After the Revolution of 1911, Mr. Cai Yuanpei, a revolutionary, thinker and educator who was then the director of education of the Beiyang Government, attached great importance to aesthetic education. Under his active advocacy, a large number of foreign students who had received new education began to actively develop domestic fine arts and art education, and established a number of specialized schools.
Under the direct promotion of Mr. Cai, in 1918, the predecessor of National Peking Art College, National Beijing Fine Arts School was officially established and opened. A large number of heavyweights in the education field, including Fan Yuanlian, then Chief of Education, Fu Zengxiang, Vice Minister, and Cai Yuanpei, then President of Peking University, were present to congratulate him.
This is a major event in the history of Chinese art. This is the first national-level art school in Chinese history.
In 1927, the Nanjing National Government was established, and the University of the Republic of China, with Mr. Cai Yuanpei as its dean, was established to oversee national education and was equivalent to the Ministry of Education.
Cai Yuanpei proposed, "Given the vast territory and large population of China, and the urgent need for education, we advocate the establishment of a national art university in the Yangtze River basin to provide subsidies."
Under Cai Yuanpei's strong promotion, the Nanjing government established the National Academy of Art in the beautiful West Lake of Hangzhou, with Lin Fengmian as the dean and Lin Wenzheng as the provost.
Hangzhou National Academy of Arts is the second national art school founded by a country.
In this way, in 1918, the National Peking Art College was established, and ten years later, in 1928, the National Hangzhou Art College was also established.
There are two national institutions of higher learning in the arts, one in the north and one in the south.
Cai Yuanpei is very pleased that the ideal he advocated is becoming a reality.
What he did not expect was that 20 years later, the shameless bureaucrats in charge of education and schools not only failed to show the "noble character of the Chinese people", but used a low personality and despicable methods to expel his daughter William Tsai from the National Art College, causing William Tsai to die in Kunming in distress at the age of 35.
Mr. Cai Yuanpei was sent from a white-haired man to a black-haired man, so one can imagine his grief.
What the hell is going on?
William Cai is the eldest daughter of Mr. Cai Yuanpei. She studied in Europe in her early years and specialized in oil painting. William Tsai and Pan Yuliang were the first Chinese female artists to study in Europe in the early years of the Republic of China. They were the first generation of female professors in China to teach oil painting and one of the pioneers of female art education in modern times.
It can be said that Cai William is the biggest responder to Cai Yuanpei's promotion of art, and she is also a talented woman who has achieved academic success.
After completing his studies and returning to China, William Tsai taught at the National Hangzhou Art College as a professor of Western painting. In addition to teaching, she created large-scale oil paintings with many characters, such as "Qiu Jin's sacrifice in Shaoxing" and "Tianhe Hui", which had a great influence.
In July 1928, William Tsai married Lin Wenzheng, an art historian who studied at the University of Paris in France and was professor and dean of the National Hangzhou Art College at the time, in Shanghai. The officiant was Jiang Menglin.
A talented woman got married in the school she loves. It is truly a perfect match, and it is even more joyous!
lived a peaceful and happy life for only ten years.
In 1937, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the National Peking Art College moved south. In the same year, Hangzhou fell, and the National Hangzhou Art College also moved westward.
The country has broken through mountains and rivers! The two schools moved back and forth, and it was difficult to find a suitable location for the school. In March 1938, the Ministry of Education ordered the Peking National Art College and the Hangzhou National Art College to merge in Yuanling, Hunan, and renamed the National Art College, referred to as the National Art College.
This is the National Art College, which is famous and controversial in the history of Chinese education and Chinese art!
In order to smoothly merge the two schools, the Ministry of Education specially sent someone to take charge of this work. This person is Zhang Daofan, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Education (equivalent to the deputy minister).
During the Anti-Japanese War, due to the national crisis, the Kuomintang authorities ordered many schools to be merged into relatively safe rear areas to run schools. For example, the famous Southwest Associated University ran for eight years. Not only was the cooperation successful, but it also created a miracle in the history of Chinese higher education.
