Yen Hsiu received a traditional education in his childhood and was well-read in classics. In 1882, he was selected after the rural examination, and was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Qing Dynasty in the following year. He has worked as an editor of the Imperial Academy of Qing Dynasty, an assistant editor of the National History Museum, a detailed school official of the Huidian Museum, and an assistant minister of academic politics and academic departments in Guizhou, and is in charge of national education. However, unlike ordinary feudal officials, he actively advocated new education. He was once famous for inviting Guangxu Emperor to set up "special economic courses" to reform the imperial examination system.
In promoting new education, Yen Hsiu's great contribution is to set up Nankai School.
From 192 to 194, I traveled to Japan twice to inspect educational methods.
In the spring of 194, he became the supervisor of Zhili School Department. Later, Zhang Boling and I decided to merge Yen Hsiu and Wang (Yisun) Pavilion to set up a private dedicated middle school.
In October, 194, the middle school officially opened, and Zhang Boling was appointed as the supervisor (i.e. the principal). This is the predecessor of Nankai School.
In November, 194, Baoding Junior Normal School (Baoding College) was established, which was subordinate to the Academic Affairs Office of Zhili Province.
In 197, it was renamed Nankai Middle School. As a school manager, Yen Hsiu not only supported the development of the school with personal financial and material resources, but also had a great influence on Nankai in terms of educational ideas and school running direction.
In 1918, he and Zhang Boling went to the United States to study university education.
In 1919, they founded Nankai University together. In order to establish a high-level Nankai University, Yen Hsiu personally went to the United States to inspect education. After returning to China at the end of 1918, he immediately ran around to raise funds for running schools. He also set an example by donating money, land and books to Nankai University.
In 1919, Yen Hsiu donated $2, for books and hundreds of books of more than 3 kinds in Chinese. In 1922, he donated nearly 6 mu of land, and in 1924, he donated dozens of books and classics, which provided material support for the early development of Nankai University. Later, Nankai Girls' Middle School and Nankai Elementary School were established.
by 1928, the unique Nankai series of schools (elementary school, middle school, girls' middle school and university) were finally completed. Zhou Enlai is a student of Nankai Middle School and Nankai University. At school, he organized societies, edited journals, performed dramas, participated in cultural knowledge and extracurricular competitions, and was excellent in both character and learning, which won the praise of Yen Hsiu and teachers and students. Since Nankai Middle School, there have been many contacts between Yen Hsiu and Zhou Enlai. In the second year of middle school, Zhou Enlai went to Yanzhai and asked him to write the cover of the magazine "Dedication" edited by him. In the third grade, the school held a school-wide composition contest with more than 26 participants. The name of the test paper was sealed, and Yen Hsiu personally participated in the evaluation. As a result, Zhou Enlai was selected as the first place in the school, and personally wrote a prize flag for Zhou Enlai's class. And said that Zhou Enlai has the talent of prime minister. Zhou Enlai went to Japan to study after graduation.
In the spring of 1918, Yen Hsiu went to the United States for an education study and stopped in Japan. Zhou Enlai went to visit when he heard about it. After the establishment of Nankai University, with the approval of Yen Hsiu and Zhang Boling, Zhou Enlai was admitted to Nankai University as a liberal arts student. Four days before the start of school, Yan Te hosted a banquet in his private residence to welcome Zhou Enlai, and invited famous people such as Huang Wei, Fan Yuanlian, Zhang Boling and the director of Zhili Education Department to sit * * * seats, which showed that Yen Hsiu valued Zhou. During the May 4th Movement, Zhou Enlai became the leader of the student movement in Tianjin and was arrested by the reactionary authorities in Tianjin. After he was released from prison, Yen Hsiu negotiated with Zhang Boling to help Zhou Enlai go abroad with his "Yen Hsiu Scholarship" in Nankai. He also wrote to Gu Weijun, the ambassador to Britain, introducing Zhou Enlai to study in Britain. After being thoughtful to Europe, I have been keeping close contact with Yan's letters. In order to support Zhou Enlai, Yan set up an account for Zhou Enlai on Yan's account. Except for the first year's payment, which is paid by cheque and taken away, for the next three years, it will be remitted once every six months on time. After Zhou Enlai participated in the * * * in Europe, someone once advised Yen Hsiu not to give Zhou Enlai any more financial aid, but he was unmoved. He replied that "everyone has his own interests" and continued to send money to Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai never forgets this feeling.
