The very first school in Hunan, called the School of Current Affairs, was founded in
the spring of 1898.96 Though short-lived, it nevertheless trained some courageous and
active youth. During Tang Caichang’s battle for Hankou,97 several students from that
school were martyred. The school at that time advocated revolutionary ideals. Students
all studied thoroughly what is called statecraft.98 The topics they often argued about
and discussed comprised such things as how corrupt the affairs of state had become,
how to overthrow the Manchu government, how to deploy military forces, and how to
build up the country. Later, the
Mingde School99 was founded. Its goals were similar to those of the School of Current Affairs. The Mingde students, in the last years of the Guangxu era, were highly
esteemed by all the other students in the provincial capital. Most of the students at
that time were characterized by their willingness to get involved, and the fact that
they did not fear death. Outwardly, their behavior was marked by rebellion against
the official bureaucracy, and by refusal to submit to oppression. When Chen Baozhen
was governor of Hunan,100 he took upon himself the task of developing Hunan, and he
was in reality the first to promote the establishment of the School of Current Affairs
and other schools. When the reform movement broke out in 1898, Chen Baozhen left,
Tan Sitong died,101 Liang Qichao fled, Xiong Xiling102 was stripped of his membership
of the Hanlin Academy, and a great pile of Sage Kang [Youwei]’s writings was burned
in the schoolyard outside of the Small Wu Gate. Thus the School of Current Affairs
collapsed.
Though the School of Current Affairs was gone, Mingde was just then rising. At
this time, several official schools, such as Qiuzhong [“Seeking Loyalty”] Middle School,
Youji [“Superior”] Normal School, and the Higher Academy had been founded. There
96 This, and all subsequent words or sentences set in bold, are underscored with dots beside the
characters in the Chinese text.
97 This important institution was in fact founded in the autumn of 1897 with the support of the
reformist governor of Hunan, Chen Baozhen. See the note to the text of July 21, 1919, on the Strengthen
Learning Society. A clear and well-documented account of the events discussed by Mao in the present
document can be found in Joseph Esherick, Reform and Revolution in China. The 1911 Revolution in
Hunan and Hubei (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), especially Chapter 2 (pp. 34–65).
98 An uprising at Hankou in August 1900 led by Tang Caichang (1867–1900), zi Pucheng, a young
Hunanese scholar trained in Western learning who had been one of the founders of the School of Current
Affairs, the Southern Study Society, and the daily Xiangbao. Tang’s attempt was supported by Kang
Youwei, but ended in failure and the execution of over a hundred reformers.
99 The school of thought evoked by the term jingshi (statecraft), which dated from the seventeenth
century, had reemerged in the early nineteenth century. Of Confucian inspiration, it emphasized practical
application and this-worldly activism in the light of current reality.
100 The Mingde (“Illustrious Virtue”) Middle School, which was founded in 1903 by a group which
included Tan Yankai, had a reputation for radicalism. Huang Xing taught there briefly, but was obliged
to resign when it was discovered that he was reprinting the writings of Chen Tianhua, whose death is
discussed by Mao below.
101 Chen Baozhen (1831–1900), zi Youming, a reformist from Jiangxi Province, was governor of
Hunan from 1895 to 1898.
102 Tan was executed on September 28,1898, in the aftermath of the reforms.

were even more private schools, such as Zhounan, Chuyi, and all the xian schools in
Changsha.103 It goes without saying that official schools were heavily bureaucratic.
There were the “superintendents” and “supervisors,” who wore red-topped peacockfeathered caps, horsehoof-patterned patched gowns and inch-high-heeled official boots.
Every first and fifteenth of a month, they would lead the students (in long gowns with
mandarin jackets) in the ritual of the kowtow,104 first before [a tablet reading] “Long
live the Emperor, may he reign forever,” and then to [one dedicated to] “the Greatest
Sage and Teacher, Confucius.” A big board was usually hung in the central hall of the
school, on which the “Sacred Edicts” were inscribed: “First of all, value loyalty; second,
value honesty; third, respect Confucius… They were all in dazzling gold and green,
fantastically beautiful! Every day, the students had to wear long gowns at mealtimes.