But not all university mergers can be normal. Peking Art College and Hangzhou Art College are classic cases of complete failure.
The merger of the two schools in Yuanling, Hunan, presided over by Zhang Daofan, was the beginning of the National Art College’s nightmare!
When the two schools merge, the first question is who will be the boss.
The authorities adopted the practice of the Southwest Associated University and appointed the person in charge through a committee system. The Ministry of Education appointed Lin Fengmian, the former principal of Hangzhou Art College, as the chairman of the committee, equivalent to the principal. It also appointed Zhao Taiqiu, the former principal of Beiping Art College, and Chang Shuhong, the former director of the Western Painting Group of Beiping Art College, as committee members, equivalent to the vice president.
Lin Fengmian, Zhao Taiqi, and Chang Shuhong are obviously not comparable to Mei Yiqi, Jiang Menglin, and Zhang Boling. This is the reason for the tragedy of and .
seems fair, but has great hidden dangers. Because school decision-making is based on voting, although Lin Fengmian is the principal, he cannot vote for Zhao Taitou and Chang Shuhong, and cannot make decisions, which is very helpless.
Meetings between three people are often very noisy, and discussions fail to reach a resolution. Two people from Peiping Art College are not afraid of you from Hangzhou Art College. So what if you are the principal?
The principal and vice-principal made a fuss, and the teachers and students of the two schools also followed suit. This is what later generations said, serious factional strife arose after the merger of the two schools.
Let’s take a look at the number of people in the two schools.
Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, there were 27 faculty members in Peiping Art University, including 24 teachers and 3 staff. Due to the long distance, there were only 13 faculty members when we finally arrived at Yuanling . Among the teachers, only six professors, including professor of Western painting Chang Shuhong, professor of sculpture Wang Linyi, professor of pattern Li Youxing and Pang Xunpei, and lecturers Tan Danji and Wang Manshuo, moved with them. Only 25% of the original 24 faculty members.
Hangzhou Art College is different. Since the distance is not too far, many people come to Hangzhou Art College. Before the Anti-Japanese War, Hangzhou Art College had a total of 45 faculty members, including 26 teachers and 19 staff. There are 34 faculty members who finally arrived in Yuanling, accounting for 76% of the original faculty members. Among them, the teachers include Lin Wenzheng, Wu Dayu, Pan Tianshou, Cai William, Wang Ziyun, Liu Kaiqu, Huang Jixing, Li Shuhua, Zhang Guang, Li Puyuan, Lei Guiyuan, Li Chaoshi, Fang Ganmin, Qiu Xi, Cheng Lina, Wu Tieyi, etc. 17 people, accounting for 65% of the original faculty.
After the school was officially merged, there were a total of 47 faculty members, including 34 from Hangzhou Art College and 13 from Beiping Art College. There were a total of more than 140 students from the two schools, including more than 100 students from Hangzhou Art College and more than 40 students from Beiping Art College.
It can be said that Hangzhou Art College has the absolute upper hand in terms of the number of faculty and students.
The school continues to be noisy! There are major differences in school management, personnel management, and whether to move to Kunming. Lin Fengmian suffered from a severe headache, felt internally and externally trapped, and was overwhelmed. She formally resigned to the Ministry of Education at the end of April 1938, leaving the National Art College (Hangzhou Art College) where she had devoted ten years of hard work.
After he left, the students from Hangzhou Art College were unhappy and beat up Yue Taiyi and Li Puyuan. This was the first "Yuanling Student Movement" at the National Art College.
In May 1938, the Ministry of Education sent a "third-party newcomer" Teng Gu who had no relationship with the two schools to become the principal in Yuanling.
The second nightmare of the National Art College began.
William Cai and Lin Wenzheng also moved their families to Yuanling, Hunan Province with the teachers and students of Hangzhou Art College. The trouble at school probably has little to do with the couple.
But Zhang Daofan stepped forward to deal with William Tsai and Lin Wenzheng.
In 1928, Zhang Daofan came to Hangzhou and wanted to find a job in Hangzhou Art College and pursue William Cai. However, William Cai rejected him and instead married the like-minded Lin Wenzheng.
