Chancellor of Peking University who gave the New Culture Movement its stage; first education minister of the Republic
From Shaoxing in Zhejiang, he entered the Hanlin Academy at 26 and then turned to modern education. He founded the Guangfuhui in 1904 and joined the Tongmenghui in Paris the next year, was close to the anarchists around Wu Zhihui and Li Shizeng, and studied philosophy at Leipzig. In 1912 he became the Republic’s first minister of education. As chancellor of Peking University from 1917 he brought in Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Hu Shih, Liang Shuming and others, making it the base of the New Culture Movement, and backed the work-study programme in France. He resigned in protest when May Fourth students were jailed. Later one of the Kuomintang’s anti-communist “Four Elders”, he was nonetheless the first president of Academia Sinica from 1928 and founded the China League for Civil Rights to criticise Chiang Kai-shek’s repression. He died in Hong Kong in 1940.
Also known as: Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei
Activities and affiliations
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1905–1912
Tongmenghui (Chinese United League)
Education -
1912
Republic of China state institutionsMinister of Education
Education -
1917–1922
Beiyang government and warlordsPresident of Peking UniversityMain
Education -
1926–
Political and party leadership
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1928–1940
Republic of China state institutionsPresident of Academia Sinica
Scholarship and theory
Career Timeline
- 1904Founded the Guangfuhui
- 1905Joined the Tongmenghui in Paris
- 1907Studied at Leipzig University
- 1912Minister of Education of the Republic
- 1917–1922President of Peking University
- 1919Resigned in protest at the jailing of May Fourth students (returned in September)
- 1928–1940President of Academia Sinica
Related historical events
- 1911–1916The 1911 Revolution and the birth of the RepublicFounder of the Guangfuhui; education minister in NanjingFounded the Guangfuhui at Shanghai in 1904 and, as education minister of the Nanjing provisional government in 1912, went to Beijing to escort Yuan Shikai south.
- 1915–1921May Fourth and the founding of the Chinese Communist PartyChancellor of Peking UniversityBrought Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Hu Shih to Peking University, making it the base of the New Culture Movement, and resigned in protest at the jailing of May Fourth students.