| The history of the Hunan First Normal School is a tapestry woven of Chinese traditional and Western modern threads. Chinese tradition figured significantly in the character of the school. Western ideas, as well as the contemporary social, political, and intellectual circumstances also contributed to its policies and practices.; This dissertation examines the ideological transformation of a generation of students and scholars associated with the Hunan First Normal School in Changsha, China. A group of students who attended the school in the second decade of the twentieth century eventually became the founders, principal ideologues and activists of the Chinese Communist Party. It explores the process by which the curriculum, environment, staff, especially the teachers, political and social forces in the school and in the surrounding city contributed to the transformation in the thinking of the student body. It examines how traditional Confucian values played a role in their radicalization, their transformation into communists, and their early communist activities, which in turn, suggests that the early Chinese communist movement was not without connections with Chinese tradition. It also examines the processes of change and constancy at the school, of its peculiar blend of Western and traditional Chinese ideas. By analyzing the social, political, and intellectual backgrounds, and the generation of the students, ideological formation and transformation, I will provide a better understanding of China's transition into modernity and the triumph of the Chinese Communist party. |
