Rediscovering Tao Xingzhi as an Educational and Social Revolutionary

Rediscovering Tao Xingzhi as an Educational and Social Revolutionary by Yusheng Yao In the past twenty years Tao Xingzhi (1891-1946) has been without doubt the most studied and propagated modem educator in China, and his ideas on education are being widely applied in various reform projects throughout the country. I Although recent bursts of interest in Tao have resulted in a more detailed and nuanced picture of the educator and his work, the real Tao Xingzhi remains elusive. This has much to do with the eclectic nature of his theories and practices, which were broad in scope, unsystematic and ever-changing. In fact, Tao himself had difficulties in explaining the exact meaning and full implications of his theory of life education in simple and easily understandable terms.2 Tao borrowed freely from such disparate and even contradictory intellectual sources as Confucianism, Christianity, the philosophy of John Dewey, anarchism, Sun Zhongshan's "Three People's Principles" and Marxism. Many of his contemporary educators and colleagues of disparate ideologies also inspired him with new ideas and methods.3 But the fundamental source of Tao's thought was his own life experience and various education experiments. The complex interactions of these sources, influences and his own reforms pose a challenge for those attempting to categorize him. The analysts of Tao's theory and practice tend to fall into two camps: those who emphasize and those who minimize the· impact of John Dewey on him. Neither of these two perspectives provides a balanced view and a sufficiently comprehensive approach to reveal the full complexity of Tao's intellectual development, including his relationship with Dewey. In addition, few studies have recognized the importance of anarchist influence on Tao's theory of life education.4 Understanding of Tao is further complicated by his involvement with the politics of the Chinese Communist Party during his life and after his death. Thus the realities of Tao's theories and practices are more complex than most interpretations suggest, making yet another search for the real Tao as necessary as it is challenging. Tao's theory and practice of life education represented 'a radical discourse in the Chinese debate on modem education and national reconstruction. Characterized by populism, pragmatism and voluntarism, Tao's educational and social radicalism was in constant tension with Chinese modem education, Chinese Twentieth-Century China, Vol. 27, No.2 (April, 2002): 79-120 80 Twentieth-Century China intellectuals, and the Nationalist government. As an educational radical, Tao was critical both of elitist and impractical traditional education and what he considered its "foreignized" version dominant in China's new schools. His radical social vision of a class-less society, rooted in his understanding of Confucianism and Christianity, and cross-fertilized with Dewey's philosophy and Chinese revolutionary discourses of the twentieth century, enabled him to conceptualize a radical theory of life education in his Xiaozhuang experiment (19271930 ). Through life education, which would integrate mind and hands, education and life, school and society, Tao sought to create new men and women, a new society and a new world. Tao was a fascinating character for his unconventional life and career and his unique personality as well as for his daring ideas and experiments. Coming from a poor family, Tao received an excellent education with others' help and through his own efforts. He experienced dramatic identity crises and spiritual awakenings twice, and changed his name each time to advertise his new identities . He was also twice on the government's "wanted" list, in part because of his radicalism. A returned student from the United States, his colleagues regarded him "as the most Chinese of the returned students." Always at the forefront of China's new education, Tao was a pioneer in popular education and rural reconstruction as well as in formal education. His life and work can be understood as the search of a modem intellectual for a viable individual and national identity, and for proper means and strategies of national reconstruction. Tao's extraordinary life was further enhanced by his unusual legacy in the People's Republic of China (PRC). After his death from a hemorrhage in 1946, which was widely regarded as his ultimate sacrifice for the...