Zhang Daofan was very disappointed, so he held a grudge against Cai and Lin and waited for an opportunity to take revenge.
When the time came in 1938, Zhang Daofan became the deputy undersecretary of the Ministry of Education. He held a high position and presided over the merger of the two schools. The opportunity for revenge finally came. The true saying "a gentleman takes revenge is never too late".
Unforgettable jealousy and resentment, Zhang Daofan quickly conspired with the establishment of the National Art College to coerce Lin Cai and his wife to resign under various pretexts.
Of course, we cannot just expel Lin Cai and his wife. In order to look better, we also expelled Li Shuhua and Zhang Guang from Hangzhou Art College, and Wang Manshuo from Beiping Art College. This is a "company killing". In addition, Wu Dayu from Hangzhou Art College may have felt that the momentum was not good and ran away before.
Poor Cai and Lin were forced to resign for no apparent reason and left the school where they had lived for ten years. The time is September 1938.
In desperation, in the winter of 1938, Cai and Lin and their family went through all the hardships to come to Kunming and rented a dilapidated private house in the city. Due to the cut off of their financial resources, the family of eight lives in two bungalows with an area of about 30 square meters and is struggling to survive.
In May 1939, William Tsai gave birth to a baby girl. Due to dystocia, within a few hours, she painfully drew a portrait of her newborn daughter on the white wall in front of her bed with her fingers, and wrote the words "National disaster! Family disaster!" with charcoal before fainting.
Two days later, on May 5, 1939, this talented female artist died of excessive bleeding during childbirth at the age of 35.
The National Art College arrived in Kunming in February 1939.
Shen Congwen who was teaching at Southwest Associated University at that time lived in the same courtyard with Cai William's family and were familiar with each other. Shen Congwen recalled the circumstances of William Cai's death: "But two days ago, I heard from my family that I found out that the mother of the child had given birth to a little Maomao at home and had been dead for three days. The direct cause of death was puerperal fever , but the indirect cause was that there was no education, no income, and I was afraid that the cost would be too much to bear, so I couldn't go to the hospital to give birth, so I finally died. When people die, there are a lot of things left. Painting, six children. It is painful and chilling to think that Ms. William Tsai was such a small person, but was eventually struck down by poverty and disease, and died. "
The salary of the National Art College at that time showed that the principal's salary was 400 yuan per month, and the salary of a full-time teacher was between 200 and 300 yuan. Even if William Tsai and Lin Wenzheng each received 200 yuan, the total would still be 400 yuan, enough to maintain food and clothing and go to the hospital to give birth to their children.
During the Anti-Japanese War, everything was difficult. What I fear most is losing my job and losing my source of income.
William Tsai and Lin Wenzheng couple, what are you afraid of, what come!
What a shame!
When William Tsai passed away, Mr. Tsai Yuanpei was in exile in Hong Kong and was also ill. Relatives and friends could not bear to tell him the unfortunate news. Every time his son-in-law Lin Wenzheng wrote to Cai Yuanpei, he always wrote in Cai William's name.
But three months later, in August 1939, Cai Yuanpei saw the news from the Hong Kong newspaper that the "Exhibition of William Tsai's Posthumous Works" was held in Kunming. Only then did I learn that my daughter had died of illness in Kunming.
The grief-stricken Cai Yuanpei probably never imagined that his daughter would be expelled from the National Art College that he promoted and die in poverty.
The next year, in March 1940, Cai Yuanpei passed away with anger, sadness and endless regrets, and went to heaven to meet his daughter at the age of 72.
When we think of William Cai's death, we will be endlessly sad. It is easy to think of the " Poem of Sadness and Anger" written by Cai Yan during the Wei and Jin Dynasties:
Life and death are forever separated, and we cannot bear to say goodbye to him.
The child hugged my neck and asked my mother what she wanted.
People say that when my mother is gone, she will never come back.
My mother has always been compassionate, why should I be even less compassionate now?
I am not an adult yet, so I don’t care about my thoughts.
I hope that tragedy will not happen again.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-