An Analysis On Mao Zedong’s Thought Of Family Education And Its Historical Role

Family education is defined in various ways, one of whose commonplaces is the emphasis that parents educate children. Throughout the history of China, parents educate children with many methods among which writing letters to children is preferred by them, especially by those well-known statesmen and scholars such as Zeng Guofan and Fu Lei who left priceless letters for people including Zeng Guofan’s Family Letters and Fu Lei’s Family Letters. As a great giant, Mao Zedong is no exception.He intends to educate his children through writing thoughtful letters to them.The family education thoughts in Mao Zedong’s letters to his children are the main contents of this research. This thesis delves into Mao Zedong’s family education thoughts by reading his letters with his children in detail, recalling their life experiences and utilizing relevant studying materials. It is composed of six parts. The first part is the introduction in which the author introduces the theoretical and practical significance of Mao’s thoughts of family education and reviews the studying on Mao’s family education thoughts in China. In the second part, the author analyzes the influences of traditional Chinese culture, Hunan local culture, and Mao Family’s education on the formation of Mao Zedong’s family education thoughts. The third part analyzes Mao Zedong’s family education thoughts in his letters with his children specifically and explores his guidance for his children in study, family relationship and marriage, moral codes, progress and ambition, and patriotism. In the fourth part, the author expounds the contributions of Mao Zedong’s family education thoughts to China’s family education history, ideological and political education history and Mao Zedong Thought. The fifth part illustrates the inspirations of Mao Zedong’s family education thoughts for today. The last part is the conclusion.Through a systematical analysis of Mao Zedong’s letters with his children, this thesis tries to reveal Mao Zedong’s family education thoughts with a view to filling the gap in the study of Mao’s family education thoughts from the perspective of his letters to his children. More importantly, the author strives as much as possible to provide some effective suggestions for today’s family education by doing this research.