A Tribute to Two Humanistic Educators in China: Lu Jie and Tao Xingzhi

Abstract

On the December 25, 2020, Prof. Lu Jie, the Emeritus Professor and former Dean of the Faculty of Education at Nanjing Normal University passed away. The sudden news struck me and recalled my nearly 30 years’ friendship with Prof. Lu since 1991, stirring up also my memories of pre-1949 Christian colleges of China, and the promotion of “education of love” at Ginling College and Nanjing Normal University, from the time of Prof. Wu Yifang, Prof. Minnie Vautrin, Prof. Tao Xingzhi and Prof. Lu Jie. In this paper, I shall recall the various meetings with Prof. Lu Jie, and how her life has inspired my re-thinking of the development of “education of love” in China. I shall relate especially her humanistic educational ideals, especially the “education for life” and “cultivating human beings” with Prof. Tao Xingzhi’s “education of love.” Their educational ideals reflected the humanistic education taught at the University of Nanking and Ginling College in the first half of 20th century China. Though the two colleges had brought in a Western style of education, they had exemplified good models of indigenization, especially regarding how humanistic education could become Sinifized in Chinese soil today.

Keywords

Chinese educators / humanistic education / Lu Jie / Tao Xingzhi / Ginling College / University of Nanking / Nanjing Normal University (NNU)

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