Tao Xingzhi: A re-discovery of a Christian educator (Chinese text)

Tao Xingzhi was one of the most important educators in modern China. He has been highly recognized in Mainland China in last two decades, and has been one of the mostly researched educators in modern China. However, the fact that he was a Christian still exists as a subject matter demanding vigorous research.; The author found that the problem resulted not only from a bias against Tao Xingzhi's Christian identity due to the political situation in the Communist China. We also found that the problem may be a consequence of the ambiguity of Tao Xingzhi's own Christian-ness. Some of his close relatives and friends did not consider him as a Christian well before the establishment of Communist regime.; The author started to dig into the first hand materials from Christian sources that might have been related to Tao Xingzhi, and got encouraging results. Together with other materials related to Tao, and the voluminous works of Tao in the Complete Collections the author tried to re-examine and re-construct a portrait of a Christian Tao Xingzhi, through his family background, his early years, his schooling at Chongyi School, Guangji Medical College, Nanjing Methodist College and the University of Nanjing, his studies aboard at the University of Illinois and Colombia University, and his active participation in the education enterprise and social political development in China after returning to his home country. The author tried to unveil the constituent elements of Tao Xingzhi's Christian faith and his Christian appearance, with the intention to rediscover the image of Tao Xingzhi as a Christian educator.; With this study, the author re-discovered Tao Xingzhi as a Christian educator. It was re-discovered that both Tao Xingzhi's relationship with Christianity, and the influence of Christian faith on him were far more significant and deeper than a Tao Xingzhi as presented by researchers in last five decades. This study contributes much to the re-discovery of first hand materials, it also succeeded in telling the untold story of such a prominent person in modern China. Any full understanding of Tao Xingzhi could no longer afford to overlook the Christian identity of him.