1. A number of statements to this effect were made in the Chieh-fang jih-pao (Liberation Daily) (CFJP), around the time of the Border Region convention on culture and education in October and November 1944. The journalist Gunther Stein who was in the Border Region at the time wrote “The Communists confess that they have made more mistakes in matters of school education than in any other field.” The Challenge of Red China (New York, 1945), p. 260.Google Scholar

2. These ideas are contained in a speech Mao delivered in 1937 to the students at the Resident Japan Political and Military University (K'angta). They form the basis for his essay “On Practice,” Tse-tung, Mao, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (hereafter SW), 4 vols. (Peking, 1961–1965), Vol. I, p. 176.Google Scholar For a fuller exposition and explanation of education theory and the importance of the epistemological theory outlined in “On Practice,” see my dissertation “Yenan Education and the Chinese Revolution, 1937–1945” (presented to Harvard University, 1969). I outline the theory in Chapter I and refer to it in every subsequent chapter. There has been considerable speculation about when “On Practice” was written. It may not have appeared in final form until 1950, but there is no question that its basic concepts were the theoretical foundation for the pedagogical methodology developed in the late 1930s at K'angta, see Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” Chapter III.Google Scholar

3. Except where otherwise noted I have relied on Seiden, Mark, “Yenan Communism: Revolution in the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region, 1927–1945” (Ph.D. thesis presented to Yale University, 1968)Google Scholar, Chapters I, II for background information on the Border Region.

4. Mai, Lo, “K'ai-chan ta kuei-mo ti ch'ün-chung wen-chiao yün-tung”Google Scholar (“Develop a Large-scale Mass Culture and Education Campaign”), in Chiao-yü ch'en-ti she (ed.), H sin min-chu chu-i wen-hua chiao-yü (New Democratic Culture and Education) (n.p., 1945?), p. 72.Google Scholar

5. Po-ch'u, Lin, “Shen-Kan-Ning Pien-ch'ü cheng-fu ti-i chü tsan-i bui ti kung- tso pao-kao” (“Work Report of the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region Government to the First Border Region Consultative Assembly”) (01 1939), in Chung-kuo k'o-hsüeh yüan (ed.), Shen-Kan-Ning Pien-ch'ü tsan-i hui wen-hsien hui-chi (Collected documents of the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region Consultative Assemblies) (Peking, 1958) (hereafter WHHC) p. 221.Google Scholar

6. Sheridan, James, Chinese Warlord; The Career of Feng Yü-hsiang (Stanford, Calif., 1966), pp. 101, 193.Google Scholar

7. Selden, , “Yenan Communism,” Chapters I and II.Google Scholar

8. Jui-ch'ing, Lo, K'ang-jih chün-tui chung ti cheng-chih kung-tso (Political Work in the Anti-Japanese Army) (n.p., 1939)Google Scholar, details the methods used to win over the populace. See esp. pp. 259–286.

9. The scarcity of qualified teaching personnel is described in Chien-min, Wang, Chung-kuo kung-ch'an-tang shih kao (Draft History of the Chinese Communist Party), 3 vols. (Taipei, 1965), Vol. III, pp. 273–274Google Scholar; and she, T'ungi ch'u-pan, Chung-kung chih chiao-yü (Chinese Communist Education) (n.p., 1943), p. 93.Google Scholar Drafting teachers from the classroom for clerical and other work was so common that the 1941 Border Region Assembly was asked to pass a resolution condemning the practice and making it more difficult in the future. See “Wen-chiao t'i-an,” WHHC, p. 149.Google Scholar

10. See Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” pp. 236–240.Google Scholar

11. Ting-ming, Li, “Kuan-yü wen-chiao kung-tso ti fang-hsiang” (“The Direction of Culture and Education Work”), in WHHC, p. 221.Google Scholar Many articles on CCP efforts to expose and reform the spirit mediums can be found in Shen-Kan-Ning Pien-ch'ü cheng-fu pan-kung t'ing (ed.), Chan-K'ai fan-tui wu-shen ti tou-cheng (Expand the Struggle against the Spirit Mediums) (Yenan, 1944).Google Scholar

