On Social Education In Sichuan Province During The Anti-Japanese War

Social education is an integral part of education system. Generally speaking, it refers to social activities which have influences on individuals physically and emotionally. To be specific, it means the pedagogical activity which is planned, organized and purposeful. Not included in academic system, it is motivated by the government mainly, then persons and nongovernmental communities to promote the qualities of the dropouts and the whole nation by building up and making use of various cultural and educational institutions and facilities. And the social education in the modern history of China is mostly about its modality in a narrow sense.Sichuan, with the reputation of "Land of Natural Abundance", is affluent in products and has the largest population in China. So it is very common and frequent to maintain an army there, which is incomparable. With the full-scale breakout of the Anti-Japan War in 1937, Sichuan took the central position of pulling the nation out of death and fighting back constantly as the rear. In October 1937, Jiang Jieshi pointed out definitely that " Sichuan is the rear area in Anti-Japan War" in a speech titled On Moving the Capital and the Future of the Anti-Japanese War in Nanjing. He believed that "even if there were only Sichuan province left, the unification is still available." From this we can see how Chiang Kai-shek believed in Sichuan's role in the War and relied heavily on its service. Sichuan has not only the large population, the vast area and the abundant products, but the favorable geographical position. Just like a hinge, it is situated among several provinces, Shanxi, Ningxia, Qinghai in the northwest, while Yunnan, Guizhou, Hu'nan, and Guangxi in the southwest. Because of the predominant geographical position, Sichuan became the center in the front battlefields politically, militarily, financially, and economically after the fall of Wuhan. Later, the KMT's government moved the capital to Chongqing, so did scores of industry and educational facilities. This made Sichuan's political status higher and higher. Sichuan was expected to be the base area for revival and the important region for defensive during the wartime. So when the countrywide war was in full scale, 70 million people from Sichuan should take more important responsibilities and orders compared with those in other provinces.In order to arouse the ethnic consciousness and patriotism of 70 million people from Sichuan, and encourage them to help against the enemies, it is very urgent for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War to develop education and improve the people's quality. To popularize education on the mass, we cannot only rely on education at school. And at that time, the educational resources at school were yet so poor that the mass education is unrealistic. Therefore, social education on the whole nation, became the essential way to encourage the mass and develop the Anti-Japanese Education. Because of Sichuan's importance in military, the KMT's government gave great financial support for social education in Sichuan Province. And the Ministry of Education promulgated more than ten documents on social education as political guides, expecting that it can accelerate comprehensively the social education in Sichuan Province which will perform an important role in the national rejuvenation of Chinese people and encouraging the mass. The government in Sichuan gradually realized the importance of developing social education and reestablished the independent executive position. In 1941 the social educational executive branch in Sichuan Province broke off relations with the Third Department, and became the Forth Department in charge of matters on social education. In line with the career of Anti-Japanese War and the foundation of new China, Sichuan Office of Education re-enacted the new goals of civil education in every county and city during wartime. All activities aimed at inspiring people to resist the enemy, cultivating public anti-enemy forces, carrying forward the spirit of service during wartime, granting the new historical mission to social education, and guiding the development direction of social education throughout the whole province, thus, with a view to promoting the launch of education in Sichuan and the all-round mobilization of the mass to fight with the enemy, Anti-Japanese War provided a very good opportunity to the development of Sichuan social education. Due to the above factors, the social education in Sichuan during wartime got the chance to forge ahead; in addition, it achieved a qualitative leap and reached the peak stage of development. The Sichuan social education made a full preparation for the national victory on aspect of mobilization of the people's thinking; meanwhile, it also played an important role in promoting the social modernization process in Sichuan.However, the ways of implementing social education in Sichuan are various, it's impossible to illustrate all of them in detail in this paper. But the center institution of social education—the Civil Education Hall, whose activities involve almost all the aspects of social education, can be chosen as an example. So the Civil Education Hall of Chengdu, which was largest in size and most effective, has been chosen as the target of my research, through which, to reveal the development measures, achievements and contributions to the Anti-Japanese War and society of the social education in Sichuan.During wartime, the government had set clear requirements and regulations to the organizations, staff and finance of the Civil Education Hall of Chengdu. Through the perfection of social education system, we can sum up the operational mechanism of social education in Sichuan. In line with the career of Anti-Japanese War and the foundation of new China, under the guidance of policies, the Civil Education Hall of Chengdu launched the pedagogical activities from the following six aspects, literacy education, livelihood education, health education, culture and entertainment education and education exhibition. Through the analysis of these facts of social education, I will analyze the direct relationship between thedevelopment of social education, the improvement of the quality of the people, the foundation of new China, and social progress. The government made efforts to promote the development of social education in Sichuan, on one hand, it mobilized and encouraged the people in Sichuan to make significant contribution to the victory of Anti-Japanese War, on the other hand, the development of education improved the quality of the mass and the morality, strengthened the national cohesion and the patriotic consciousness. Meanwhile, it promoted the development of economy and social modernization process in Sichuan. Also, it was conscious of the impediment to development of social education caused by the factors such as social instability, economic collapse and the lack of talents. However, Generally speaking, the positive effects of social education in Sichuan during wartime can not be ignored.