Bridgewater Review

Volume 5 | Issue 2 Article 6

Nov-1987 Due to the Special Circumstances of China Nancy L. Street Bridgewater State College, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Street, Nancy L. (1987). Due to the Special Circumstances of China. Bridgewater Review, 5(2), 7-10. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol5/iss2/6

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. ------ES SAY------Due To The Special Circumstances ofCHIN1\... BY NANCY LYNCH STREET ,~d Ifim 'h, ,boY< 'id, in 'h, Shanxi Teacher's University which is located in Linfen, Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Like the Chinese, I would soon learn the virtues of quietness and patience. I would listen and look and remember. Perhaps most important of all, I would make friends whom I shall never forget. FROM BE]ING TO LINFEN Cultural Revolution. Seventeen hours by from personal observations here and The Setting train north to Beijing, eight hours south abroad; and finally, from days and weeks The express train arrives in Linfen to Xi'an (home of the clay warriors found of talk and gathering oral history from from Beijing in the early morning, around in the tomb of the Emperor Ching Shi students, colleagues and friends. 8:30. One is always met at the train Huang, first emperor of China), Linfen is station if one is a foreigner. At least, thought to be an ancient capital of China UNDERSTANDING THE SETTING during our tenure there we (the three (Yao Dynasty). In the twentieth century it The Land and The People exchange students and I) were met. This is a thriving industrial city and agricultural China is slightly larger in land mass was in part a courtesy and in part because center in Shanxi province. Currently, than the United States. This includes, in Linfen was, until February of 1986, a Linfen is also the site of the only teacher's addition to mainland China, the territories "closed" city. Closed, that is, to foreigners. university in the province, Shanxi of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Thus, it was not until we had family and Teacher's University. Mainland China has a population of well friends visit from home that we saw other In this article, I want to focus on my over a billion people (approximately foreigners in the city of Linfen. On a daily understanding of "the special 1,038,000,000). Population density is 280 basis, we were the only westerners in the circumstances of China" as they relate to persons per square mile. There are fifty­ city. To many of Linfen's 250,000 the evolution of education from the late five minority groups but the primary inhabitants we were curious creatures, too 19th century to Liberation in 1949. I have population group (94%) is the Han. pale and with big noses. Shanxi province attempted to discuss this aspen of Chinese Only a small percentage of the people is in central China and prior to liberation life/history elsewhere and found it largely (approximately 50 million) live in the (1930's and early 1940's) had been unintelligible to audiences unless they seven major cities. This is important to occupied by the Japanese. Following have some knowledge of certain note as much of the information we Liberation in 1949, the Chinese people in demographic and political considerations. receive from China regarding its living Shanxi had seen a few Russians, but prior So it is with demographics and a general conditions, political developments and to 1980, very few Westerners had entered history that I will begin. I will briefly other vital data occurs and arises out of the province. Linfen cannot be reached by review the social, political and military these cities-where only a small plane and foreigners do not generally chaos in this century in China prior to portion of the population dwells. drive outside of the major cities; when liberation. Following this, I will develop Thus, nearly a billion persons live traveling by car, foreigners hire Chinese the educational perspective, utilizing outside of these cities-and outside of drivers, for reasons which become obvious Wang Shiqings' Biography of Lu Xun and these cities life is considerably different when one is in China. Thus, Linfen is the oral history given me by Shanxi than what we view on the nightly news or primarily accessible by train. Located in a Teacher's University Party Secretary Guo in documentaries, from which we tend to basin surrounded by mountains, Linfen Pu, as well as data collected from my glean our impressions of China. Real life housed a rather large community of students there. This approach is created in China is not in the "living color" of TV. political and academic exiles during the through the historical-critical method, In my experience, China tends to be dusty ------7------brown, dotted with green terracing in the Chairman of the People's Republic of necessary to reform the unjust, countryside. In towns and cities, the blue, China is Li Xiannian, Zhao Ziyang is unreasonable old international economic army green and black clothing of the Premier and Deng Xiaoping is head of order...; (Beijing Review Foreign Affairs citizenry dominate the landscape. the Military Commission and Chairman of Series, 1983, p. 10). Outside the cities, two-thirds of the land the Consultative Committee for the CCP. In addition, Chinese policy, as is mountainous or desert land dotted with The General Secretary of the Party has formulated by the CCP asserts, "We shall tiny villages and small towns devoted changed in the past few months in never seek hegemony, not in any primarily to agriculture. The cities