Xu Teli (; February 1, 1877 – November 28, 1968) was a politician of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Xu was the teacher of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

Cai Hesen Cai Hesen (March 30, 1895 – August 4, 1931) was an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and a friend and comrade of Mao Zedong. Cai was born in Shanghai but grew up in Shuangfeng County in Hunan Province of China. He hel ...

, Xiao Zisheng, and

Tian Han Tian Han ( zh, 田汉; 12 March 1898 – 10 December 1968), formerly romanized as T'ien Han, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. He emerged at the time of the ...

. Xu was a member of the

7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1945 to 1956. It was a product of the convening of the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It held seven plenary sessions in this 11-year period. It began ...

and the

8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1956 to 1969. It was preceded by the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It held 12 plenary sessions in this period of 13 years. It was the longest-servin ...

Biography

Xu was born Xu Maoxun () in

Changsha County Changsha County (), commonly known as Xingsha (), is a county in Hunan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Changsha. Located in the west portion of Changsha, the county is bordered to the north by Miluo ...

Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

on February 1, 1877, during the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. At the age of four, his mother died. In 1885, by age nine, Xu was sent to school. At age eighteen, Xu set up a private school and taught there. In 1905, Xu attended the imperial examination when he was twenty-eight. After graduation, he became a teacher at Changsha Zhounan Girls' School. In 1907, Xu made a report on current affairs in the school, when he talked about the humiliating things of the corrupt government of Qing Empire, large tears began to fill his eyes and broke hot across his cheeks, Xu was indignation that he cut his

little finger The little finger or pinkie, also known as the baby finger, fifth digit, or pinky finger, is the most ulnar and smallest digit of the human hand, and next to the ring finger. Etymology The word "pinkie" is derived from the Dutch word ''pink' ...

off with a

kitchen knife A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives — notably a large chef's knife and a smaller serrated blade utility knife — there ...

, and wrote a protest with a pen dipped in the blood, fainted on the spot. In 1911, Xu took part in the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...

and Hunan Uprising. In 1912, Xu founded the Changsha County Normal School (currently Changsha Normal University). In 1919, Xu studied

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, he also visited

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In this trip Xu observed modern European societies and cultures for the first time. In June 1924, Xu returned to Changsha, he founded the Changsha Women's Normal School and served as the President there. At that time, Xu also taught at

Hunan First Normal University Hunan First Normal University (), founded in 1903, is a university located in Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Hunan First Normal University covers a total area of 1346 mu, with more than 420,000 square meters of floor space. T ...

. In 1927, during the White Terror, Xu joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

and took part in the Nanchang Uprising. In 1928, Xu was sent to

Moscow Sun Yat-sen University Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, officially the Sun Yat-sen Communist University of the Toilers of China, was a Comintern school which operated from 1925 to 1930 in the city of Moscow, Russia, then the Soviet Union. It was a training camp for Chin ...

to study at the expense of the government. In 1930, Xu returned to

Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet The Jiangxi Soviet, sometimes referred to as the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet, was a soviet area that existed between 1931 and 1934, governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was the largest component of the Chinese Soviet Republic and hom ...

, he was appointed as the Minister of Education of the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was a state within China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR incl ...

, a position he held until September 1937. In 1934, Xu took part in the

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

. In 1940, Xu worked as the President of Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences. When he was in Yan'an, he and

Dong Biwu Dong Biwu ( zh , c=董必武 , p=Dǒng Bìwǔ , w=Tung Pi-wu; 5 March 1886 – 2 April 1975) was a Chinese communist revolutionary and politician, who served as acting Chairman of the People's Republic of China between 1972 and 1975. Early li ...

Lin Boqu Lin Boqu (; Pinyin: ''Lín Bóqú''; Wade-Giles: ''Lin Po-ch'u''; March 20, 1886 – May 29, 1960) was a Chinese politician and poet. An early supporter of Sun Yat-sen and member of the Tongmenghui, as well as a later participant in the Na ...

Wu Yuzhang Wu Yuzhang (; given name Yongshan (); December 30, 1878 – December 12, 1966) was a Chinese politician, educator, and president of Renmin University of China from 1950 to 1966. Biography Wu Yuzhang was born in Rong County, Sichuan in 1878. ...

, and

Xie Juezai Xie Juezai (; 1884–1971), also known by his courtesy name Huannan and his alias Juezhai, was a Chinese politician, activist, and educator who played an important role in the development of China's legal field. His main works are collected in ...

were called the Yan'an Five Seniors (). After the founding of the

Communist State A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, Xu was appointed as the Vice-Minister of

Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ...

, a few days later, he resigned his post. On November 28, 1968, during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Xu died in Beijing, aged 91.

Personal life

Xu married Xiong Licheng (), they had four children, Xu Shouzhen (), Xu Duben (), Xu Moqing (), and Xu Houben ().

Works

* ''Collected Works of Xu Teli'' * ''Complete Works of Xu Teli''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Teli 1877 births 1968 deaths People from Changsha County University of Paris alumni Moscow Sun Yat-sen University alumni Chinese expatriates in France Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Members of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

Biography

Personal life

Works

See also

References