12. Seiden, , “Yenan Communism,” pp. 101–103.Google Scholar

13. Hsin-hua jih-pao (New China Daily) (hereafter HHJP) (Chungking, 07 1938)Google Scholar, in Chung-yang tiao-ch'a t'ung-chi chü (ed.), Wei pien-ch'ü chiao-yü t'ieh-pao (Scrapbook of Education News in the Bogus Border Region) (n.p., n.d.) (hereafter CYTC). This is a book of news clippings compiled by KMT intelligence during the war. The exact date of the HHJP article is not given.

14. For instance see Chien-min, Wang, Draft History of the CCP, Vol. Ill, p. 276.Google Scholar

15. HHJP, 07 1938Google Scholar, in CYTC, Shen-Kan-NLng pien-ch'ü cheng-fu pan-kung t'ing (ed.), Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü chiao-yü fang-chen (Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region Educational Line) (Yeoan?, 1944), p. 137.Google Scholar

16. WHHC, pp. 378–379Google Scholar gives the population statistics for SKN BR: men, 844,361; women, 750,704. In all but one of the 30 districts in the Border Region men outnumbered women (note typographical error for Shen-yao hsien: 43,096 should read 13,096 women). Myrdal, Jan, Report From a Chinese Village (New York, 1966), p. 52Google Scholar, writes “There is a shortage of girls in Liu Ling, in fact in all of northern Shensi.…” On p. 53Google Scholar he quotes a peasant “but with us here in northern Shensi, girls have always been precious.…”

17. Lin Po-ch'ü, 1946 Work Report, WHHC, p. 293.Google Scholar

18. “Yang-ch'üan fu-nü pan-jih pan” (“Yang ch'üan Women's Half-Day Class”) in Kuo-fang pu shin-wen chü (ed.), Kung-fei fan-tung wen-chien hui-pien (Collection of Documents in Opposition to the Communist Bandits), 6 vols. (n.p., n.d.)Google Scholar, Vol. 5, Wen-hua chiao-yü (Culture and Education) (hereafter WHCY), p. 398.Google Scholar

19. Shao-yü, Ch'en, “Tsai Yen-an Chung-kuo nü-tzu ta-hsüeh k'ai-hsüeh tien-li ta-hui chang ti pao-kao”Google Scholar (“Report at the Opening Ceremonies of the Chinese Women's University in Yenan”), in WHCY, p. 127.Google Scholar

20. This phrase is tirelessly repeated in CCP literature in the early united front period, e.g., Jui-ch'ing, Lo, Political Work in the Anti-Japanese Army, p. 11.Google Scholar

21. SW, Vol. II, p. 18.Google Scholar

22. Ibid. p. 27.

23. Lin Po-ch'ü, 1939 Work Report, WHHC, p. 33.Google Scholar

24. Chi-Lu-Yü jih-pao she (ed.), Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü wen-chiao kung-tso (Culture and Education Work in the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region) (n.p., 1945?), p. 27.Google Scholar

25. SW, Vol. II, pp. 380–382.Google Scholar

26. “Social education” is a term used by both KMT and CCP in the united front period. By the end of the Yenan period CCP writers were referring to “so called social education” and soon afterwards the terms “mass education” or “popular education” were usually substituted. The term “social education” is still used occasionally however.

27. Major changes in government organization took place in 1943. Those affect ing education are discussed below. See Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü cheng-fu pan- kung t'ing (ed.), Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü cheng-ts'e t'iao-li hui-chi hsü-pien (Collection of Policies and Statutes of the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region), supplement (Yenan?, 1944) (hereafter CTHH), pp. 2–24.Google Scholar

28. Below the regional level, finances were handled by the secretariat, and there was no office for secondary education, it being under the direct supervision of the regional government.