are fed response to the student demonstrations in circumstances." This viewpoint is not by these communities. Traveling by train December 1986. Formerly the General merely for international consumption, but from Beijing to Linfen or from Linfen to Secretary was Hu Yaobang. Premier Zhao is the view articulated by the ordinary Kunming, one is overwhelmed by the The odyssey of ian Zhen, Chinese layperson, discussing China's past vastness of the land, the scarcity of good J eminent monk of the Tang and future over tea in his/her home in soil and the clever, tenacious development Linfen or Beijing. of the land through the endless and Dynasty, is captured in these circuitous terracing which utilizes every woodcuts brought back from inch of ground to feed China's one. billion China by P.rofessor Street plus people. Looking at the map, you will see that China has many neighbors. To the north is Mongolia; to the northeast and northwest, the USSR; to the west are Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the northwest is North Korea. To the south, China is bounded by India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The geography and proximity of neighbors suggest, at least in part, why both China and the USSR have strong standing armies. During the university's five-week break I traveled to Kunming, a lovely old city in the South-and just a few hours from the on-going border war zone. According to an army officer with whom I shared a train compartment for awhile, Kunming is the last supply center for the front lines. In Kunming itself, there was no hint of Although the monks had earlier persuaded him to this. Instead (China is always ambiguous), remain at home, the monk Jian Zhen thought it over I saw the Buddhist faithful from Nepal and decided he must try once again. In 748 A.D., and Mongolia come to worship at the Jian Zhen, with his followers in Yangzhou in ]iangsu together with the Japanese monks Rong Rui and Pu Zhao and thirty-five sailors, ]ian Zhen set sail for ancient Buddhist temples of Kunming, Province. At the Daming Temple. Japan. Hoping to avoid the perilous waters which I too had come to see. encountered in other voyages, they first sailed south, rather than north. Reaching Hainan Island near the GOVERNMENT AND IDEOWGY Ziyang now acts as both Premier and General Secretary. (His actual title is: The south ofmainland China after drifting for fourteen days, Jian Zhen and the others thought they had Mainland China is divided into twenty­ General Secretary of the Central Committee two provinces, five autonomous regions reachedJapan. They realized their mistake, but of the Chinese Communist Party). travel being difficult in those days, were forced to and three cities: Beijing, Shanghai and As to ideology, the Chinese remain remain on Hainan Island for one year before setting Tianjin. These cities are directly under the committed to Marxist principles. During sail to China. central government. The central his 1982-1983 African tour to enhance HISTORIES government is located in Beijing (formerly Sino-African relations, Premier Zhao Literary and Oral Peking). China is a socialist country under Ziyang announced the "Five Principles of The Biography of Lu Xun the leadership of the Chinese Communist Peaceful Co-existence" first articulated by The Biography of Lu Xun (1880-1936) Party (CCP). The country has operated former Premier Zhou Enlai. These aids one in understanding the educational under this system since the liberation in principles serve as the basis for Chinese system prior to the revolutionary 1949. The organs through which the foreign policy. They are as follows: people exercise state power are the twentieth century. In The Biography of Lu National People's Congress and the local First, we all oppose imperialism, Xun, author of The True Story ofAh Q people's congresses at various levels. The colonialism and racism; second, we all and other famous literary works, we learn National People's Congress is elected for a oppose big power's domination over small the following about education in China. term of five years. Under normal countries and their power politics; third, Children fortunate enough to go to circumstances, it holds one session each we all stand for the preservation of world school learned the works of Confucius and year. Power in Chinese society is vested in peace; fourth, we all stand for Mencius. Small children also read and a number of offices and the Communist strengthening unity among the third memorized a small book called the Central Committee. As I write this, the world countries; fifth, we all deem it Rhymed History (written by Wang ------8------Shiyun in the Qing dynasty). An example can still see in the streets of Linfen as very amok in China for the first half of the of primary school material: old women struggle to and from market twentieth cenmry created confusion, In the beginning was Pan Gu, on once-bound "lily" feet. violent disruption of ordinary life, chaos, Born of primeval void: There were ten boys in Lu Xun's class and ultimately, new directions in He was the first to rule the world, at the Three Flavour Smdy. Tuition fees educational curriculum. The chaos to divide. were set at two yuan (about 66 cents in Intellectuals/revolutionaries had a 1986) a solar term (about a fortnight). powerful effect on the course of China's This is the Chinese version of the Passages from the texts were memorized evolution to liberation. Looking back one creation myth. In addition, smdents at the and recited aloud, as they are today to a sees that two distinct and opposing Three Flavour