Guangdong Provincial Education Association And Guangdong Education Modernization (1919-1924)

The large-scale reforms carried out during the New Deal period at the end of the Qing Dynasty caused constant socio-political and economic changes,as did the educational community.The Qing government promulgated the "Edict of Xingxue" in1901,and in 1905 issued an edict abolishing the imperial examination system.The content,purpose and method of education have changed,while cultivating new types of talents,it is inevitable to bring about many problems,the official education administrators of various prefectures,prefectures and counties are unable to cope,and it is timely to absorb non-governmental education forces to participate in the cultivation of new-style schools and new-style talents.The Guangdong Education Federation was established in 1909 with the purpose of "studying educational matters and striving for the development of education",renamed "Guangdong Provincial Education Association" in 1911,and joined the National Federation of Education Associations in 1915.In 1920,Sun Yat-sen opened the capital in Guangzhou,attaching importance to the development of education,hoping to show the new atmosphere of the new regime.In November 1920,Chen Jiongming was appointed governor of Guangdong Province,and invested a lot of manpower and material resources in promoting school education and social education.As a non-governmental education organization,the Guangdong Provincial Education Association,adhering to its founding purpose,has made great contributions to changing the people’s concept of education and promoting educational reform,such as holding an education conference to contact people from all walks of life in education to discuss educational phenomena,creating educational publications to publicize and educate new ideas,inviting famous Chinese and foreign educators to hold lectures and seminars to disseminate educational concepts in a centralized and systematic manner,holding a provincial sports conference to call on the people to strengthen their health,and actively developing social education resources to popularize public education.Presided over the 7th National Federation of Education Associations to promote the reform of the national education system.These measures to promote the synergy of education,divergence of new educational ideas,and support of new education have had a far-reaching impact on promoting the modernization of education in Guangdong.The Guangdong Provincial Education Association was born in the special social environment of semi-colonial and semi-feudal China in modern China,without strong government support or stable financial support,and various constraints seriously restricted the function of the Education Association.