Declaration of the Xiangtan Education Promotion Association[1]

(July 31, 1920)

We, the members of the Xiangtan Education Promotion Association, desiring to advance education in our county through a concerted proposition, have jointly resolved to issue the following declaration.

[1] The Xiangtan Education Promotion Association was formally established on July 27, 1920, initiated by Mao Zedong and others, with the aim of promoting education in Xiangtan, disseminating new ideas, and advocating educational reform.
Mao Zedong was elected as the association's secretary for clerical affairs.
According to the *Report on the Affairs of the Xiangtan Education Promotion Association*, on July 30, 1920, the association held its first executive meeting and resolved that "the drafting of the declaration be entrusted to Mao Zedong," and "the next day, Mao Zedong drafted the declaration."
It was publicly published in the Hunan *Ta Kung Pao* on August 3 and 4, 1920.
The first issue of the *Journal of the Xiangtan Education Promotion Association* on May 1, 1921, included this declaration.
The punctuation herein has been added by the editor.
Additionally, the "Foreword" of the *Journal*, judging by its style, appears to have been written by Mao Zedong, and since Mao was one of the two editorial directors of the *Journal* (the other being Wu Yuzhen), it is also included here.
The full text reads: "Xiangtan education is corrupt!"
Almost everyone who is from Xiangtan, or who has visited Xiangtan and gained some understanding of its conditions, or even those within Xiangtan's educational circles who handle chalk and erase blackboards themselves, utters such a remark.
But corruption itself is not the crux; if we identify the causes of its corruption and find ways to eliminate them, what is corrupt will cease to be so.
Since "corruption" has attached itself to "Xiangtan education," and the two have formed an intimate bond, then "how to separate them" has become an urgent issue for the people of Xiangtan to resolve.
The Xiangtan Education Promotion Association was organized to address this issue, and the *Journal* is, of course, published for the same purpose.
The *Journal* is not meant to stir up trouble with any party, nor is it meant to compromise with any party.
There is but one truth, which tolerates neither disruption nor conciliation.
The truth of education is "new education."
The conditions for new education are many, but in summary, it is "education suited to human nature."
The *Journal*, adhering to this purpose, uses the medium of writing to deliberate with all parties, in the hope of jointly resolving this issue of Xiangtan education.
In other words, to jointly promote education in Xiangtan.

Our county has been establishing schools for nearly twenty years.
During the Guangxu and Xuantong reigns[1], the achievements were quite commendable.
In the early years of the Republic, progress was especially rapid.
Although the content had not yet attained perfection, it had at least begun to take shape.
In recent years, as Western trends have spread eastward, theories have been renewed daily.
Scholars and educators across the nation have all risen with vigor, adapting to the trends and engaging in reform.
Yet education in our county alone has neither been able to meet the needs of the times by striving for renewal, nor to uphold its inherent spirit and maintain the status quo.
Nearly half of the schools have been closed, leaving young people with no path to learning.
Educational funds have increased year by year, yet all the gold has been thrown into barren voids.
Tracing the root cause, it is entirely due to those in charge of education failing to observe global trends, failing to recognize their own deficiencies, and lacking a sense of responsibility and a spirit of invigoration, which has led to this state.
Education is a tool for promoting social progress, and educators are those who wield this tool.
Therefore, educational theories and methods must evolve daily to enable society to progress; the thinking of educators must evolve daily to absorb and apply these evolving theories and methods, thereby promoting social progress.
As global intellectual currents shift with each passing day, our nation's New Culture Movement[2] has risen in response.
Literary innovation and intellectual liberation have spread swiftly across the land.
The American scholar Dr. Dewey has come east[3], and his newly expounded educational theories hold considerable research value.
Yet our county remains deeply closed off and resistant, as if utterly ignorant of external circumstances.
Those who preside over and supervise education are not only obstinate and narrow-minded but also muddled and ignorant.
Unable to align with intellectual currents, education has thus become ineffective.
Gazing into the future, our hidden worries are boundless!
As for the actual state of corruption in our county's education, it has long been the talk of the streets, with grotesque phenomena abounding.
The facts are all there, undeniable.
Those in charge of education have no fixed direction, no concrete plans, and lack the perseverance to carry out their duties and the resolve to improve.
This has caused the educational sphere to lack a spirit of vigor and initiative, while the people have gradually developed a psychology of distrust toward schools.
If we do not urgently press forward and jointly seek remedies, the situation will deteriorate further, inevitably plunging the entire county's education into bankruptcy.
We, the members of this association, with a heart of reverence for our homeland, and for the sake of promoting education, are willing to encourage one another alongside all educators in the county: to observe the external currents of the world, to examine our own internal deficiencies, to earnestly shoulder our responsibilities, and to rouse a spirit of vitality.
As for the county's education—how to plan, how to proceed, how to cleanse old filth, how to introduce new knowledge, how to allocate funds appropriately, how to avoid missteps in personnel, how to break down and bridge the inconsequential divide between old and new, how to dissolve and transform past disputes born of personal animosities—all these are matters of utmost importance, which cannot be resolved without unity of purpose and bold, diligent effort.
Though our strength is slight, we pledge ourselves with sincerity.
All our propositions are conceived solely for the public good of the whole, not out of personal preference or bias, nor with any extreme emotion.
We shall always humbly consider all opinions with an open mind and treat others with sincerity.
So long as our aims align, we shall regard all as comrades.
Now, at the inception of this initiative, we hereby issue this declaration.

[1] The Guangxu and Xuantong reigns refer to the periods of the Qing Dynasty under the Guangxu Emperor (1875–1908) and the Xuantong Emperor (1909–1911).

[2] The New Culture Movement refers to the cultural movement around the time of the May Fourth Movement.
It is generally marked by Chen Duxiu's founding of *Youth Magazine* in September 1915, with Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Li Dazhao, and Lu Xun as its main representatives.
Its primary content involved advocating democracy and science while opposing feudalism and superstition.
Its left wing gradually shifted toward propagating the Russian October Revolution and Marxism as its central focus.

[3] Between 1919 and 1921, John Dewey lectured in China.
In October 1920, he visited Changsha, accompanied by lecturers such as Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Taiyan, and Wu Zhihui.
Mao Zedong was specially invited by the Hunan *Ta Kung Pao* to serve as the recorder for these lectures.