School-running Characteristics of Wuxi Sinology College

Under the background that China's traditional culture has been seriously eroded since the May 4th Movement, Wuxi National College insisted on absorbing the essence of traditional academy education in the course of running a school, which reflected the distinctive school-running characteristics different from ordinary universities at that time. In my opinion, this school-running feature is at least reflected in the following aspects:

First, pay attention to the integrity of learning and practice.

Paying attention to honesty and integrity, emphasizing the integration of learning and doing, is an important tenet of Wuxi National College, which runs through the course of running a school for more than 30 years. When the National Studies Museum was just established, Tang drew up the Learning Rules of Wuxi National Studies Museum with reference to the Bailudong Regulations and the Lindong Convention, emphasizing that "our library was established to arouse national studies and establish religion", so it paid special attention to "honing body and mind and character". This emphasis on moral integrity should be reflected in the unity of "saying" and "doing" and "learning" and "doing": "When studying on weekdays, you should concentrate on your heart physically and return to your body. If you are convinced of Confucianism, you will be arrogant, such as Lu Qingxian's so-called reading and self-study, being a man and doing things. Whenever you talk about it, you will only talk empty words, but you should be polite and moral. " This significance was repeatedly emphasized by the Tang Dynasty in different periods and occasions.

Emphasis on moral integrity and self-cultivation is reflected in peacetime, that is, starting from small things and starting from bit by bit. During the Anti-Japanese War, Xia, a master of modern Ci, also taught in Shanghai School, Shanghai Zhijiang University and Taiyuan College of Literature. He recorded a detail in Tianfengge Ci Diary:1During the Spring Festival in 942, students from several schools came to pay New Year greetings to him. He found that students from ethnic colleges were more polite to their teachers than those from Zhijiang and other schools. When the country is at a critical moment, it is particularly important to cultivate students' "integrity". The teachers of Tang and Heguo College set the best example for the students with their own actions. 1In August, 942, the Ministry of Education of Nanjing Government forcibly took over Shanghai Jiaotong University and renamed it "national chiao tung university". At that time, Wang Quchang, dean of the Shanghai National Institute, who was a part-time professor at Jiaotong University, and five colleagues resigned from Jiaotong University, and were called "anti-pseudo-six professors"; Wang Quchang also wrote Ode to Women to illustrate his ambition. Wang pseudo-Nanjing government "Ministry of Education" sent someone to persuade Tang to be the chairman of pseudo-Jiaotong University (the president) and coerce him to sign it. Tang calmly replied: "The year is seventy or eighty, but you can't sign this word!" After hearing about it a few decades later, Xia wrote a poem "Nanxiangzi", praising the "three words of stunning Hu" and "the evening festival is very windy and frosty, and the porridge is full of songs".

Second, pay attention to the training practice of reading and writing.

Qian Zhonglian, an early student of National College, concluded that one of the teaching characteristics of Wuxi National College is to pay attention to reading the original books. He said: "Teaching focuses on teaching the original works of ancient books and teaching students to master basic knowledge. Even if it is a textbook, it is a lot of original works, combined with theory, not the general kind. " The bibliography used by the students in the early national college is the thirteen classics reader compiled by Tang, the biographies of the history department are Historical Records, Hanshu, Houhanshu and the History of the Three Kingdoms, the chronological categories are Zi Jian and Xu Tong Jian, and the cultural relics are Tongdian and its supplements. The second part is Twenty-three Sons by Zhejiang Bookstore and Five Sons of Justice by Tang Dynasty. This book includes Tang's Great Political Sense, Shuowen Jiezi, Zhaoming Wenxuan, Gu Yu Compilation and hundreds of miscellaneous notes on classics and history. In this way, the important original works in the four traditional subsets of classics and history are basically included.

