高梓和张汇兰的“全人”身体教育——影响20世纪中国舞蹈的早期留学生研究系列之三

GAO Zi and ZHANG Hui-lan's “Holistic” Physical Education On the Early Chinese Students Overseas Influencing the 20th Century Chinese Dance(Ⅲ)

高梓和张汇兰是20世纪中国千万个体育教师的杰出代表。在体育课程中设置舞蹈内容,为20世纪学校早期体育和舞蹈教育的基本模式,因此,中国现代学校舞蹈教育的启蒙者大多为体育教师。作为留美归来的体育专业留学生,高梓和张汇兰在体育教育生涯中融会中西教育精华,贯穿"全人教育"理念,视体育为"身体教育""生活教育"或"生活礼仪教育",因而重视舞蹈在体育教育中的地位和价值,从而为中国现代早期学校舞蹈教育的创建与发展做出了重要贡献。研究她们几近跨越整个20世纪的人生与职业生涯的探索和实践,对于我们察看中国学校早期舞蹈教育发展的历史轨迹具有某种特殊的意义。

To make dance content included in physicaleducation curriculum was the basic model of the early physical and dance education in the 20 th century schools. Consequently, the majority of the enlightenersfor dance education in modern Chinese schools were PE teachers. GAO Zi and ZHANG Hui-lan were among the outstanding representatives of tens of millions of PE teachers in the 20 th century China. As the overseas students who had studied in the United States and majored in PE, GAO and ZHANG returned to China, integrating Western and Chinese educational essence in their lifetime career in education. Guided by the concept of 'holistic education,' they regarded physical education as 'body education,' 'life education,' or 'life etiquette education.' They heeded the status and value of dance in PE, making an important contribution to the establishment and development of dance education in modern Chinese schools. It is of significance for us to study the exploration and practice of their life and career spanning almost the whole 20 th century in terms of examining the historical trajectory of dance education development in earlier Chinese schools.The birth of dance education in modern China and the modern educational reform have close ties with the rise of 'physical education.' They had benefited from the development of normal education during the reform of new educational system. And they also connected intimately with the YMCA. In 1912, the National Council of YMCAs of China—which was founded in 1885—held its Sixth National Conference. While clarifying the system of division of labor, they established the sports department to encourage people to do exercises with the goals that people would have stronger body and spirit. 'In the eighth years of the Republic, the National Council of YMCAs of China started to run the School of Physical Education Officers in Shanghai, where dance was an important part of the curriculum. The school had trained PE officers from all over the country. At that time, the Christian Church had over 210,000 students. Thanks to them, dance education spread all over the country.' In 1915, the National Council of YWCAs of China founded Shanghai Young Women’s Association Physical Education Normal School. It was the first normal school in China that specialized in training women PE professionals. It had far-reaching implications for China’s physical and dance education. According to LI Tianmin and YU Guo-fang’s A History of Chinese Dance, the school had 109 graduates, who composed the backbone of popularizing dance education during the Republic ofChina. In 1917, GAO and ZHANG decided to apply for the school.The popularization of dance education in early Chinese schools was greatly influenced by the educational system in Europe and the United States, especially in terms of faculty and student pool. The first teachers in these schools were mainly volunteers from European and American Christian universities or returned overseas students. Therefore, GAO and ZHANG, along with other PE and dance teachers in early Chinese schools, were not only the recipients but also the disseminators of the dance courses in European and American PE system. The dance content and form of the main courses they taught were largely affected by American educational system. For example, National Dance, Character Dance, Interpretive Dance, Outstanding Dance, and Dance Rhythmic Gymnastics of different countries composed the foundations of dance education. Students at the time could prove this;and it is evident in the publicly available textbooks. The ballroom dances, evolved from paired dance, round dance, ring dance, and column dance of different European countries or performed in pairs, all became popular. More distinctly, there was the 'holistic education' philosophy that ran through these courses.The 'holistic education' is to train elites, making t h e m t h e r o l e m o d e l s f o r o t h e r s. T h e r e f o r e, t h e requirements for students are very comprehensive. GAO and ZHANG, the two physical educators—'body educators,' had contributed greatly to their descendants: They utilized the verifiable educational idea in accordance with the essential spirit of PE to guide PE, providing an effective approach to realize the 'holistic education' in PE. Is PE equal to 'body exercises' or 'body education'? It is a concept that may not be very clear today. LI You-qiang pointed out in his article, 'A Review of ZHANG Hui-lan’s Physical Educational Ideas,' that while ZHANG did not give a definitive answer to that question in research, she certainly adopted it as an important part in educational practice. Moreover, she regarded that there were opportunities to develop virtue and sociability at gyms and training venues. For her, PE is 'a pursuit,' 'a belief.' She believed that it should not be enough only to eliminate the title of 'Sick Man of East Asia' in sports competitions;more importantly, PE should be popularized, especiallyamong Chinese women. She also believed that the performance of competitive sports could not represent the popularization of PE;rather, the overemphasis of competitive sports would mislead PE in schools. She noted, 'Putting the cart before the horse, which results in an abnormal game system for players, neglecting the tenor of sports, and failing to comply with educational principles are the common problems in schools’ physical education.' In 1935, she co-authored Mild Exercise with SUN Zheng-he, a textbook for the 'mild exercise' course in 'PE curriculum standards for primary and secondary schools' established by the Ministry of Education at that time. She re-emphasized in the 'Preface,' 'As far as we know from experience, there are about one third students in middle schools and universities who have weak bodies or poor postures. To attach great importance to PE, first and foremost, is to popularize it. However, if we ignore the one-third students, it is contrary to the purpose of the advocacy.' The main content of this textbook centered on maintaining good posture habits and improving bad posture habits, providing guidance to students’ training on postures, gymnastics, games, drama, and dance. Thus, ZHANG’s emphasis on dance was guided by the ideas of 'body education.' The 'mild exercise' was developed based on the physicality of Chinese students, especially on the female students’ physiological characteristics. Adhering to her learning experience in the Shanghai Young Women’s Association Physical Education Normal School, she taught the frail or foot-binded female students gymnastics, games, and dance in her early days at Ginling College. In addition, she also had a great number of papers published not only to promote physical educators’ awareness of dance but also to improve theart in sports. Her emphasis on dance and art education in PE undoubtedly enabled PE to be more in line with the fundamental goal of 'holistic education.'The idea of 'holistic education' was implemented through 'etiquette education' in GAO’s educational practice, and dance, gardening, Chinese opera, and singing were all part of it. Her training of the teachers took the studying and learning the teaching as the rules and studying and learning the life as the principles, supplemented by three basic spirits(patriotism, democracy, and science), so as to strive for the goal that 'good teachers will lead to a country’s rise.' She followed Dewey’s ideas, such as 'Education is life itself,' 'Education is growth,' and 'We learn from reflecting on experience.' She also argued that education and life should be equally important, emphasizing teachers being models and unity of clothing, food, residence, transportation, and education and entertainment. In her eyes, the fundamental message of education lay in changing people’s temperament. Teachers should educate and teach with love, making the educated grow up in love, so the latter will learn to love other people, their hometown, their country, and mankind because of being loved.In conclusion, the life-long philosophy and experience of the two educators in 'body education' of the 20 th century, GAO Zi and ZHANG Hui-lan, are the precious legacy not only for 'sports' education but also for dance education for future generations.