In 195, Zhang Boling returned to Beijing from Chongqing, Zhou Enlai hosted a banquet in the West Flower Hall, and Zhang took a photo of Yen Hsiu. Zhou Enlai said emotionally: "When I was in Europe, someone told Mr. Yan not to help Zhou Enlai, and he took part in * * *. The old gentleman said that' everyone has his own interests', which is quite knowledgeable. He was an official of the Qing Dynasty, and I am very grateful to him for saying such a thing. "
On March 14th, 1929, Yen Hsiu, the father of Nankai University, died in Tianjin at the age of 69. Nankai alumni all over the world donated money to build "Fan Sun Building" in Nankai Middle School and shaped a bronze statue. In 1992, Nankai University also sculpted a bronze statue on the campus to commemorate Yen Hsiu's contribution to new learning and education in the motherland. Advocating ideological innovation education
Yen Hsiu was a reformer who actively advocated western learning and innovated feudal education, and was the forerunner of modern private education in Tianjin. Vigorously promote non-governmental schools and be enthusiastic about promoting schools in villages. We began to reform the old-style education and promote the spread of "western learning" based on the learning library. First, I invited Zhang Boling to teach my family school (called Yan Guan), to learn English, mathematics and natural science, and to start Tianjin's western learning first. Together with the gentry, they set up the first and second elementary schools of the People's Republic of China, and helped the local authorities to set up a number of educational institutions, such as government-run elementary and half-day schools, cram schools and research institutes. Yen Hsiu believes that the old education is inseparable from poetry books, and what is learned is not used, and what is used is not learned. Words and deeds are inconsistent, and learning is out of touch. He advocates abolishing the imperial examination system and cultivating practical talents who are useful to society. In 1897, when he was studying politics in Guizhou, he boldly changed education. Students not only read books on classics and history, but also learned English and western scientific and technological knowledge. At the same time, despite the disapproval of the die-hards, he wrote to the emperor to set up an "economic special course", emphasizing that as long as there are real talents and practical learning, it is not necessary to go through the imperial examination, but also to measure and use materials. Yen Hsiu's idea was a great breakthrough since the implementation of the imperial examination in Sui Dynasty, which shook the ruling and opposition parties. His attempt at reform also made Guizhou's literary style, which is biased and poor, perk up. The academic circles in Guizhou set up "boundary monument" and "philosophical monument" for him, calling him "a master and a teacher, and there has been no such literary Sect for 2 years".
Yen Hsiu believes that if a country wants to become rich and strong, it must learn from eastern and western civilizations and introduce western culture and education system. He went to Japan, the United States and Europe for educational investigation, and explored the modes and ways of establishing new schools. After the Reform Movement of 1898, Yen Hsiu resigned and returned to Tianjin to concentrate on the development and establishment of new education. He took his Yan family library as an experimental base, hired Zhang Boling, an enthusiastic professor of western learning, to teach new knowledge such as English, mathematics, physics and chemistry, and used the experimental results of this base to demonstrate and promote education in Tianjin. From 192 to 195, he cooperated with some gentry who were enthusiastic about education to set up or assist in setting up 21 small schools run by the people and the government, as well as normal schools, craft schools, law and politics schools, junior colleges and higher women's schools, which made Tianjin's education rise and lead the country. Advocating women's schools
Yen Hsiu was one of the pioneers who advocated women's schools in modern China. In 192, Yan's girls' school was first set up in her own home, which initiated the women's education in Tianjin. In 195, he founded Yan's Mongolian Garden (kindergarten) with reference to the Japanese model. This is one of the earliest private kindergartens in China. In the same year, Yen Hsiu also opened a "nanny workshop". This is the earliest school in China to train kindergarten teachers, and it has trained the first batch of kindergarten teachers for Beijing and Tianjin. The most important educational contribution to the establishment of Nankai
Yen Hsiu was that in the early 2th century, together with Zhang Boling, it recruited social forces to create a famous Nankai school with a brand-new educational model. This is one of the most successful examples of China people developing education by their own strength, which not only created a novel school landscape for the education circle in China at that time, but also set an advanced model of private education for the world and the times.