Besides reading the original works, paying attention to Chinese writing is also a remarkable feature of teaching in Wuxi National College. Writing is a comprehensive and comprehensive ability training, which can promote people's reading comprehension, analytical thinking and writing expression. Students' writing training is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is the regular writing class every semester. Qian Zhonglian said: "Special museums pay special attention to writing (classical Chinese), which is written once every two weeks and handed in papers for three hours in class. Those who won the first prize twice in January will be given paste fire silver dollar 10 yuan, and those who won the second prize twice, 5 yuan (similar scholarship). Every time I write a composition, the teacher corrects it carefully. There are eyebrows, always approving, and approving more than changing. " Second, the once-a-semester Chinese competition, also known as the Chinese language conference and Chinese language test, is regarded as a "major event" in the teaching life of the National College. At each competition, the whole school students gather in the auditorium, engage in any one of the first designated topics, write papers within a limited time, and after several rounds of selection, judge individual awards and grade awards. Due to attaching great importance to writing training, students' writing level has improved rapidly; Because of the experience of writing practice, I can have a personal understanding of how the ancients wrote, which promoted reading and writing.

Thirdly, modern education has gone smoothly and adhered to the characteristics of traditional education in China.

As mentioned above, one of the characteristics of early teaching in Wuxi National College is reading the original works. After the reform, in order to bring the school into the formal system of national higher education and meet the needs of cultivating modern educational talents, Wuxi National University has made many changes in the curriculum, such as setting up a credit system, dividing all courses into compulsory and elective categories, and adding many introductory courses such as China cultural history, China philosophy history, literature history, introduction to Chinese studies, philosophy, western literature history, literary criticism and pedagogy. Although it has undergone many changes, the academic training of reading, writing, exegetics, phonology and edition catalogue of China's important classics has always accounted for a large proportion in the whole curriculum and teaching content arrangement of Wuxi National University. The students trained in this way not only have a solid foundation in Chinese studies, but also have a broad cultural vision, which is an important guarantee for Wuxi National College to train a large number of outstanding talents in Chinese studies and literature and history education.

Fourth, pay attention to cultivating students' ability of self-study, practice and self-management.

Wuxi National College also inherits the characteristics of traditional academies to some extent, and pays attention to cultivating students' habits and abilities of reading and self-study in addition to classroom teaching. In this process, teachers always give students the necessary guidance, and students and teachers always maintain good communication and interaction. For example, Chen Guanghan, a student, loves poetry, and often asks famous teachers who did not teach Chinese studies at that time, such as Xia, for questions about poetry. 1936, Chen Guanghan wrote to Xia to discuss the purpose of writing poetry, and Xia immediately replied with a long letter. The whole letter was published in "On Poetics and Chen Guanghan", Volume V, No.5, Monthly of Nationalities College. The following year, Chen Guanghan sorted out the poetic issues he discussed with Chen Yan into an article "Mr. Chen Shi's Answer to Seven Questions about Chen Guanghan's Poetics", which was published in the third issue of the fifth volume of the Monthly for Nationalities. There are many such examples, from which we can see that foreign college students are good at self-study and self-examination, and there is a strong atmosphere of exchange and discussion between classmates and teachers and students.

While cultivating students' ability of self-study and self-research, Wuxi National College also pays attention to practical training, especially letting students participate in the collation and practice of literature and history classics, so as to improve students' practical research ability in the process. For example, in 1923, five librarians, including Tang School, Wu Qichang, Wu, and Dai Enpu, went to Baoying's home to copy Zhu Ji's Endorsement written by Qing scholars Wang Maozi and Zhu, which was completed in seven days. After returning to Wuxi, Tang please edit it into four volumes and name it "Revision of Complete Works of Zhu". 1922, Tang's thirteen classics reader was edited and published, with a set of 20 books, 120 volumes. Fifty-six people, including Wu Qichang, Jiang Tianshu,, and so on, participated in the collating, all of whom were the first two students of Wuxi National Studies Museum. This is of course to make the book published as soon as possible; But for students, this is an excellent opportunity for professional study and academic training.

The management system of Wuxi National University is an important part of students' self-organization and self-management. Since 1930s, the school has set up a student autonomy association to organize, coordinate and mobilize students to carry out academic research, lectures, visits, gatherings and entertainment activities. Under the organization and operation of the student self-government association, students of Wuxi National College are very active in holding academic discussions, inviting experts and scholars to give speeches, carrying out community activities and running their own academic journals. For example, in terms of community activities, Wuxi National College has organized many community organizations, such as poetry clubs such as Guofeng, Perseverance, Qiushui, Furong, Bian Feng, calligraphy research society, historical geography research society and so on. In terms of editing and creating publications, it has successively published the Quarterly Journal of Wuxi National College, the Annual Journal of Wuxi National College and the Monthly Journal of National College, especially the Monthly Journal of National College in the mid-1930s, which included the achievements of teachers and students of National College. It was not only the longest publication of Wuxi National College, but also occupied a place in the academic garden of Chinese studies at that time.