Study would also smdy the certain extent. This would then be western ideologies contributed to the Hundred Surnames, Poems on Child followed by a lesson in calligraphy. A general confusions exacerbated by the Prodigies and the Five Confucian Classics: formnate child might study at such an Japanese occupation, the warlords and I Ching or Book of Changes; institution for six years. Following this, if remnants of the Qing Dynasty. Shu Shing or Book of History; Nonetheless, during the long struggle in Shih Shing or Book of Odes, or Book of China, lasting for nearly forty years, Poetry; Chinese students fortunate enough to attend school even sporadically, were educated utilizing many of the materials smdied by their fathers before them. Depending upon which force was occupying a person's village or province at the time, e.g., Japanese or CCP, the curriculum was adapted to incorporate the prevailing ideology of the occupying force. The following case study summarizes for me "the special circumstances of China." While at Shanxi, I asked for permission to interview the leaders in the University's hierarchy. I was given permission and interviews were set up and interpreters provided for me. What follows is the interview I conducted with Party Secretary Guo Pu, shortly before he retired from his post at Shanxi Teacher's University. The story which he told me illustrates, better than I can state, the impact of the social, Then Jian Zhen and his followers spent Oller a month political and military struggles upon adrift in the sea. Finally, they reached the southern education during the Party Secretary's coast ofJapan. From there they proceeded to the Jian Zhen spent several months in Canton. Finally capital ofJapan, where they were greeted with lifetime. This oral history also realizing that his task was hopeless, he decided to delight by officials and monks. These official demonstrates what I heard everywhere I return to Yangzhou. However, before he could return welcomers put up thousands oflanterns to welcome went: the strong commitment of the to Yangzhou, he contracted an illness. Jian Zhen's Jian Zhen as the Chinese enllOY ofthe Buddha in Chinese people to education and to the Japan. griefOller the death ofhis faithful companion, material and spiritual prosperity of their coupled with the blazing heat ofChina's southland caused him to become prey to this illness. Developing monies and/or influence were available, country. difficulty with one eye, he sought doctors and the deserving child might be admitted to GUO PU: SECRETARY medication. Despite diligent treatment, Jian Zhen the middle schools primarily run by Shanxi Teacher's University lost his eyesight in both eyes. westerners/missionaries. At these schools, students were taught a mixture of classical As one Chinese remarked to me "Guo Li Chi or Book of Rites or Rituals; and Chinese curriculum and western thought, Pu is a living legend-my story cannot Chun Chiu or Spring and Autumn to include other languages. Graduation compete with his." Guo Pu was born in Annuals. from middle school might mean that the 1918 in Lin Shi County, Shanxi Province, Smdents would also study the Four child could go on to university. I should just two hours from Linfen by train, and Books of Confucius: the Great Learning: point out that Lu Xun went to school in a started school in 1924 (during the short the Doctrine ofthe Mean: the Analects of relatively more stable time than the early era of cooperation between the Confucius; and the Book of Mencius. 20th cenmry when Mao and other Goumindang and the CCP). He attended At the Three Flavour Study where Lu revolutionary leaders were in school. Then school intermittently from 1924 to 1936. Xun smdied in the latter part of the 19th and now, books from the west were in Under the Nationalist government of Dr. cenmry, boys started school at age six. In short supply in China, so if one wanted to Sun Vat-sen, he smdied the books of those days and prior to Liberation, the learn western ideas, one had to go to a Confucius and Mencius, as had his position of women in China was none too western-run school, or go abroad to school ancestors before him. good. Most were not educated and of as did Sun Vat-sen, Zhou Enlai, Den In this period, western influence was course, women of a certain class had Xiaoping, Chen Yi and others. clearly felt in the education of an ordinary bound feet-a phenomenon which one The mixed bag of influences which ran Chinese boy. After the Japanese invasion, ------9------he had to give up school and had no through China during this period of time. the middle schools in this province." middle school. He began teaching primary Most of the "guerrilla fighters" were Continuing, Guo Pu said, students and continued his studies on his peasants who joined the Communist "Education is the key to the four own. From 1936 to 1939 Guo Pu worked forces and many were uneducated. One of modernizations·. The key to success lies as an elementary school teacher, studying Guo's tasks was to train them as best he in our fine faculty members. We realize and teaching in a normal school. In this could in literacy in a short time, while also the close relationship between the enterprise he had the aid of two other turning them into guerrilla fighters.) achieving of the four modernizations and young villagers. They worked at such From 1945 to 1947, Guo Pu was a education for our youth. We are aimed at subjects as psychology for elementary Political Commissar. With aid his area raising the whole nation's cultural level. students, pedagogy for normal school was finally