Preface
This is a story about my great-grandmother. In 1906, a highly educated, brave young woman tried to save Chinese girls from the feudal system by giving them a good education and became the first female principal of her time.
It was a time when women’s virtue was tied to their illiteracy. Foot-binding (also known as "Lotus feet") and whitewashed facial makeup were routine practice for girls. (The custom of foot-binding was in vogue during the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty, which caused great pain to women both physically and mentally. It was not until 1950 that this bad habit was finally able to enforce a strict prohibition.) Until then, there was no free educational system for girls, but something was going to change. Lily Lihting Li Kostrzewa
Rewrite to English by Lily Lihting Li Kostrzewa
The notion of "A woman's virtue is rooted in illiteracy," which imprisoned women in feudal ethics, was deeply rooted in folk consensus at this time but needed desperately to change. Also, at this time, the chosen principal of the girls’ school was a loving, gentle, and highly knowledgeable lady - Tang Xiaojia.
Tang was born in 1875 in Ruian. In the early years, she attended a private school sponsored by Huang Saugi, and she graduated from Capital University (now Beijing University). She spoke standard Mandarin and fluent English, which was most unusual for a woman, and unique to Wenzhou intellectuals.
When Tang Xiaojia took office, she combined Western notions of education with Chinese culture. She mobilized the educated families with girls to attend the school. At that time, the famous scholar Sun Yiron sent his daughters to De Shan Girls Academy to support the girls reading. Under his leadership, many parents responded by sending their own girls to De Shan.
Initially, the school was only a tiny classroom, with students numbering less than 10 and ages from seven to twelve. This school provided free education for students, with subjects being conventional Chinese, arithmetic, history, music, gymnastics, other courses, and later sewing, tailoring, embroidery, and other Industrial courses.
According to the "Zhang’s Diary" from this time titled "go to the De Shan Girls Academy," one section reads: "Yesterday afternoon with my brother I went to De Shan Girls Academy to visit the female school students. Tuition is free, and the school takes no money from students. The oldest students were twelve-year-old, with younger ones at eight-year-old. They wore hanging braid hairs with party shoes. Neither foot-binding nor whitewashed facial makeup was present, and Chinese textbooks were used. I viewed that all the women were refined, and books were carefully explained. I am genuinely enthusiastic about this education. This is a starting point of girls’ learning development, and we should continually push it. "
Ms. Tang taught according to the girl's psychological, physiological characteristics, divided by age and grade segment, to personalize her teaching and counseling, significantly improving teaching quality and student learning initiative. And her effort was gradually recognized by both parents and the community. The number of students increased every year. By 1927, De Shan Girls Academy's girls’ school enrollment was up to 100 students and divided into three-level segments into seven classes. Faculty and staff were nearly 20.
According to the "Ruian records,” in 1928, De Shan Girls Academy became the Ruian County Central Primary School. Since the school opened from 1906 to 1928, De Shan Girls Academy, now open for 23 years, has graduated over a thousand girls.
Postscript
Ms. Tang had a troubled life with various twists and turns. Her husband Huang Zenmei (a Northern Army officer) was killed in a famous ferry accident on the Puji Wheel boat on the way to his father’s funeral (in January 1918, a Shanghai merchants ferry – the Puji Wheel, set sail from Shanghai bounded for Wenzhou and unfortunately sank in Wusong harbor and more than 260 victims died), Ms. Tang raised two sons and a daughter. However, the eldest son was murdered for some untold conspiracy. While a student at Tongji University, the second son suffered a mental breakdown and remained unstable the rest of his life; Ms. Tang’s daughter Hung Jiao was my grandmother who died in childbirth.
Despite the unbearable pain her family situation brought, Ms. Tang bravely continued to invest in the love of her life, women’s education. In March 1960, Tang Xiaojia purchased food from a market and was knocked down by a truck near her front door one morning. She died a month later, at the age of 84 years.
