A Study Of Civic Education In Zhejiang During The Period Of The Nanjing National Government (1927-1945)

Civic education refers to the education of cultivating national citizens.Civic education originated in the West,and the earliest form of civic education was military education,which focused on physical fitness training in order to defend the country internally and conquer it with force from abroad.Civic education includes not only political education,but also literacy education,health education,and all other education that is conducive to cultivating good citizens.Civic education in China emerged in the late Qing Dynasty and was given a new form and function by the Kuomintang government during the Nanjing Nationalist Government in response to the changing times.Located in the southeastern coastal region,Zhejiang Province was an important hinterland of the Kuomintang rule,while it received more attention from the national government as the hometown of Chiang Kai-shek.Civic education in Zhejiang Province started in the late Qing Dynasty and further developed along with the introduction of advanced educational thinking and the promotion of intellectuals.After the establishment of the Nanjing National Government,under the leadership of the Kuomintang,the Party Ministry and the Department of Education of Zhejiang Province used schools and society as the two major fronts for civic education.The development of civic education in Zhejiang Province can be divided into three stages:the early stage of the Nanjing National Government,which was characterized by close integration with "party-righteous education";civic education around the "New Life Movement" in 1934;and civic education centered on wartime education during the period of the All-out War against Japan,civic education centered on wartime education.In the process of implementing civic education in Zhejiang Province under the Nanjing Nationalist Government,it did not fully implement the theory of the Three Principles of the People,and at the same time,there were problems such as serious "partyization",lax organization and management,and exaggerated effects.However,on the whole,it was still effective in raising the cultural level of the people and cultivating their national spirit.After clearly understanding the problems of civic education in Zhejiang Province during the Nanjing Nationalist Government,we will further consider the implications for civic education in China today.