If you happened to visit them in the hottest days of June at their mealtime, it was
also quite a sight! When the time came for graduation, the “heralds” would ask the
“student affairs officer” or the “gatekeeper” to do them a favor and let them copy a large
number of graduates’ names and addresses, and would rush to make many “notices of
the herald,” on which they wrote things like: “Congratulations to young master so-andso from such-and-such a family who has risen high by obtaining a superior first place in
the examination given by the imperial commissioner, the army envoy, the first deputy
court censor, so-and-so from the Hunan government, along with so-and-so from Hunan
official such-and-such school.” Full of zeal, the herald would run to the countryside and,
doing obeisance, hang a notice high up in the central rooms of a graduate’s house. The
whole family of the graduate, beaming with delight, would come out to look at those
golden characters on red background with white edges and decorative patterns. What
a joy! After receiving the good news, the graduate would hop on the sedan chair (if
the family did not have one, a new one would be made immediately) in red-topped cap
and horsehoof patterned gown (most of the time they are newly made) and go around
“paying respects” to relatives and old family friends. On the back of the sedan chair,
there would hang a lantern with “Secretary of the Imperial Patent Office”105 inscribed
on it. Having received the respects of the graduate, the relatives and old family friends,
“feeling greatly honored,” would go to the graduate’s home to congratulate the family.
By then, on the top of the portal of the graduate’s house would be hung a small
103 Xiong Xiling (1870–1937), zi Binsan, from Fenghuang, Hunan, was a jinshi and a bachelor of
the Hanlin Academy. He was head of the School of Current Affairs in 1897, organized the Southern
Study Society, and ran the Xiangbao for a time. He returned to his native province during the 1898
reform movement to work with such leaders as Tan Sitong to promote reform in the educational field.
In the aftermath he fell into disgrace for a time, but later became minister of finance. He was appointed
premier of Yuan Shikai’s first cabinet in 1913, but abandoned that post in 1914, having compromised
himself by countersigning Yuan’s order expelling members of the Guomindang from parliament.
104 This apparently refers to schools for natives of the various xian.
105 Literally, “three bowings and nine knockings of the head on the ground,” as in prostrating oneself
before the emperor.

horizontal board with “juren”106 or “ba gong”107 inscribed on it. With golden lettering
on red, this board looked even more beautiful! After a feast of celebration, each went
on his way home. This is called “offering wine,” or “giving a banquet,” or “beating the
autumn wind.”108
Aside from the bureaucratic teachers and staff, if we still want to seek for vigor,
courage, and vitality amidst such rampant corruption in student circles, we need
only look for two things that were often secretly hidden in many students’ messy piles
of books on their desks or in their drawers. One was the Xinmin congshu [Collected
Writings for the New People], written by Liang Qichao and others; the other was
the Minbao [People’s Newspaper] of Wang Jingwei,109 Song Jiaoren,110 et al. These
two were forbidden publications but somehow got spread around fast from Japan to
Hunan. At the same time, dauntless and invincible, Huang Xing and Yu Zhimo111 still
remained in Changsha engaging in all kinds of underground activities. This continued
until the events of 1904, when the Pingfxiang] and Li[ling] uprisings failed, Ma Fuyi
was executed outside of Liuyang Gate, and Huang Xing escaped in a small sedan chair
out of Small West Gate, disguised as a foreigner.112 But Hunanese morale had been
strengthened by ever-growing persecution. At this point, Yu Zhimo was the sole leader
of the Hunanese students. Thus began the following earthshaking incident which
is worth recording.
106 Zhongshu ke zhongshu. This was the appointment granted, after a further test, to those who had
passed the second-level imperial examinations for the degree of juren, with second-class rating.
107 A successful candidate at the second or provincial level.
108 Provincial government nominee from among the unsuccessful candidates forjuren, sent to the
national capital to be considered for an appointment.
109 To be given free material help or money by others.
110 Wang Jingwei (1883–1944), zi Lixin, ming Tiaoming, was a native of Guangdong. He graduated
from the Tokyo Law College in 1906 and became an active member of the Tongmenghui while in Japan.
Returning to China, he became a close collaborator of Sun Yatsen and editor of the Minbao. He also
made himself notorious by an abortive attempt to blow up the prince regent in 1910. He was a leading
figure in Guomindang politics in the 1920s, when he took up a position on the left of the party. He
ended his life as premier of the Japanese puppet government in Nanjing.
111 Song Jiaoren (1882–1913), zi Dunchu, hao Yufu, a native of Hunan, was one of the organizers of
the Society for China’s Revival (Huaxinghui) in 1904. He joined the Tongmenghui in 1905 and was in
charge of general affairs for the Minbao. In 1912, he was instrumental in organizing the Guomindang
and was the chief architect of its victory in the elections of 1913. Indeed, his very success led Yuan
Shikai to have him assassinated, as indicated in the note to Mao’s letter of December 9, 1916.
