Former Residence of Yan Yangchu in Dingzhou

Former Residence of Yan Yangchu in Dingzhou

The Former Residence of Yan Yangchu in Dingzhou is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The former residence of Yan Yangchu is located diagonally opposite Dingzhou Middle School on Zhongshan East Road in Dingzhou. It is a typical northern-style residence. Without the stone tablet in front or brightly painted exterior, it could easily be overlooked by passersby. Yan Yangchu was from Bazhong, Sichuan, and this Dingzhou residence served as his home during his “Mass Education Movement.”

The entire residence faces south and is a traditional courtyard house consisting of a main building with east and west wing rooms. According to the introduction, what remains is only one-fifth of the original complex, with much of it no longer existing. The rooms inside are mostly empty, offering little information at first glance. For those unfamiliar with Yan Yangchu, a few vacant rooms may seem dull, but the historical significance unfolds behind the scenes.

Yan Yangchu was a returned Ph.D. from the United States in the early 20th century, a patriot and practitioner of social reform. At that time, China was ravaged by warlords and the people lived in misery. He believed that if China were to escape poverty and backwardness and achieve national rejuvenation, the fundamental issue was to solve the “people problem” — it was essential to improve the quality and skills of the populace. He turned his attention to the very bottom of Chinese society — the rural villages. After establishing the Mass Education Association, he needed an experimental base, and Ding County, an ordinary county in China, caught his interest. He brought a team here and launched a village-based mass education experiment, which was the “Project Hope” of the 1930s. Since then, Ding County has also become the birthplace of a rural construction movement that spread across the world.

“Ignorance, poverty, weakness, and selfishness” were the four chronic problems of Chinese farmers at the time. Cultivating public spirit, cooperation, scientific thinking, and social consciousness was a long, patient, and systematic process. Mass education was not just about literacy; it also encompassed healthcare, scientific farming, and other issues — it was a comprehensive, systemic project. This reflects Yan Yangchu’s foresight and greatness. Over 500 intellectuals came here one after another. It was the first time in Chinese history that scholars organized trips to the countryside. Their achievements can be illustrated by the account of Snow’s visit to Ding County. Snow said, a young man in the field struggled to write with a hoe: “Eradicating illiteracy in China,” while a young woman nearby wrote: “Shaping new citizens for the nation.” These people, who had little to eat and wore tattered clothes, actually developed a sense of community and responsibility. Undoubtedly, this was a victory of culture.

The educational movement in Ding County ended with the Japanese invasion, but Yan Yangchu’s mass education movement did not stop — it expanded across the world. His former residence in Ding County is merely a historical relic and memorial of that movement. Behind those few houses lies the deep patriotism and dedication of those individuals who strived for national rise and prosperity. Even today, it still feels heartwarming and enduringly resilient.

Yan Yangchu (1893–1990), from Bazhong, Sichuan. In the 26th year of the Guangxu reign (1900), he entered the Huaying School run by the Christian Church in Langzhong County, Sichuan. In the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), he studied at the Huamei School run by the Chengdu Christian Church. In the 2nd year of Xuantong (1900), he served as an English and Chinese teacher at Chengdu No.1 Middle School.

In 1913, he went to the United States and enrolled in the Department of Political Economy at Yale University, where he began to be influenced by French utopian socialist thought and American bourgeois democratic and liberal ideas. He graduated in the summer of 1918 with a doctoral degree and soon went to France to participate in... More details about Yan Yangchu ++