The developments of our association urgently need to be recorded.

However, as a reporter, my observations and knowledge are limited. What is recorded here may contain inaccuracies or omissions.

I hope those familiar with the situation will generously provide materials, and where this account errs, they will offer corrections. The association would be most fortunate.

— A Note from the Reporter.

For instance, the existence of schools in Hunan must be traced back to the Shiwu Academy in the spring of the Wuxu year.

Despite its short-lived existence, the Shiwu Academy nurtured many courageous and enterprising youths. During Tang Caichang's uprising in Hankou, a considerable number of Shiwu students perished as martyrs.

At that time, most schools embraced the ethos of advocating revolution. Students vied to study so-called statecraft, engaging in animated discussions on matters such as the corruption of national affairs, how to overthrow the Manchu government, strategies for advancing troops, and various approaches to nation-building.

When Mingde School emerged, it upheld the same mission. By the late Guangxu era, Mingde students had earned considerable prestige within the provincial student community.

Generally speaking, students of that era were distinguished by their readiness for action and fearlessness in the face of death.

Their outward manifestations included defiance of officialdom and resistance to oppression.

When Chen Baozhen served as governor of Hunan, he took it upon himself to develop the province. He was indeed the founding patron behind the establishment of schools like Shiwu Academy.

After the Wuxu Coup, Chen Baozhen was exiled, Tan Sitong was executed, Liang Qichao fled, and Xiong Xiling was stripped of his Hanlin Academy title. The writings of the sage Kang Youwei were piled up and burned en masse on the parade grounds outside Xiaowumen.

Thus, the Shiwu Academy collapsed.

Though Shiwu fell, Mingde rose to prominence.

During this period, various government-established schools—such as Qiuzhong Middle School, the Superior Normal School, and the Higher Academy—had already opened in large numbers.

Private institutions like Zhounan and Chuyi, along with county-run hostels for students from various counties, also proliferated.

Government-run schools were, needless to say, thoroughly bureaucratic.

There were "superintendents" and "discipline masters," adorned with red-tasseled official hats, riding jackets bearing mandarin squares, and thick-soled official boots. On the first and fifteenth of each lunar month, they would lead students—dressed in long gowns and mandarin jackets—in performing the ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows, first to the "Long Live the Emperor of the Present Dynasty for Ten Thousand Years," and then to the "Supreme Sage and Foremost Teacher."

In the central hall of the school, a large plaque was customarily hung in resplendent gold and green, inscribed with the "Sacred Edict": "First, uphold loyalty; second, uphold practicality; third, revere Confucius"—a truly magnificent sight!

During daily meals, students were required to wear long gowns. Observing them eat in the sweltering heat of June was, indeed, another spectacle of unparalleled magnificence!

Upon graduation, "proclamation bearers" would approach the "steward gentlemen" or "gatekeeper lords" of the school, securing a roster of graduates' names and addresses. They would then hastily produce numerous "announcement strips," inscribing them with phrases like: "Imperial Commissioner, Vice-Minister of the Army, Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, Governor of Hunan Province X, in conjunction with Provincial Education Commissioner X of Hunan, and Superintendent X of Hunan Government-Run X Academy, has examined Young Lord X of X Prefecture and ranked him First in the Superior Class, with tidings of rapid success and advancement."

Brimming with self-importance, they would travel to the countryside, bowing and scraping as they hung such a strip on the central wall of a graduate's home.

The graduate's entire family would emerge from their house, beaming with joy, gazing upon the red background, white border, decorative patterns, and golden characters—sheer ecstasy!

Upon receiving such joyous news, the graduate would travel by sedan chair—or, if his family lacked one, have one newly made.

Red-tasseled hat and riding jacket, newly crafted in most cases, with lanterns inscribed "Secretary of the Central Drafting Office" suspended from the back of the sedan chair, he would proceed to pay visits to relatives and old acquaintances.

Once these relatives and old acquaintances had been granted such a visit, they would rush to the graduate's home to offer congratulations, deeming it "the greatest of honors."

Upon arrival, they would find a small plaque hung above the main gate of the graduate's residence, inscribed with characters such as "Provincial Graduate" or "Distinguished Tribute Student" on a red background with golden characters—yet another spectacle of unparalleled splendor!