liberated (from the Japanese To be more exact, if we have enough teachers and teaching methods. With the and the Guomindang). In Party Secretary qualified teachers our educational program full force of the Japanese invasion and Guo's opinion, the "democratic revolution" will be a success and that success will aid occupation in 1937, education turned into aimed at two things: "to drive the in achieving the four modernizations. The national defense education. Students were invaders out of China; and to be rid of task is a strategic one." urged to join the battle against invaders semi-feudal institutions." The Party With time running out, I then inquired for love of country. Secretary says, "On the whole, leadership what the Secretary was most interested in; In 1939, the Communists urged people has been and is correct, and what's more what were his personal goals? He replied, to join the 8th route army which grew out we don't deny we have taken a twisted "I believe in communism, patriotism of the Red Army and was under the road in the process. In 1978 (following the and internationalism. I expect that we will leadership of the CCP. Guo's role as an Cultural Revolution), at the 3rd Plenary achieve the four modernizations and that educator was needed by the Red Army as Session, we came to realize the this success will make a great contribution they set up schools wherever they went. appropriate road is Chinese type socialism. to the entire world. At that time, China was divided into three Under the guidance of this principle, We think that there are three steps in distinct areas: Bases for revolutionary production in agriculture and industry has achieving our goal: 1. By the end of this people (CCP), Guerrilla areas, Enemy been developed and people's lives have century, our national agricultural output occupied areas. been improved and things are politically will be twice what is now. At that time, The Japanese were short of manpower stable." our people will be better off. 2. By 2020, and tended to occupy the cities. The Asked his personal views of the the standard of living will be the same as Communists, following Mao Zedong's Chinese direction, Guo responded: that for middle level persons in developed plan, occupied the countryside. Eventually, "Forty-six years ago I joined the party. I countries. 3. By 2049, the 100th they would surround the cities and take am only an ordinary party member but anniversary of the People's Republic of them. Guo joined the Red Army and also a Party Secretary and of the same China, our nation will be classified into continued to work as an educator. Now rank academically as a Chancellor (in the the highest level as a strong socialist his employer was not the Guomindang university system). At 21 I joined the country with a high culture and high but the Chinese Communist Party. He party. To tell the truth, I joined only after material status." worked for the revolution. In addition to learning the theories of Marx and party Concluding, the Party Secretary said: teaching his regular classes, he taught practice. With revolutionary practice I "I have worked in accordance with a revolutionary cadres at night. came to believe in the party quotation from our famous writer Lu From 1940 to 1945 Guo worked in this fundamentally. I believe that without the Xun: 'You should have a deep hatred for capacity. He was a section leader in charge leadership of the Chinese Communist the enemy and should work as an ox for of education in the Lingshan area. He Party there would have been: the people.' "• taught courses in politics and in the 1. No anti-Japanese Party; ·The comprehensive modernization of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology before the end fundamentals of guerrilla warfare. The 2. No victory over the Guomindang; of the century. aim of the education was broad. It was 3. No new China; meant to educate the people and make 4. No modernizations; and them more politically conscious. The 5. No Guo (me) in such a position. education was for young and old alike. (Laughter) The schools were also moveable schools. He then added, "Before 1936, I did not Everyone carried guns and when they left really understand the Party. But I saw an area, they left land mines behind for with my own eyes that the CCP cared the approaching enemy and also captured about people." spies as they moved. Guo's students who Discussing the role of the party in the finished in this school (some 300 persons) university system, Guo Pu asserts that the often went on to school in Shanghai and party pays more attention to the GA·ii in Sichuan province. Many later became ideological education of the students and i:~ party leaders. to the cultivation of political NANCY STREET is a professor of Guo Pu was then assigned to consciousness. This is to help bring about Speech Communication. She has a B.A. in Yuancheng where there were two correct ideals and cultivate discipline. "We History from the University of North regiments of enemy soldiers. The try to help them be conscientious and Carolina and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Communists were short of manpower in disciplined ideologically and in their Rhetoric and Communication from the this area and had only a few guerrilla studies." I then asked the Party Secretary University of Colorado. In 1985-86, she fighters. His job was to train more. (Note: about the aims and goals of this institution. was the exchange professor from BSC to the Red Army was fighting its way He replied "the main task is to reinforce Shanxi Teacher's University. ------10------