112 Yu Zhimo (1867–1907), zi Qiting, was a native of Xiangxiang xian in Hunan. After studying
textile manufacturing in Japan, he returned to Hunan in 1902 and began a dual career in business and
education. This dual orientation is symbolized by the fact that he soon became both chairman of the
Hunan Council on Education and head of the Changsha Chamber of Commerce. He was also active
in the Tongmenghui. He was arrested on August 10, 1906, charged with inciting demonstrations over
the deaths of Chen and Yao (described below) and other antigovemment activities. He was executed in
January 1907.

Chen Tianhua113 and Yao Hongye114 were students from Xinhua and Yiyang respectively. Both had studied in Japan. On their journey home, they committed suicide
by throwing themselves into the sea, furious at the desperate situation of the motherland.115 When this news reached the students of Hunan, and when their bodies had
been shipped back along the Xiang River, the students demanded of the government
that they be buried on Mount Yuelu. The apathetic and heartless Hunanese governor,
Yu Liansan,116 and the education commissioner turned a deaf ear to the plea, hoping to
shed more blood of the revolutionary party and the students, thus gaining promotion
for themselves. The students, sensing that they were getting nowhere, decided to “take
things into their own hands.” On the first day of the fourth month in the thirty-second
year of the Guangxu era,117 all students in Changsha, from primary schools to colleges,
were mobilized. They crossed the river from two points. Juzhang Ferry and Small West
Gate. With bright banners and spotlessly white clothes reflecting the blazing-red sunshine, they loudly sang songs of mourning in a line stretching over more than ten li.
The military and police forces stood along the roads watching, but dared not say anything. Thus on this occasion they successfully buried Chen and Yao after all, while the
government took it very hard, but dared not blame anyone. The morale of Hunan at
this time, as if in a frenzy, had reached its peak. But after some time, the government,
having harbored resentment for a long time, found an excuse to kill Yu Zhimo! Later,
they also dug up Chen’s and Yao’s bodies!
Ping-Li uprisings). On Ma Fuyi, see the note to the text of September 6–7, 1920.
114 Chen Tianhua (1875–1905), zi Xingtai, hao Sihuang, a Hunanese from Xinhua xian, was an
important radical student leader in the early twentieth century. His two pamphlets Meng huitou (Wake
up!) and Jingshi zhong (Alarm to Arouse the Age), published c. 1904, were among the most influential
publications of the time. He was a student in Tokyo at the time of the Chinese students’ strike of
1905, provoked by the promulgation of drastic new regulations by the Japanese authorities in November
1905 for controlling Chinese student activity. Outraged by the reference of a Japanese newspaper on
December 7, 1905, to the “self-indulgent and mean self-will that seems peculiar to Chinese nationals,”
Chen committed suicide by drowning himself in Omori Bay, after writing an inflammatory testament
which incited two thousand of his fellow Chinese students to leave Japan for home.
115 Yao Hongye (1887–1906), zi Jiansheng and Jingsheng, was from Yiyang, Hunan Province. In
1904, after graduating from the Changsha Mingde Middle School, he went to study in Japan, where in
the summer of 1905 he joined in the protests over the
116 As will be seen from the preceding notes, Chen and Yao committed suicide for similar reasons,
but not in the same place or at the same time. Their coffins were, however, returned to Hunan together.
The events described by Mao below took place on May 23,1906.
117 Yu Liansan, a native of Zhejiang Province, succeeded Chen Baozhen as governor of Hunan in
October 1898. During his rule, the consitutional reform and modernization initiatives of Chen Baozhen
were stopped, and any anti-Qing uprisings were brutally suppressed. He had, however, been replaced
in February 1902, and the governor of Hunan in 1906, when the events described here took place, was
Pang Hongshu. Mao’s reference to him in this context must be simply a lapse.

After the “righteous burial of Chen and Yao,” the next event that is worth recording
about Hunanese student circles was the Students’ Sports Meet of all schools in
the provincial capital in the fifth month of the second year of the Xuantong era.118
We are used to students’ sports meets, so what is worthy of note about this?
This particular sports meet, which took place in the second year of the Xuantong
era, was quite different. It was imbued with the significance of a “demonstration,” and
had a “revolutionary” character. The government bureaucracy had great fear of it;
the education commissioner, a certain Wu, was particularly terrified. The promoters
succeeded in mobilizing the students by exhorting them in every way, arguing that our
nation was in peril, and foreign insults were getting worse. The site of the Sports Meet
was the large open space outside of Small West Gate in Changsha where the New Army
used to drill. All the students, neatly lined-up, performed all kinds of sports, taking
advantage of the cool morning breeze in the beautiful early dawn. Most memorable of
all was their solemn and stirring singing of the sports song, reaching up to the clouds. I
have forgotten who wrote the song, but for ten years now, my fellow Hunanese students
have remembered it very well. I am going to write the words down below:
How great is Hunan, with Mount Yue rising to the heavens and Lake Dongting
carrying your imagination far away.
