them were women. and intellectuals).

Seeing this result, Zhou Hexuan was speechless, he didn't expect it to be so bad.

Tan Xihong even forgot the purpose of his trip and said with a sigh: "The concept of Chinese people still needs to improve."

The next day, the "Ta Kung Pao" disclosed the results of the investigation, which immediately aroused heated discussions among intellectuals in Beijing and Tianjin. Many scholars published articles to explain their thoughts.

We mentioned in the previous chapter that there were three types of education in the early Republic of China. Among them, the theory of popular education holds that no matter male, female, old or young, rich or poor, high or low, everyone has the right to education. Historically, this idea originated during the Northern Expedition.

What Zhou Hexuan didn't expect was that his report actually promoted the rise of "the concept of public education" in advance and ignited the fire of education for all.

As a modern person decades later, it is hard for you to imagine the ignorance in the early years of the Republic of China, that the sons of criminals were not worthy of education, which was the consensus of most ordinary people.

Emancipating the mind is really important!