Song family in the Republic of China: a family with outstanding educational achievements in modern times
The photo of the Song family was taken on 19 17. Front row: Song Zian; The second row from left: Song Ailing, Song Ziwen, Soong Ching Ling; Left three rows: Song Yaoru, Ni; From the back: Song Ziliang and Song Meiling.
Song Yaoru, the founder of the family, was born in a poor peasant family. Why did he create such a famous family? 10 On June 5438+08, at the academic seminar "Song Family and Modern Education" held in Fudan University, Chinese and foreign scholars disclosed the members of the Song family, and used the newly discovered archives to study abroad, focusing on the influence of modern education on the Song family.
Studying in the United States had a profound impact on the Song family, but before that, due to the lack of information, relevant historical events were either vague or misinformed. Wu Jingping, a professor of history at Fudan University, and his team visited all the universities related to the Song family in the United States, and restored the early schooling experience of the Song family from the archives. Interestingly, when he visited the United States in 1943 and gave a speech in Congress, an American university where the Song family had studied collected their information in a unified way, which had a sensational effect at that time.
However, the rise of the Song family is not just a story of a prominent family.
On the one hand, the rise of missionary schools and private schools in Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the introduction of new educational ideas and the wave of studying in Europe and America are all epoch-making pictures. As Richey, a professor of history at Fudan University, said, American-dominated Protestant missionaries have set up many missionary schools in Shanghai, which is a platform for learning from China to the United States. Their school-running level is very high, and the S University attended by St. John's Song brothers has reached the level of higher education; Out of concern for women, Song Ailing and Soong Ching Ling were educated in the United States and went to the United States after being highly westernized. After being educated by girls from China and the West for only one year, they quickly adapted to American universities. S adjustment. Life in boarding school also helps them develop a strong character. Chen Yan, an associate professor in the history department of Fudan University, pointed out that the educational concept school of female missionaries helped female students to establish the concept that women are not just male accessories. Instead of challenging the traditional gender order and demanding to enter the male world, they became good wives and mothers.
On the other hand, members of the Song family who later held important positions in the Nanjing National Government created the golden age of education in the Republic of China to a certain extent. Jin Yilin, a researcher at the Institute of Modern History of China Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that after 1932, the national government's American education funds were never in arrears, and professors lived a stable life until the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. It was Kong Xiangxi who presided over the national finance in wartime, when the investment in education was second only to the military expenditure. The government changed education into a public fee system, covering private schools in the case of tight funds; After the outbreak of the Pacific War, inflation was serious, and the Ministry of Finance allocated education funds six months in advance every year for schools to buy food. The government has proposed
First of all, Song Ziwen didn't graduate from St. John's University. 19 12 went to the United States, first entered Vanderbilt University, but transferred to Harvard University in Boston before completing the registration.
Why did Song Ziwen enter Harvard University? According to the school records, in addition to the registration certificate and transcripts of St. John's School, he also has a letter of recommendation signed by Sun Yat-sen. In the letter of introduction to the course teacher, the secretary of the college said: I strongly recommend him. He was selected by the former president of the Republic of China to study in the United States.
As can be seen from the first public transcript, Song Ziwen majored in economics and took elective courses such as public speaking and history. In the last semester of studying at Harvard, he won the highest honor award of the school. It can be said that Harvard's three-year professional training laid a solid foundation for him to take charge of the national government finance in the future. In addition, the file shows that he studied German for two years in a row, but before that, people only knew that he was proficient in English and French. The professor said that this summer he and Ms. Feng Songqiong, Song Ziwen's eldest daughter Yi. She also said no. I don't know about her father. S learning German.
In addition, Song Ziwen did not study for a doctorate at Columbia University, but continued his studies. After receiving his bachelor's and doctor's degrees from Harvard University, he went to work for Citibank in new york, mainly to help remit money to China, and studied postgraduate economics at Columbia University in the evening.
It is not difficult to explain why the academic relationship of Harvard is very important in Song Ziwen. Although Columbia University is brilliant, it has no prominent position in Song Ziwen. For example, the health minister of Nanjing National Government and other important officials are all Song University students. When he went to the United States for aid as Chiang Kai-shek in 1940, as his personal representative, his first thought was to let Harvard students.
Kong Xiangxi: Yale University is in financial trouble. Why did you become the finance minister as a chemistry major?
Gavini, executive chairman of Oberlin University Shanxi Memorial Association, introduced the historical materials of Kong Xiangxi and Oberlin Shanxi Association.
Because the archives are not open, people's understanding of Kong Xiangxi is far less than that of Chiang Kai-shek and Song Ziwen, and most of the biographies now have a strong literary color. At this meeting, Ms. Chen, a librarian of East Asian Library and Network Development at the European University in Berlin, showed and interpreted a large number of letters and photos during her first stay in the United States. She thinks that Kong Xiangxi is very clever, has a high language talent and is a versatile person.
/kloc-At the end of 0/9, some graduates of Oberlin University set up a mission group in China to carry out missionary activities in Taigu County and other places. As a teenager, Kong Xiangxi had a deep relationship with Oberlin missionaries. 1903 to 1906, studying at Oberlin University with the help of alumni.
When studying in Oberlin, Kong Xiangxi used to be a portrait model of an art class classmate, wearing a gown and mandarin jacket, but a few years later, he dressed like other Americans. Berlin principal Henry? Churchill? In a letter of recommendation to Kong, Jin said that his spoken English needed to be improved, but he praised his study and personality.
