A Century of Achievement: The Educational Spirit of Modern Chinese University Presidents

Author: Zhou Chuan / Huang Xu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The slogan "Never forget saving the country while reading books, never forget reading books while saving the country" was proposed by Ma Xiangbo in a speech he gave to Chinese students in Japan in 1907. This slogan actually concentratedly reflects the guiding ideology of Ma Xiangbo in running schools. Although Ma Xiangbo believed in Catholicism, he was extremely indignant at the actions of some foreign missionaries who took advantage of imperialist privileges to carry out cultural aggression. He stood on the side of safeguarding the interests of the motherland and clearly stated: running schools and studying were for saving the country, and saving the country must rely on running schools and studying, spreading and learning scientific knowledge. This more correctly solved the issue of the purpose of higher education in semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Ma Xiangbo once said, "I have always felt the pain of national distress since my childhood. I remember that in the French history textbook, there was a remark on our country, mocking our nation as one that had no right to breathe the air in the world." This stimulation left a humiliating memory in his heart. When he graduated from Xuhui Public School and the French Consulate offered him a position as a French secretary, he firmly refused, saying, "I learned French for China!" This patriotic and loyal thought became more as he grew older, gained more experience, matured in thought, and had a deeper understanding of Chinese society. When the University of Shanghai was initially established, it coincided with the time when bourgeois revolutionary sentiments were surging and calls for anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism were becoming increasingly high. Ma Xiangbo boldly declared, "To revolutionize and save the country, one must start by studying modern science; to study modern science, one must first master its language and literature. Those who wish to learn foreign languages and literature to study modern science in preparation for revolutionizing and saving the country, please come to me." He named the university "Shanghai," meaning to combine the light of the East and the boundless future. Patriotism and the desire to save the country were evident in every word. After the university was established, it widely admitted young people with different thoughts and factions, including a considerable number of students who had dropped out of Nanyang Public School to resist feudal oppression and some students from the dissolved Patriot Society, making the patriotic and democratic consciousness of the students particularly strong. The university's regulations stipulated, "Teachers should not discuss religion in class; students should not discuss politics while at the university." The former was strictly enforced, while the latter was practically non-existent. Ma Xiangbo not only showed great care and respect for the famous revolutionaries among the students at the time, such as Ma Junwu, Shao Lizi, and Liu Chengyou, but also to some extent participated in political activities himself. He actively admitted the young scholar Yu Youren, who had fled to Shanghai after being persecuted by the Qing government for his poem "Half Crying Half Laughing Tower," which criticized the political situation and advocated revolution, into the University of Shanghai under the pseudonym "Liu Xueyu" and exempted his tuition. When Yu Youren expressed fear of bringing trouble to the university and Ma Xiangbo himself, Ma Xiangbo calmly said, "As a member of the nation, I have the obligation to host you." At that time, the University of Shanghai, Ma Xiangbo ran and taught for the sake of saving the country, and the students studied and read for the sake of saving the country. Later, to resist the cultural aggression of imperialism, the entire student body left the school in a strike, though it was a pioneering act, it was not accidental. After the establishment of Fudan University, the campus was even more filled with revolutionary spirit. Many students were rich in revolutionary spirit and concerned about current affairs, and weekly Chinese essays often discussed the then political situation and economic issues. Yu Youren, in running Minhu and Minxu