29. Pien-ch'ü cheng-fu (ed.), Ko-chi chiao-yü hsing-cheng chi-kuan tsu-chih ta- kang (Organizational Outline of the Education Administration Offices at All Levels) (n.p., 1939?)Google Scholar, no pagination. See also CKCY, pp. 18–25Google Scholar, and WHHC, pp. 51, 107–114.Google Scholar

30. The number of elementary schools increased fremi 120 before 1937 to 1,341 in 1940. By January 1939 there were over 6,000 literacy groups and other social education organs. See Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” pp. 230, 312.Google Scholar

31. Lin Po-ch'ü, 1941 Work Report, WHHC, p. 90.Google Scholar

32. For instance see Ta-chung tu-wu she (ed) Ta-chung-hua kung-tso yen-chiu (A Study of Popularization Work) (n.p., 1941), pp. 167–168.Google Scholar

33. Ibid., and Chi-Lu-Yü jih-pao she (ed.), Culture and Education Work, p. 27.Google Scholar

34. Mai, Lo, Develop a Large-scale Culture and Mass Education Campaign, pp. 73–74.Google Scholar

35. Shen-Kan-Ning Pien-ch'ü chiao-yü t'ing (ed.), Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü chan- hsing chung-hsüeh kuei-ch'eng ts'ao-an (Draft of the Temporary Rules for Middle Schools in the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region) (Yenan?, 1942) (hereafter CKT).Google Scholar

36. For details, see Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” Chapter VIII.Google Scholar

37. This statistic and others that follow in the description of secondary schools are from CKT, no pagination.

38. See account of the student population at San-pien Middle School in Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” pp. 328–339.Google Scholar

39. CFJP, 17 03 1942.Google Scholar For the decision to standardize see CFJP, 5 01 1942.Google Scholar

40. CFJP, 17 03 1942.Google Scholar

41. CFJP, 27 04 1944.Google Scholar

42. See Ta-chung tu-wu she (ed.), Ta-chung-hua kung-tso yen-chiu (A Study of Popularization Work) (n.p., 1941).Google Scholar

43. Hai-shu, Ni, Chung-kuo yü-wen ti hsin-sheng (Rebirth of the Chinese language) (Shanghai, 1949), p. 283.Google Scholar

44. ibid. p. 286.

45. Po-cb'ü, Lin, in WHCY, p. 40.Google Scholar

46. Chien-min, Wang, Draft History of the CCP, p. 295.Google Scholar

47. Hai-shu, Ni, Rebirth of the Chinese Language, p. 205.Google Scholar

48. Francis, John De, Nationalism and Language Reform (Princeton, 1950), p. 133.Google Scholar

49. Tung-i ch'u-pan she (ed.), Chung-kung chih chiao-yü (Chinese Communist Education) (Chungking?, 1943), p. 99.Google Scholar

50. Lindsay, Michael, Notes on Educational Problems in Communist China (New York, 1950), p. 47.Google Scholar

51. A more detailed description and analysis of this campaign is found in Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” pp. 328–339.Google Scholar

52. SW, Vol. III, pp. 168–169.Google Scholar

53. Taxes had been quite low in the Border Region up to this point; figures are given in SW, Vol. III, pp. 113–114Google Scholar and Seiden, , “Yenan Communism,” pp. 203–213.Google Scholar Nevertheless, increased taxation without increased production would have been in sufficient and caused hardship and resentment.

54. Both of these conferences are reported in detail in the Liberation Daily. For a translation of Mao's speech at the 1944 Conference see SW, Vol. IV, pp. 235–238.Google Scholar

55. CFJP, 5 05 1944.Google Scholar

56. CFJP, 7 04 1944.Google Scholar Translated in Lindsay, Notes on Educational Problems. I have made minor revisions in the translation.

