Y. C. James Yen ( zh, first=t, t=晏陽初, s=晏阳初, w=Yen Yang-chʽu, p=Yàn Yángchū, October 16, 1890/1893 – January 17, 1990
), known to his many English speaking friends as "Jimmy," was a Chinese educator and organizer known for his work in mass literacy and rural reconstruction, first in China, then in many countries.
After working with Chinese laborers in France during World War I, in the 1920s Yen first organized the
to bring literacy to the Chinese masses, then turned to the villages of China to organize Rural Reconstruction, most famously at
Ding Xian
Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2020, Dingzhou had a population of 1.1 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...
, (or, in the spelling of the time, Ting Hsien), a county in
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, from 1926-1937. He was instrumental in founding the
Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR; ) is a commission established in 1948 in mainland China. After the Chinese Civil War, the JCRR then moved to Taiwan, where its work has been widely credited with laying the agricultural b ...
in 1948, which then moved to Taiwan. In 1952, Dr. Yen organized the
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement
The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, abbreviated as PRRM, is a non-governmental organization and institution formed in 1952 to assist peasants in the Philippines. As a movement, it was initiated by upper and middle class group of individu ...
and in 1960, he established the
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction
The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, or IIRR, is an international non-governmental organization working in rural development. The mission of the organization is to "empower rural people to build resilient communities and attain ...
.
He returned to China in the 1980s but died in New York in 1990 and was buried with his wife Alice in
Silang, Cavite
Silang (), officially the Municipality of Silang (), is a municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 295,644 people.
The name of Silang (originally called ''Silan'') originates fr ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
at the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction.
Yen was described as a "trans-Pacific liberal," with an "explicitly liberal and democratic allegiance," who appropriated American ideas and techniques for patriotic Chinese uses.
Biography
Born to a scholarly but not wealthy family in
Bazhong
Bazhong () is a prefecture-level city in north-eastern Sichuan province, China. Its population was 2,712,894 at the 2020 census whom 1,064,766 lived in Bazhou and Enyang urban districts. As of the end of 2022, the resident population of Bazhong Ci ...
,
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
, in 1890. He is said to have reported that he was born in 1893, three years younger than his actual age, because of his short stature.
At the age of 13, Yen was sent to
West China Diocesan College (),
Langzhong
Langzhong (formerly known as Paoning) is a county-level city in northeastern Sichuan province, China, located on the middle reaches of the Jialing River. It is administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Nanchong. Langzhong has a total ...
(Paoning) run by the
China Inland Mission
OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christianity, Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It ...
, and received baptism the next year. In 1906, he was transferred to an
American Methodist Episcopal Mission
American Methodist Episcopal Mission (AMEM; also known as Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church ''MEFB was the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church that was involved in sending workers to countries such as A ...
school in
Chengdu
Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
(Chengtu) at the college principal
William Henry Aldis's suggestion, there he became friends with James R. Stewart, a young missionary from
British Hong Kong
Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...
and son of
Robert Stewart. With Stewart's help, he enrolled at
St. Paul's College, Hong Kong
St. Paul's College (SPC; zh, t=聖保羅書院) is an Anglican day school for boys in Hong Kong. It was established in 1851, the oldest continuously operated school in Hong Kong. The college first opened in 1851 with only one tutor and nine p ...
in 1913. Yen adopted the name ''James'' in memory of James R. Stewart after he died in
1916 in France during the First World War.
He later studied at
Hong Kong University
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
, and graduated in 1918 from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where he was a member of
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...
fraternity. After graduation he went to France to join the work of the International
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
with the
Chinese Labor Corps in France workers who had been sent to support the Allies in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Working with them to read and write letters, Yen recalled, he found "for the first time in my ignorant intellectual life" the value of the common people of his own country. What they lacked was education. Therefore, Yen wrote a widely copied literacy primer which used 1,000 basic characters.
After earning a master's degree from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
and serving as President of the
Chinese Students Christian Association
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
, Yen returned to China in 1921 to head national mass literacy campaigns under the Chinese National YMCA. In 1923, Yen and leading intellectuals such as
Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超; Wade–Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu''; ) (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, jour ...
,
Hu Shih
Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He part ...
, and
Tao Xingzhi
Tao Xingzhi (; October 18, 1891 – July 25, 1946), was a renowned Chinese educator and reformer in the Republic of China mainland era. He studied at Teachers College, Columbia University, and returned to China to champion progressive education ...
formed the
National Association of Mass Education Movements (MEM). The MEM organized campaigns across the country which coordinated volunteer teachers, local leaders, and any available location in order to attract students who could not pay high tuitions. Among the volunteer teachers was
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 ...
. These campaigns attracted more than five million students and served as a model for even more widespread schools.