A grand feast would follow, after which everyone dispersed. This was known as "making wine," also called "sharing a meal," or "seeking windfalls."

Amid the vibrant student circles, if one sought still to uncover their hidden fervor, then aside from the bureaucratic instructors and administrators, many students secretly kept two items in the jumbled piles of books on their desks or in their drawers: one was Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao's "New People's Miscellany," and the other was Wang Jingwei and Song Jiaoren's "People's Miscellany."

These two publications, though banned, made their way from Japan to Hunan without hindrance. At the same time, the indomitable Huang Xing and Yu Zhimo, whom neither execution nor intimidation could quell, remained in Changsha, clandestinely orchestrating various movements—until the imprisonment following the Jiachen Affair, the failure of the Ping-Liu Uprising, and the beheading of Ma Fuyi outside Liuyang Gate. Huang Xing, disguised as a foreigner in a small sedan chair, finally fled the city through Little West Gate.

Yet the morale of Hunan's students only surged higher under suppression.

At this time, Yu Zhimo stood as the sole leader of Hunan's student community. Thus arose figures like Chen Tianhua and Yao Hongye—one from Anhua, the other from Yiyang—both students in Japan who, on their return journey, plunged into the sea and perished out of anguish over the nation's peril.

When news reached Hunan's students, they demanded that the government allow their coffins, transported back along the Xiang River, to be buried on Yuelu Mountain.

The obtuse Hunan Governor Yu Liansan and a certain education commissioner, eager to redden their official hat buttons further with the blood of revolutionaries and students, stubbornly refused permission.

Faced with this rebuff, the students adopted "direct action." On April 1, the thirty-second year of the Guangxu era, students from across Changsha, young and old, mobilized en masse, crossing the river via Zhu Zhang Ferry and Little West Gate.

Vivid banners and spotless white garments, gleaming under the fiery red sun, accompanied by resounding dirges, stretched in an unbroken procession for over ten li.

Soldiers and police stood frozen by the roadside, watching—none dared utter a word.

In the end, Chen and Yao were properly buried, and the authorities had to swallow their rage, powerless to act.

At this juncture, Hunan's student morale reached a fever pitch, soaring to its zenith.

But the authorities nursed their grievance, and some time later, using a pretext, they executed Yu Zhimo!

Subsequently, they exhumed the graves of Chen and Yao!

After the "righteous burial of Chen and Yao," the next notable event for Hunan's student community was in May of the first year of the Xuantong era—Indeed, student sports meets were a common sight; what was there so noteworthy?

Yet the sports meet of the first year of Xuantong was different.

It effectively embodied a spirit of "demonstration" and bore the tinge of "revolution."

The authorities were greatly unnerved—none more so than a certain Provincial Education Commissioner Wu.

The initiators, seizing on rhetoric about national peril and foreign encroachment, campaigned tirelessly before the event could proceed.

The venue was a vast parade ground used by the New Army outside Xiaowumen in Changsha.

The entire student body, marching in disciplined columns, took advantage of the cool dawn breezes and the radiant morning sun to perform various athletic feats.

What left the deepest impression was the solemn and stirring melody of the students' sports anthem, soaring to the heavens.

I have forgotten who composed this anthem, though even now, nearly a decade later, Hunan students still recite it unceasingly.

I now record it below:
Great is Hunan! The Heng Mountains touch the heavens, vast as Dongting and the cloud-wreathed marshes.
The Yuan River! The Li River and its orchids, boundless fragrant beauty.
Strong winds, sturdy customs, talents beyond measure, a hundred battles resound—the Hunan Army, heroic and martial, pacified the realm. We are the proud and mighty.
Hear the military song, stirring and sorrowful, banners flutter everywhere.
It resembles scenes of bullets and bayonets, blood-soaked battlefields.
The spirit of the military state, sons of the lakes and Xiang, a new visage of civilization.

The so-called "spirit of the military state" was the educational creed of the time, and the creed students embraced in their pursuit of learning.

This creed was directed outward against foreign powers and inward toward the overthrow of the Manchu Qing.

