A Study Of Child Care Centers In Kunming During The Republican Period （1943-1949）

As a product of modern social undertakings,child care centers had already been commonly developed in Europe,America,and the Soviet Union in the early 20 th century.However,modern day nurseries were still new in China until the 1920 s and1930s.With the creation of the monogamous individual family,childcare became a private matter and was the primary responsibility of women.However,with the introduction of Western ideas of freedom and equality in modern times,women began to awaken to the dilemma of leaving the home and raising children,and we called for the establishment of childcare centers to solve this problem.At the initiative of the national government,the Yunnan provincial government followed the recommendation of the Fourth Congress of the National Council of Government to establish childcare centers.This paper will take Kunming nurseries in the Republic of China as an entry point,and through the review of relevant materials,we will try to understand the whole picture of the nursery in Kunming during the Republican period,clarify the relationship between the nursery and child care and women’s emancipation in Kunming during the Republican period,get a glimpse of the pre-school education and child care in Kunming during the Republican period,and enrich the history of education in Yunnan during the Republican period.Through an introduction to the origins of childcare centers and their development in various countries,an analysis of the background of the creation of childcare centers in Kunming during the Republican period,and a detailed study of the government-led and social forces involved in the creation of childcare centers,this paper seeks to reveal the reasons for the establishment and subsequent maintenance of childcare centers in Kunming during the Republican period.Secondly,we examine the life of children in nurseries in Kunming during the late war and after the victory of the war,and then analyze the effectiveness and characteristics of child care work in the nurseries in Kunming during this period,especially the first and second nurseries sponsored by the Yunnan Social Affairs Department.Finally,through the analysis of the shortcomings of the child care work in Kunming nurseries during the Republic of China,we use history as a lesson to provide historical reflections on the current child care work in China.