Wuxi Sinology is a very famous school in the modern academic history of China. Although it is private, it is very famous. Wuxi Sinology was founded at the end of nine years in the Republic of China with the donation of Stone Province. At that time, it was called the National Studies Museum, and its curator was Tang. The Chinese Academy was founded in the second year after the May 4th Movement, and its appearance may be related to the radical attitude of the May 4th New Culture Movement towards Chinese studies. After the May 4th Movement, the efforts of the National Academy of Chinese Studies in revitalizing Chinese studies should be said to be very successful. Its efforts have a special significance, that is, when new academic trends impact traditional academics, how traditional academics can maintain their vitality, and the choice of Chinese colleges is education rather than talents.

1928, after Qian Jibo became the dean of the national college, the curriculum of the school changed a little. "The original curriculum of our college is roughly equivalent to the curriculum of the China Literature Department of the College of Literature of the National University." It can be seen that its teaching also has a side that conforms to the times. In the same year, the Central University sent staff to the National College to investigate the teaching situation and replied: "It is extremely perfect." At the same time, the university also sent Liu Yizhi to the National College for investigation, saying: "The filing regulations are in line with the excellent results, and the case was approved on September 20." Later, the National Institute of Education received a grant of "3,000 yuan per academic year" from the Ministry of Education. The price paid by the National College for this is to set up the course of party righteousness, the experiment of the Three People's Principles and military education and training.

In modern society, it is quite difficult to maintain a complete traditional education model, but national colleges have relatively adjusted this relationship. In terms of the number of people, the first class will recruit 30 people, and then each class will be between 30 and 40 people, with a maximum of 50 people at a time. Although the number is small, there are many famous Chinese scholars, such as Tang Lan, Wu Qichang, Jiang Tianshu, Qian Zhongshu, Wang Quchang and Chen Zhongfan. These scholars finally settled in the modern university in China. By the time this series was published, the Chinese Academy had graduated for nine sessions (including study and correspondence). From the point of origin, except for a few people from Sichuan, Fujian, Anhui and Guangxi, the rest are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. From its alumni records, I didn't find any northerners.

The students of Wuxi National College, especially after 1949, basically end up in the Chinese departments and history departments of domestic universities, and this experience has become the pride of their lives. It can also be said that from the perspective of the total number of students in the school, there are not many students in the national college, but from the perspective of the number of professionals, it is not small. At that time, the number of students in Chinese Department and History Department of China University ranged from ten to three or two. In terms of time, the Chinese Academy was five or six years earlier than the Chinese Academy in Tsinghua, so all the outstanding students from the Chinese Academy went to the Chinese Academy in Tsinghua, such as Wu Qichang and Jiang Tianshu. This is actually a system. Looking back decades later, it can be said that the world of China's literature, history and philosophy was largely supported by these two classes. Just look at the list of graduates of Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies after 1926. These two institutions, one state-owned and one private, did not last long. Their interruption also indicates the ultimate fate of Chinese studies. The rise of these two institutions of Chinese studies happened to have a period of academic continuity, and it was this continuity that extended the life of Chinese studies. After them, it will be difficult for great scholars like them to reappear in this field, which is why Tsinghua Sinology Research Institute and Wuxi Sinology College are particularly valued, because they saved the day when Sinology faced an impact. In hindsight, history is sometimes frightening. Without these two institutions, what would be the situation of China's later Sinology Research Association? I really can't imagine. Incidentally, although Qian Mu and Qian Zhongshu are not from Wuxi National College, they actually have a deeper relationship with it. Qian Zhongshu's father, Qian Jibo, is the academic director of Wuxi National College, and Qian Mu's early academic career also began in Wuxi. Unexpectedly, China's traditional academic life is finally connected with a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.