From 65438 to 0906, Kong Xiangxi entered Yale University to study for a master's degree. In the past, Kong's major was often mistaken for economics, or minerals, physics and chemistry, but Ms. Chen used Yale University's archives to prove that Kong obtained a degree in chemistry.
Huang Qiushi, a lecturer in the history department of Fudan University, pointed out that Kong Xiangxi had resigned as the governor of the central bank. At first, he resigned because his financial knowledge was not as good as Song Ziwen's and he was incompetent. He wants to devote himself to industry. It seems more reasonable to clarify Kong Xiangxi's educational background. As a supplement, Ms. Chen produced a personal letter from 1927: The then Minister of Industry and Commerce said that he was actually more willing to be the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, so that he could have the opportunity to formulate and promulgate laws and regulations to improve labor relations. Therefore,
In other letters while studying at Yale University, Kong Xiangxi revealed his inner pain: making friends is not as easy as imagined. After a few months at Yale, he still hasn't. I can't find a speculative friend to talk to. There are two reasons. First of all, it is not easy to really understand a person. Second, there are too many students here, others can't take care of their own existence, and it is even more difficult to find like-minded people. He also mentioned that the consumption level in New Haven is higher than that in Berlin. When I was at Yale, the economies of Kong Xiangxi and the United States were very nervous because of the lack of tuition fees, and they were stretched everywhere. Missionary friends provided him with scattered personal support, which made him feel uneasy and embarrassed. In the letter, he politely refused the check they sent him.
Sister Song: Parting in front of politics is all about children.
According to Song Shijuan, an associate researcher in the Research Office of Sun Yat-sen Soong Ching Ling Cultural Relics Management Committee, Song Meiling studied in four American schools, among which Wellesley College gave her the most complete and systematic education. Compared with her two sisters, she stayed in the United States for the longest time and was the youngest when she first arrived in the United States. She is also deeply influenced by American culture. Her education in the United States had an impact on her identity, and she left new york with homesickness. Majoring in English literature and being sensitive to language have cultivated her potential as a social activist and politician. She communicates with China and the United States, blends Chinese and western cultures, and cheongsam and fluent English become typical external images; Her understanding of American culture and society, as well as her contact with teachers and friends at her alma mater in the United States, are the basis and bridge for her future communication with China and the United States as the first lady, and also affect Chiang Kai-shek's American policy toward the United States.
Jiang Yihua, a professor of history at Fudan University, pointed out that long-term overseas life enables foreign students to more completely accept the systematic knowledge of another civilization, and it is easier to identify with and understand the core values of these civilizations. Secondly, overseas students have a practical understanding and personal experience of the operation of various systems under these civilizations; Finally, studying abroad always has rich interpersonal relationships, which makes international students form a closer relationship with that civilization both rationally and emotionally. In these respects, the overseas students in modern China played a vanguard and bridge role, and Song Meiling was a model.
However, why did Soong Ching Ling, the daughter who also returned to the United States, choose a completely different political path? Professor Jiang Yihua believes that Soong Ching Ling and Sun Yat-sen were very concerned about the peasant movement and changes in their later years, and they visited the Soviet Union on the spot. They are familiar with both systems, and when dealing with CCP, they pay more attention to the actual situation in China. From this perspective, we can get the answer to the difference of political ideas between the Song sisters. He also pointed out that European and American students have played a great role in promoting the development of China, but they lack understanding of the bottom situation in China. On the contrary, students studying in the Soviet Union agree with the Soviet revolution in knowledge system and system design, and pay more attention to the countryside and farmers after returning home. In modern China, there was a binary opposition, that is, the opposition between the rural peasant movement and the national modernization movement, which was related to the leading role played by foreign students with different backgrounds.
Although politically divided into two camps, the three sisters are all committed to the cause of children's welfare: Song Ailing founded the National Children's Welfare Association during the Anti-Japanese War; Soong Ching Ling is the chairman and moderator of the National Committee for the Protection of Children in China. She once said that my life is closely related to the work of teenagers and children. After the Northern Expedition, Song Meiling set up a school for the girls left behind by the National Revolutionary Army-the children of fallen soldiers, and served as the president of the wartime child care association during her stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
In addition to political considerations, scholars trace this commonality back to Song Yaoru's mentor. Shen, a researcher at China Welfare Research Institute.
As the founder of the family, Song Yaoru, whose real name is Han, was renamed Song Yaoru because of her early adoption. Kuang, secretary-general of Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Research Association, believes that Song did not. I don't mind changing his last name. Even if his family was famous later, he didn't mind not asking for recognition from his ancestors, which shows his mind. Born in poverty, Song Yaoru went to the United States from a village in Hainan, China, and then went to Vanderbilt University to study, and then returned to China to preach. After that, he went to the sea to do business and made a fortune to support Sun Yat-sen's revolution. He sent his six children to study in the United States, all of them recalled to the motherland, and insisted on equal education between men and women, which shows his foresight.
For a long time, because Song Yaoru has been studying in the United States for a long time, the specific situation is unknown in domestic academic circles. With the advice and support of Professor Wu Jingping, a doctoral student in history department of Fudan University, you Diyun made a special trip to Duke University, Chapel Hill University, Vanderbilt University and other schools in the United States to find and sort out relevant files and restore Song Yaoru's American experience.
Song Yaoru completed the pre-university course at Trinity College and transferred to Vanderbilt University Theological School in the autumn of 1882. Later, Song Ziwen's first stop in the United States was also here. His living expenses and tuition fees were funded by American general Carl, and he completed his studies through work-study programs, which showed his early business acumen. In particular, the new materials show an optimistic, simple and diligent Song Yaoru, which can refute the doubts of some readers and biographies about his early learning ability.