And so it proved: with the call from Wuhan, the lakes and Xiang responded first; southward to the sea’s bridge, northward to You and Yan, within four months, echoes resounded across seventeen provinces. The autocrat was toppled, the Republic established. The merit of education and the strength of students must be counted among the many contributing factors.

Let me now recount the movements of Hunan's student community from May of the third year of the Xuantong era to the eve of the revolution. On the nineteenth day of the third month of that year, Huang Xing launched his uprising in Guangzhou, sending shockwaves across the nation. When news reached Hunan, revolutionary-minded students were already poised for action.

The benighted Qing court, clinging to Sheng Xuanhuai's ill-timed plan, nationalized the country's major railways—a measure that, I note, was not inherently wrong but was enacted at the worst possible moment—including the Sichuan-Guangdong-Han Railway.

Sichuan was the first to rise in protest, its situation growing dire.

Hunan followed, with students particularly incensed. They called for strikes and held speeches and assemblies everywhere.

The weak and ignorant Governor of Hunan, Yang Wending, intervened forcefully. When students could not convene openly, they met in secret; when gatherings in the city were blocked, they congregated on Yuelu Mountain.

I myself was one of the many foot soldiers in that crowd. Day after day, we held speeches behind closed doors at our school, with many classmates passionately advocating for revolution. I still remember one speech where a fellow student tore off his long gown and declared, "Let's master military drills and prepare for battle!"

One night, a sudden clamor arose, and many were roused from their beds. Only then did we learn that our school and representatives from other schools, who had been meeting in some secret location, had been arrested by military police and taken to official custody.

Many said they would surely face execution.

Our headmaster, in a fluster, stuck out his foot-long tongue and repeatedly exclaimed "Terrible, terrible!" He immediately joined heads of other schools in pleading for their release.

It was only by daybreak that they were freed, and we merrily crept back into our beds.

The chaos this time was truly immense.

It was not until the nineteenth day of the eighth month, when Hubei declared independence, and Hunan responded on the first day of the ninth month, that these subplots were set aside and the main narrative began. Thus, student armies emerged in Hunan.

**Article 1** Any matter or principle that is necessary or unnecessary for modern life but has yet to receive an adequate resolution, thereby hindering the progress of modern existence, constitutes a problem. We, the undersigned, hereby establish an association dedicated to solving such problems, beginning with research, and name it the Problem Research Association.

**Article 2** The following categories of problems, along with others deemed worthy of study and subsequently added, shall be the subjects of this association's research:

**(I) Educational Problems**
(1) Universal education (compulsory education)
(2) Secondary education
(3) Specialized education
(4) University education
(5) Social education
(6) Compilation of vernacular language textbooks
(7) Teaching of Chinese language and literature in secondary schools
(8) Abolition of punishment
(9) Abolition of examinations
(10) Improvement of teaching methods at all levels
(11) Issues of knowledge, health, and salaries for primary school teachers
(12) Construction of public sports facilities
(13) Construction of public entertainment venues
(14) Construction of public libraries
(15) Reform of the educational system
(16) Large-scale dispatch of overseas students
(17) Implementation of Dewey's educational theories

**(II) Women's Issues**
(1) Women's political participation
(2) Women's education
(3) Women's employment
(4) Women's social interaction
(5) Chastity
(6) Freedom and sanctity of love
(7) Coeducation
(8) Women's adornment
(9) Family education
(10) Cohabitation of daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law
(11) Abolition of prostitution
(12) Abolition of concubinage
(13) Foot-binding release
(14) Establishment of public childcare centers
(15) Establishment of public infant care centers
(16) Treatment of illegitimate children
(17) Contraception