Yen later recalled that at this time he regarded himself not as a "Christian," which implied membership in a church, but as a "follower of Christ," implying a direct relation with Jesus. He criticized most missionaries for not being in touch with the realities of China but enthusiastically welcomed the support of those Chinese and foreign Christian organizations which addressed the problems of the village.
In 1926, the MEM set up a village campaign in Ding Xian, a county some 200 miles south of
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. The
Ting Hsien Experiment (in the romanization of the time) used People’s Schools to coordinate innovations ranging from hybrid pigs and economic cooperatives to village dramas and village health workers. Yen joined
Liang Shuming
Liang Shuming (, Wade-Giles ''Liang Shu-ming''; sometimes ''Liang Sou-ming'', October 18, 1893 – June 23, 1988), born Liang Huanding (), courtesy name Shouming (), was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer in the Rural Reconstruc ...
and other independent reformers to form a National
Rural Reconstruction Movement
The Rural Reconstruction Movement was started in China in the 1920s by Y.C. James Yen, Liang Shuming and others to revive the Chinese village. They strove for a middle way, independent of the Nationalist government but in competition with the ra ...
which included several hundred local and national organizations. The Rural Reconstruction Movement aimed to create a new countryside as the basis for a new Chinese nation. The work at Ding Xian attracted nationwide attention and developed many new techniques for rural development which did not depend on central government control, violent revolution, or large infusions of foreign money.
In 1937 the Japanese invasion drove MEM operations first to
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 ...
, then to Sichuan, but Yen spent much of the war in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
After 1945, Yen found himself increasingly at odds with the Nationalist government’s military preoccupation; in 1948 he persuaded the American Congress to fund an independent
Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, of which he became one of the commissioners. In 1950, when his work in China was halted by the incoming Communist government, Yen led the
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement
The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, abbreviated as PRRM, is a non-governmental organization and institution formed in 1952 to assist peasants in the Philippines. As a movement, it was initiated by upper and middle class group of individu ...
and founded the
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction
The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, or IIRR, is an international non-governmental organization working in rural development. The mission of the organization is to "empower rural people to build resilient communities and attain ...
, with headquarters in the Philippines.
After 1949, he was labeled a "
henchman
A henchman is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organisation: minions whose value lies primarily in their unquestioning ...
of American imperialism" by the Chinese communist regime.
In 1985 the Chinese government finally welcomed Yen back to China and acknowledged his immense contribution to Mass Education and Rural Reconstruction. He died in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in Jan 1990.
Legacy
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the
New Rural Reconstruction Movement
New Rural Reconstruction (NRR, ) is an intellectual current and social movement initiated by Wen Tiejun and other activists to address the crisis they saw in the Chinese countryside at the start of the 21st century. In 2009, at its core there wer ...
took up Yen's name and legacy to address the problems of the countryside created by the success of the globalized economy. In July 2003, grassroots activists founded the James Yen Institute for Rural Reconstruction in Dingzhou, the site of the MEM's activities before the war.
Yen's charismatic speaking style and forceful personality made him attractive to many groups in China as well as many foreign friends. The China-raised American author
Pearl S. Buck published a short book of interviews with Yen, ''Tell The People; Talks With James Yen About the Mass Education Movement'' (New York: John Day, 1945).
John Hersey
John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to no ...
, whose father was a missionary in China who worked with Yen in the 1920s, wrote a novel ''
The Call'' (New York: Knopf, 1984), which includes an only slightly fictionalized portrait of Yen under the name "Johnny Wu."
Works
*
*
* Translated as:
* .
See also
*
Protestantism in Sichuan
The Protestant mission began in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan in 1877, when premises were rented by the China Inland Mission in Chungking. However, compared with Catholicism, which had been spread throughout the province for over ...
*
Stephen Yang
Stephen Yang (1911–2007), also known as Stephen C. H. Yang,; Sichuanese Pinyin, Sichuanese romanization: ''Iang Chen-hua''. was a Sichuanese people, Sichuanese surgeon, Medical education, medical educator, and Quakers, Quaker Christian pacifism ...
– Sichuanese Quaker and educator
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*Wu Hsiang-hsiang, ''Yan Yangchu Zhuan'' (Biography of Yan Yangchu; Taipei: 1981)
*
External links
Records of the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction Butler Library, Columbia University. Mostly from the period after 1944.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yen, Y.C. James
Educators from Sichuan
Sichuanese Protestants
1890 births
1990 deaths
Alumni of St. Paul's College, Hong Kong
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Alumni of St. John's Hall, University of Hong Kong
Yale University alumni
People from Bazhong
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners
American people of Chinese descent
American educators of Asian descent
Chinese expatriates in the United States
Chinese expatriates in France
YMCA leaders
Beta Theta Pi
Liberalism in China