The angelicas of the Yuan River and the orchids of the Li
River spread their fragrance far and wide.
Strong and brave are we, innumerable are our talents, our fame tempered in a
hundred battles.
The brave Xiang Army pacified the empire;119 we of this generation are also heroes.
Harken to the military songs, impassioned and stirring, our banners all unfurled.
A forest of guns and a rain of bullets, like bloody campaigns on a battlefield.
The militaristic spirit has given a new aspect to the civilization of the sons of Hunan.
The so-called “militaristic spirit” was the guiding theme of education at that time.
It was also the goal of the students themselves in pursuing their studies. This spirit
was aimed, on the one hand, at the foreign powers, and on the other, at overthrowing
the Manchu Qing dynasty. In fact, as soon as Wuhan put forward the cry of revolution,
Hunan was the first to respond to it. In the south, there was support from the overseas
Chinese; to the north, the reaction extended as far as Beijing. Within four months,
support came from seventeen provinces, the autocrat was overthrown, and the Republic
was founded. The contribution of education, and of the efforts on the part of the
students, must be considered as an important factor.
At this point, I would like to recount the activity of the Hunan student movement
between the fifth month and the end of the eighth month of the third year of the Xuan118 As noted above, this event took place on May 23, 1906, which corresponded to the first day of
the fourth intercalary month, inserted that year after the normal fourth month.
119 1910.

tong era,120 prior to the Revolution, which consisted in the Movement of Resistance
against the Nationalization of the Railroads.
On the nineteenth day of the third month121 of the third year of the Xuantong era,
Huang Xing led the uprising in Guangzhou which rocked the whole nation. When the
news reached Hunan, many students with revolutionary ideals were eager to follow suit.
The muddleheaded Qing Court, ignoring the trends of the time, adopted Sheng Xuanhuai’s122 plan to nationalize all the important railroads (author’s note: The railroads
should be nationalized, but the Qing court’s timing was bad in this case), including the
Sichuan, Guangzhou, and Hankou railroads. Sichuan was the first to defy this, and the
situation became acute. Then Hunan followed suit. The students in particular were
indignant. They advocated going on strike123 and held meetings and made speeches
everywhere. The incompetent and ignorant Hunan governor, Yang Wending,124 immediately stepped in. Since it was forbidden to meet openly, students met secretly. Since
it was forbidden to meet in the city, they met on Mount Yuelu. I was a minor figure
among these many people then. Every day we made speeches behind the closed gates.
Many fellow students fervently advocated revolution. I still remember how one student,
while making a speech, ripped off his long gown125 and said, “Let’s hurry to get some
military training, and be ready to fight.” One night, many of us were awakened by loud
shouting to learn that some of the student representatives of our school and of some
neighboring schools had been captured by the military police during a secret meeting. Many said that probably they would be shot. Our principal stuck out his tongue
nervously and said repeatedly, “This is extraordinary!”126 He immediately invited the
other principals to ask the government to let the students out on bail. Finally at dawn,
the student leaders were bailed out, and we went back to sleep happily. This time the
120 I.e., the Hunanese Army under the overall command of Zeng Guofan put down the Taipings.
121 1911.
122 This is an obvious misprint for the twenty-ninth day of the third month of the lunar calendar,
which corresponds to April 27, 1911, in the Western calendar. These events, which Sun Yatsen called
the “tenth uprising” of the revolutionaries prior to October 1911, have, however, often been referred to
as the “March 29 Revolution.” See Hsueh Chun-tu, Huang Hsing and the Chinese Revolution (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1961), pp. 78–93. The seventy-two rebels (out of a “Dare-to-Die Corps” of
eight hundred) who perished on this occasion have been commemorated ever since as martyrs to the
revolutionary cause.
123 Sheng Xuanhuai (1844—1916) was the earliest major promoter of merchant enterprises supervised
and supported by the officials of the imperial bureaucracy. His companies included the Hanyeping Mines
in Hunan and the Shanghai Cotton Cloth Mill. (See Albert Feuerwerker, China’s Early Industrialization.
Sheng Hsuan-huai 1844–1916 and Mandarin Enterprise [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1958].)
124 I.e., boycotting classes (bake), the type of student strike which was to be so important during
the May Fourth movement and after.
125 Yang Wending, zi Puyang, from Yunnan Province, was governor of Hunan from April 1910 to
July 1911.
126 This gesture should no doubt be read in the light of Mao’s remark, in his “Study of Physical
Education” of April 1917, that conventional literati in their long gowns scorned to wear the “short
clothes” adapted to combat.