Nankai School is a unique education system, which consists of a male middle school (Nankai Middle School established in 194), an undergraduate department (Nankai University established in 1919), a female middle school (Nankai Girls' Middle School established in 1923) and an elementary school department (Nankai Elementary School established in 1928). Nankai school learns and draws lessons from the western educational spirit with science and democracy as its purport, closely links with the social reality in China, advocates the four educations of morality, intelligence, physique and beauty, emphasizes patriotic education, moral education and personality education, and pays attention to the cultivation of scientific knowledge, scientific spirit and innovative ability. It has formed the school motto spirit of "allowing fairness and changing with each passing day" and the glorious tradition of "patriotism, dedication, innovation and music group" and cultivated. Therefore, Zhang Boling, a patriotic educator, said, "With the development of Nankai today, Mr. Yan's strength is especially great. When Yan Gong died, he lost a comrade personally and a tutor at school, and Mr. Dignity should be the school father." Advocating civilization
Social civilization is the yardstick of national progress. Yen Hsiu said: "If you want to strengthen the country, you must first be good at society."
He opposes the bad social habits such as whoring, soliciting prostitutes and concubinage. Not only did he "spend his whole life being ashamed to travel in a narrow and evil way", but he also admonished friends who were fond of traveling (whoring). Yen Hsiu is particularly opposed to being a teacher visiting brothels. In the past, many elementary school teachers in Tianjin were infected with such bad behavior, and he earnestly warned: "Why should we set an example of being an apprentice when morality is degraded?" "I'm exhausted, so why bother to think about my duties?" He also denounced concubinage and other secular prejudices that discriminate against women. Another manifestation of Yen Hsiu's opposition to discrimination against women is his deep sympathy for women who bind their feet, urging women to let their feet go and seeking women's liberation. He once compiled "Song of the Foot", first taught singing in a women's school, and then spread it to the society.
Smoking and gambling are two common bad habits in the old society. When Yen Hsiu prefaced Li Shiceng's book "Quitting Smoking", he deeply looked forward to people who were patriotic and worried about the country, and handed him advice, first abstaining himself, and then others, in order to get rid of invisible harm for me, and to be a man-made boundless blessing for me, my family, my country and my world. I hate the harm of gambling, and I always advise my friends to quit this hobby.
Yen Hsiu also opposes weddings and funerals. To this end, he took the lead in setting an example. When his son got married, he changed the popular sedan chair to a double carriage, and changed the Tianjin custom that the groom did not marry to ride a horse for the groom. These two actions were "the creation of Tianjin", which made Tianjin a sensation at that time. In view of the lavish custom of paying attention to ostentation and extravagance, competing with each other, he formulated "eight funeral rules", including: (1) people don't have to be obituary when they die; There is no need for mourning, such as mourning, but describing the symptoms. He also does not advocate birthdays or birthdays. Yen Hsiu's ideas were the first of its kind at that time, and they are also of practical significance today. Main works
In his later years, Yan Xiu also initiated the establishment of Chengnan Poetry Society and Chonghua Society in Tianjin. His works include poems, essays, diaries, letters and so on. Now, he has compiled and published works such as Yan Xiu's Diary of a Journey to the East, Mr. Yen Hsiu's Ancient Modern Poems, and Notes from the Xiangxiang Pavilion.
Yan Xiu not only learned the history of Confucian classics and mathematical calculations, but also studied the study of Taixi. Moreover, Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting were all familiar, and his calligraphy was elegant and handsome, and he was one of the four great calligraphers in Jinmen at that time. His good poetry, together with Zhao Youmei and Wang Shouxun, is known as "three outstanding poets in modern Tianjin".
Diary of Yan Xiu's Journey to the East
This "Journey to the East Diary" consists of a diary of Ren Yin's Journey to the East and a diary of his second journey to the East, the former in 192 (the 28th year of Guangxu) and the latter in 194 (the 3th year of Guangxu). It recorded the actual situation of Japanese education in the Meiji 193s, including the school system, personnel, funds, curriculum, teaching methods, teaching equipment and so on. Secondly, Yan Xiu came into contact with many famous people in Japan, and his words, deeds and impressions of some of them were also recorded in his diary. This diary is not only of high historical value for studying Japanese history and China history (especially the history of modern education in China), but also a precious historical material for studying Yen Hsiu, himself and the development of his educational thoughts.
Now the library building in Nankai Middle School is named "Fan Sun Building" in memory of him.
Yen Hsiu Gong is also an outstanding calligrapher. At that time, there were four great calligraphers in Tianjin, namely, Hua Shikui, Yen Hsiu, Meng Guanghui and Zhao Yuanli.