**(III) National Language Problem (Vernacular Literature Problem)**

**(IV) The Problem of Confucius**

**(V) The Problem of Synthesis of Eastern and Western Civilizations**

**(VI) Reform of the Marriage System and the Question of Its Abolition**

**(VII) Reform of the Family System and the Question of Its Abolition**

**(VIII) Reform of the State System and the Question of Its Abolition**

**(IX) Reform of Religion and the Question of Its Abolition**

**(X) The Labor Problem**

(1) The issue of labor hours
(2) The issue of labor education
(3) The issue of labor housing and recreation
(4) The issue of disciplinary measures for labor negligence
(5) The issue of wage rates
(6) The issue of child labor
(7) The issue of equal pay for men and women
(8) The issue of labor organizations
(9) The issue of the International Labour Union
(10) The issue of workers and peasants intervening in politics
(11) The issue of forced labor
(12) The issue of equitable distribution of surplus
(13) The issue of public ownership of the means of production
(14) The issue of workers’ pursuit of occupational pensions
(15) The issue of inheritance reversion to the public
(Supplementary)
(1) The issue of national self-determination
(2) The issue of economic freedom
(3) The issue of freedom of the seas
(4) The issue of arms limitation
(5) The issue of the League of Nations
(6) The issue of free migration
(7) The issue of racial equality
(8) The issue of whether socialism can be implemented
(9) The issue of how to carry out the unity of the masses
(20) The issue of how to popularize the work-study doctrine
(21) The Russian issue
(22) The German issue
(23) The Austro-Hungarian issue
(24) The issue of Indian self-government
(25) The issue of Irish independence
(26) The issue of the partition of Turkey
(27) The issue of the Egyptian unrest
(28) The issue of dealing with the German Emperor
(29) The issue of rebuilding Belgium
(30) The issue of rebuilding eastern France
(31) The issue of disposing of German colonies
(32) The issue of public ownership of harbors
(33) The issue of flying across the Atlantic
(34) The issue of flying across the Pacific
(35) The issue of flying across the Tianshan Mountains
(36) The issue of tunneling through the Bering, English Channel, and Gibraltar straits for rail cars
(37) The Siberian issue
(38) The issue of Philippine independence
(39) The issue of Japan’s food supply
(40) The Japanese issue
(41) The Korean issue
(42) The Shandong issue
(43) The Hunan issue
(44) The issue of abolishing military governors
(45) The issue of disarmament
(46) The issue of the National Defense Army
(47) The issue of old and new parliaments
(48) The issue of railway unification (the issue of abolishing spheres of influence)
(49) The Manchurian issue
(50) The Mongolian issue
(51) The Tibetan issue
(52) The issue of returning the Boxer Indemnity
(53) The issue of Chinese laborers —
(1) The issue of education for Chinese laborers
(2) The issue of savings for Chinese laborers
(3) The issue of resettlement of Chinese laborers after returning home
(54) The issue of local self-government
(55) The issue of central and local power centralization and decentralization
(56) The issue of a bicameral versus unicameral system
(57) The issue of universal suffrage
(58) The issue of presidential powers and limits
(59) The issue of civil service examinations for judicial officials
(60) The issue of eradicating bribery
(61) The issue of a collegial cabinet system
(62) The issue of industry —
(1) The issue of sericulture improvement
(2) The issue of tea production improvement
(3) The issue of cotton planting improvement
(4) The issue of afforestation
(5) The issue of mining
(6) The issue of increasing the establishment of spinning and weaving factories
(7) The issue of managing overseas trade
(8) The issue of establishing national factories
(63) The issue of transportation —
(1) The issue of railway improvement
(2) The issue of large foreign loans for additional railway construction
(3) The issue of building wireless stations
(4) The issue of laying additional sea and land cables
(5) The issue of expanding the shipping industry
(6) The issue of constructing roads in commercial ports
(7) The issue of building rural motor roads
(64) The issue of finance —
(1) The issue of repaying foreign debts
(2) The issue of borrowing additional foreign loans
(3) The issue of repaying and increasing domestic bonds
(4) The issue of abolishing internal tariffs and increasing taxes
(5) The issue of reorganizing the salt administration
(6) The issue of dividing financial powers between the central and provincial governments
(7) The issue of tax system reform
(8) The issue of comprehensive land surveying
(9) The issue of equalizing and increasing land taxes
(65) The issue of the economy —
(1) The issue of the monetary standard
(2) The issue of establishing a central bank
(3) The issue of recalling paper currency
(4) The issue of establishing national banks
(5) The issue of national savings
(66) The issue of judicial independence
(67) The issue of abolishing consular jurisdiction
(68) The issue of establishing municipal parks
(69) The issue of model villages
(70) The issue of southwestern self-government
(71) The issue of whether a federal system should be implemented
The study of these issues must be grounded in academic principles.