57. This happened to other departments also; see Seiden, , “Yenan Communism,” p. 250–256.Google Scholar

58. Po-ch'ü, Lin, “Kuan-yü kai-shan chiao-yü kung-tso” (“On Improving Education Work”), 6 01, 1944Google Scholar, in Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü cheng-fu pan- kung t'ing (ed.), Shen-Kan-Ning-ch'ü chiao-yü fang-chen (Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region Educational Line) (Yenan?, 1944) (hereafter CYFC), pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

59. For instance, note the administrative arrangement described in Tuan-yu, Ta'o, Tsai mo-so shih-yen chung ti ch'eng-chang ti Yang-chia-wan hsiao-hsüeh (Yang-chia-wan Primary School in its Growth as an Experiment) (Yenan?, 1945).Google Scholar

60. CTHH, p. 87.Google Scholar

61. CYFC, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

62. Ibid.

63. Po-ch'ü, Lin, “Pien-ch'ü cheng-fu kuan-yü ko chung-teng hsüeh-hsiao chin- hou chiao-sheng piao-chun ti chih-shih hsin” (“Border Region Government Directive on Future Admissions Standards for all Middle-level Schools”), 8 05 1944Google Scholar, WHCY, pp. 135–136. Also in CYFC.Google Scholar

64. “Kuan-yü chung-teng hsüeh-hsiao hsin k'o-ch'eng (“On the New Curriculum for Middle-level Schools”), 27 05 1944Google Scholar, WHCY, pp. 143–144.Google Scholar Also in CYFC, and CFJP, 27 05 1944.Google Scholar

65. Ibid. There is no mention of military training, but undoubtedly it was included as a regular school activity. During the war with Japan, all students seem to have had regular military training but in the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region, located far from the front lines, this activity was much less important than in other border regions and base areas.

66. See Seybolt, , “Yenan Education,” Chapter III.Google Scholar

67. It is outlined by Mao Tse-tung in 1937 in his speech at K'angta which became his essay “On Practice,” SW, Vol. I, p. 176Google Scholar, and was reiterated in a different form in his speech detailing the mass line method, SW, Vol. III, pp. 119–120.Google Scholar

68. SW, Vol. III, p. 237.Google Scholar

69. There are many examples of min-pan schools, e.g., see Tuan-yu, T'ao, and Shen-Kan-Ning pien-ch'ü cheng-fu pan-kung t'ing (ed.), Ssu-ko min-pan hsiao- hsüeh (Four Popular-Management Elementary Schools) (Yenan?, 1944).Google Scholar

70. WHHC, pp. 286–287.Google Scholar

71. For instance in Sui-te, see Su-Wan pa chuan-shu chiao-yü ch'u-pan she (ed.), Lun kuo-min chiao-yü ti kai-tsao (On Reforming National Education) (n.p., 1945), pp. 35–37.Google Scholar

72. Ibid. p. 38.

73. See Lin Po-ch'ü's 1946 work report in WHHC, pp. 286–287.Google Scholar

74. For accounts in English see Bastid, Marianne, “Economic Necessity and Political Ideals in Educational Reform During the Cultural Revolution,” The China Quarterly, No. 42 (04–06 1970), pp. 16–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and recent issues of Chinese Education; a Journal of Translation (New York, 1968–1970).Google Scholar There are hundreds of articles in Chinese on education during the Cultural Revolution; the best single source is Hung-ch'i (Red Flag) Vol. 8 (1970). The entire issue is devoted to education.Google Scholar

75. Bastid, , in The China Quarterly, No. 42 (04–06 1970), p. 26.Google Scholar

76. For curriculum development see Hung-ch'i, No. 8 (1970), p. 44.Google Scholar

77. This is the so called “triple combination” (san chieh-ho). It has been implemented most successfully in the “May 7” schools. A number of examples are given in Hung-ch'i.

78. Written respectively 21 December 1939, 8 September 1944 and 11 June 1945.