The Republic Of Rural Education And Rural Urbanization,

China's urbanization has to be carried on upon the condition that China is a country in which the agricultural population occupies the overwhelming majority. This is the most important and fundamental problem no one can avoid. But in the period of 1920s and 1930s, China's countryside went from bad to worse day by day, the rural economy approached the edge of collapse, which made the urbanization of the countryside lagged behind a long way from that of the Western countries . It was this that attracted many Chinese statesmen, economists and intellectuals and made them turn their eyes to the countryside, hence the village education movement. For a while, was blustery on length and breadth it rose in China this kind of intellectual community: they took off their clean suit and put on the farmer's cotton garment and straw sandal to go to the countryside, attempting to save China from the crisis, making China to attain the vitality and the vigor again through the way of village education, and the village construction. They tried their best to propose their own programmes and put these programmes into practice for more than 10 years. Their aim was to change the countryside and to realize the ideal of national revival by the way of educating the villagers. They hoped to arouse the Kuomintang government's attention and in fact they succeeded to some extent. The Kuomintang authority could not but complied with the trend of the times, tacitly approved and supported their practice and did some work itself.The village education movement in the period of the Republic of China was very important in modern Chinese history. It is not merely because it raised the banners of "countryside revival" and "remould of the nationality", but more importantly it carried on the exploration and the attempt for it. Professor Luo Rongqu pointed out that from the modernized theory frame point of view, each political, economic, cultural, and educational practice for the sake of China's revival should be regarded as the movement to exploiting China's modernization path. Therefore, the above "village education movement" occured in the first half of the 20th century was an important content in the Chinese modernization movement and it was also an important exploration to the countryside's urbanization path. So we may draw the conclusion that there was close relations between the village education and the countryside's urbanization. It is the focus to pay attention to the village and the farmer, and how to urbanize the countryside is the most difficult and key point in China's modernization. To consider the time background and the actual results, the then village education movement had many flaws and couldn't become the fundamental solution to resolve modern China's problems. But some of its ideological recognitions and concrete practices are worthy of consideration and research, e.g. it regarded the village education the key to urbanization and tried to find an effective way to change the countryside. If we don't consider the specific historical condition and the political prejudice, the then village education movement had demonstrated a kind of feasible and modern tentative plan and pattern for the rural reconstruction. It has certain reference value and can afford inspiration to today's socialist new rural reconstruction and the countryside's urbanization.It is precisely based on the above understanding, this article will, under the countryside's urbanization field of vision and based on the published researches, discuss the village education in the period of the Republic of China. On one hand, I'll pay great attention to the National government's practice on the village education. On the other hand, I'll hold the countryside's urbanization as the main line, emphasize the relationship between the village education and the countryside's urbanization. The article has 5 parts. The first part is to introduce the reason to select this topic, the present situation of researches, my methods and so on. The second part deals with background of the rural education movement. The third part is about the overall practice of the village education. The fourth part discusses the village education's influence on the countryside's urbanization. The fifth part discusses the reason for the failure of the village education and then put forward my ponder.