Therefore, before studying various issues, it is necessary to study various doctrines. The following doctrines are those that especially require focused study —
(1) Philosophical doctrines
(2) Ethical doctrines
(3) Educational doctrines
(4) Religious doctrines
(5) Literary doctrines
(6) Artistic doctrines
(7) Political doctrines
(8) Economic doctrines
(9) Legal doctrines
(10) Scientific principles
Article 4: Regardless of the scale of an issue, as long as it possesses a relatively broad universality, it may be proposed for study, such as the Japanese issue.

Article 5: For the study of issues that require field investigation, such investigations must be conducted, as in the case of the Chinese laborer issue. For those that do not require field investigation, or cannot be investigated on-site for the time being, study shall proceed through the three channels of books, magazines, and newspapers. Examples include the Confucius issue and the issue of tunneling through the three straits for rail cars.

Article 6: The study of issues focuses on those relevant to contemporary human life. However, issues that can be predicted for the future are also noted. Issues from antiquity, modernity, or the future that bear no relevance are disregarded.

Article 7: The methods of studying issues are divided into three types —
(1) Individual independent study
(2) Study conducted by two or more persons in a research meeting
(3) Study conducted by two or more persons in different locations through correspondence
Article 8: The Problem Research Society is limited to "solving problems through academic principles." "Solving problems through implementation" falls outside the scope of the Problem Research Society.

Article 9: Regardless of who intends to study one or more issues and wishes to engage with the Problem Research Society, they shall become a member of the Problem Research Society.

Article 10: Relations between the society and its members, and among members themselves, are limited to the single aspect of "problem research." Any relations beyond this fall outside the scope of the Problem Research Society.

Article 11: The Problem Research Society shall appoint one secretary to handle the society’s affairs.

Article 12: The Problem Research Society was established on a day in September 1919, corresponding to the Western calendar year 1919, in the eighth year of the Republic of China. The charter of the Problem Research Society was formulated, resolved, and promulgated on that day.

September 5, 1919
Mr. Shao Xi:
I have received your esteemed letter. I am deeply ashamed of your praise. The Xiangjiang Review was banned and ceased publication after the fifth issue. The fifth issue has been mailed to your honorable address and I trust you have received it. Here, there is a publication called New Hunan, which from the seventh issue onward has been under my editorship. It is currently undergoing reorganization and will be published in half a month. At that time, I will send you a copy for your correction. The study "Research on the National Language Study" published in Minfeng No. 6 has greatly benefited me from reading it. Along with "A Glimpse of the Russian Literary Thought Trend" in No. 4, both can be described as major essays rarely seen in recent years. Regarding the national language issue, I also wish to study it somewhat. As a student of education, when speaking of education, I might say that there is no way forward unless a national language textbook is compiled. If one wishes to study it, the difficulty lies again in material collection. Regarding materials on the national language, I would be extremely grateful if you could kindly offer me some when encountered. The preparatory class for studying in France in Changsha has a prospect of being established. The matter of studying in France can be considered a new life for Hunan’s educational circles. You, sir, originally paid attention to this matter, and several issues of the Commoners’ Weekly have already been received.

Mao Zedong
September 5, 1919

A certain normal school student, because he himself desires books and extrapolates this affection to over a hundred primary school pupils, thinking they also need to study books, opposed the dissolution of the affiliated primary school (see yesterday’s paper). Behold them, "like devoted infants, clinging and weeping in clusters at the school gate, which remains tightly shut and impassable. Staff and attendants drive them away but they refuse to leave. When former teachers are seen on the streets, they grasp their hands and ask, 'How can life teach me?'" No matter who sees or hears of this scene, they must shed a tear. All you educators of our Hunan, those whose minds are relatively still in their early stages, ought to express sympathy for them.

A rickshaw puller, after towing for a whole day, became dazed from exhaustion and, oblivious to the moment, ran wildly off course. Suddenly a heavy punch landed on his back. Hurriedly he cried out, "Aiyo, this is unbearable!" and then tears followed. He had been prepared to argue, but upon one look, saw it was that man. Then he dared not speak, and pulling the cart, fled like the wind.