Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall in Luzhi

Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall in Luzhi

The Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall is situated to the west of Baosheng Temple, sharing a wall with the temple. This was the workplace of the renowned literary figure, educator, publisher, and social activist Ye Shengtao. In the spring of 1917, at the invitation of his classmates Wu Binruo and Wang Boxiang, he came to teach at the “Wu Gao” (Fifth Higher Primary School), living in Luzhi for over four years. After Ye passed away in Beijing in February 1988, the people of Luzhi, out of deep respect and remembrance, reconstructed several historical sites where Ye once taught, establishing them as the Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall.

The Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall is built on the former site of the “Wu County Fifth Higher Primary School,” where Ye Shengtao once taught. It is now recognized as a Jiangsu Provincial Moral Education Base for Schools and a Jiangsu Provincial Patriotic Education Base. Ye Shengtao (1894–1988), who lived to the age of 94, was born into a commoner’s family in Suzhou. Due to his family’s financial hardship, after graduating from Caoqiao Middle School in Suzhou at the age of 18, he began working as an elementary school teacher and pursuing a career in literature. From 1917 to 1921, he taught at the Wu County County-run Fifth Higher Primary School, forming an inseparable bond with Luzhi. Ye Shengtao likened Luzhi to a cradle that nurtured his growth, affectionately referring to it as his “second hometown.”

The eastern part of the hall was once the “Girls’ Building.” In 1919, Madam Hu Molin, Ye’s wife, was invited to teach at the girls’ department and taught here for three years. To the west is the “Four-Sided Hall,” which is open on all sides and was the former exhibition room of the “Wu Gao.” Ye often provided students with progressive Chinese and foreign books he purchased for their reading. Today, the hall displays a facial mask of Ye Shengtao’s likeness for visitors to view. Further west lies the “Mandarin Duck Hall,” which served as the teachers’ office and dormitory at the time.

The exhibition area primarily uses precious artifacts, photographs, and textual materials to introduce different aspects of Ye’s illustrious life, as well as his outstanding achievements and major contributions in education, literature, and social activities—especially his educational reform practices and literary creations during his time in Luzhi.

Back then, Ye Shengtao and his colleagues compiled teaching materials themselves and carried out a series of educational reforms. He taught students works such as Daudet’s “The Last Lesson” and Maupassant’s “Two Fishermen,” making every class a lesson in patriotism. Every year on Tomb-Sweeping Day, he would take students to pay respects at the tomb of Lu Guimeng, instilling in them the idea that “every man has a share of responsibility for the rise and fall of the country.” When news of the great May Fourth Movement reached them, he held a “May Fourth Rally” with teachers and students in the schoolyard, leading the crowd in shouting slogans such as “Fight for national sovereignty externally, punish traitors internally,” and led students on a walk around town, igniting a patriotic flame throughout the ancient town of Luzhi.

Going deep into grassroots society and connecting closely with farmers, Ye Shengtao observed society with a critical eye. His literary creations in Luzhi flourished—publishing nearly 100 vernacular short stories and prose poems. He created China’s first collection of fairy tales, Stray Birds, China’s first full-length modern novel, Ni Huanzhi, and the famous short story “Having Earned Three or Five Extra Bushels,” many of whose themes and characters were inspired by the ancient town of Luzhi. During his time in Luzhi, he was one of the pioneers of China’s first new literary society, the Literature Research Association. He also co-founded China’s first poetry journal, Poetry, with Zhu Ziqing and Yu Pingbo. Ye Shengtao’s numerous “firsts” illustrate that he was a writer who dared to speak for the people and an educator brave enough to reform. He left behind a valuable spiritual legacy for the Chinese people and became a role model for generations.

On December 8, 1988, Ye passed away in Beijing. Under the escort of his relatives and various leaders, his ashes were returned and buried in his second hometown—Luzhi.

Ye Shengtao, originally named Ye Shaojun, with the courtesy name Bingchen and literary name Shengtao, was born on October 28, 1894, in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He was a modern writer, educator, literary publisher, and social activist, known as an “outstanding language artist.”

In 1907, he was admitted to Caoqiao Middle School. In 1916, he began teaching at Shanggong School affiliated with the Commercial Press in Shanghai, where he published his first fairy tale, “The Scarecrow.” In 1918, he published his first vernacular short story, “Spring Banquet Miscellany.” In 1923, he published the novel Ni Huanzhi.

After 1949, he successively held positions as... Detailed information about Ye Shengtao ++