The former site of the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall is a famous scenic spot in Kunming’s cultural landscape.
In the history of modern Yunnan, there were two schools, one for literature and one for martial arts, both of which were very famous. Literature refers to Southwest Associated University, and martial arts refers to Yunnan Army Lecture Hall. The former has cultivated a large number of outstanding scientists and educators; the latter has cultivated a large number of outstanding military strategists and revolutionaries. Because of this, Zhu De, who was once a student at the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall and later became the Marshal of the Republic of China, called the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall a revolutionary melting pot.
The Yunnan Army Lecture Hall was founded nearly a century ago. The ruins still exist today, and it was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1988. This is the land of Chenghuapu on the west bank of Cuihu Lake, a famous scenic spot in the center of Kunming. Today, there is still a two-story courtyard building with a beige brick and wood structure. It consists of four buildings in the east, west, south and north. Each building is symmetrically connected and equipped with corridors. There is an arched door at each end of the building. Covering an area of ??1390 square meters. There are still a large classroom (auditorium) and an armory building in the southwest of the main building. There is a Yue Cao Building in the middle of the south building, about 15 meters high and 13 meters wide. In front of the building was a large playground that was no less than two football fields in size, but today it has been replaced by tall buildings such as the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Museum. However, the old Sihe Courtyard that has gone through centuries of ups and downs still exists, and the four 120-meter-long and 10-meter-wide Zouma corner buildings not only add a bit of antiquity, but also show the grandeur of the martial arts hall in those days.
The Yunnan Army Lecture Hall is not only close to Green Lake, a dazzling pearl in the center of Kunming City, but also because of its green trees, clear lake water, elegant environment, and the fragrance of birds and flowers. It has become a geomantic treasure land with outstanding people. The Yunnan Army Lecture Hall and Green Lake complement each other, making it a scenic and tourist destination with rich cultural colors.
The establishment of the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall was directly related to the establishment of the new army in the late Qing Dynasty. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Qing government decided to organize and train 36 towns (divisions) of the New Army across the country. Yunnan, which is located on the border, plans to establish two New Army towns due to national defense needs. In February 1909, the Yunnan New Army was organized into a town and was awarded the designation of the 19th town. The total number of officers and soldiers was 10,900. At the same time, the provincial patrol team was also changed to a battalion system, with 62 battalions. The total number of officers and soldiers in the 19th town and patrol battalion is about 35,000.
The new army is in urgent need of new officers, so it is imperative to open an army academy to cultivate talents. The Yunnan Army Lecture Hall is the most important of the martial arts lecture halls established in various places in the late Qing Dynasty. It was first established in September 1907, under the supervision of Hu Jingyi, the general manager of the Army Primary School. At the beginning of the school year, there were 86 students, but by February, there were only 41 students staying in the school. The school facilities and teaching quality were poor, and the results were only It was discontinued after 7 months. A year later, Shen Bing_, the governor of Yunnan-Guizhou Province, and Xiliang, the governor-general of Yunnan-Guizhou Province, resumed the operation after some preparations.
When the Yunnan Army Military Lecture Hall was reopened, it happened that the sixth batch of Chinese students studying in Japan from the Japanese Army Sergeant School graduated and returned to China. The Yunnan authorities began to identify talents and appointed a large number of returning students studying in Japan as the Lecture Hall. backbone and instructors. Among this group of people, members of the alliance accounted for a large proportion, such as Li Genyuan, Li Liejun, Zhang Kairu, Fang Shengtao, Zhao Kangshi, Shen Wangdu, Tang Jiyao, Yu En_, Gu Pinzhen, Liu Zuwu, Li Hongxiang, Li Bogeng, Luo Peijin, etc.
According to statistics, among the 47 faculty members of the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall at the beginning, 17 were members of the League, 11 were revolutionaries, 8 were revolutionaries, and 11 had unclear political attitudes. No obvious reactionary elements were found. From the perspective of academic qualifications, those who have received modern education have an absolute advantage. Among the 40 known instructors (teachers), 28 are graduates of Japanese schools, 4 are students of Beijing Jingshi University, and 4 are students of Vietnam. There are 2 people from Bawei School and 6 people whose status is unknown. This classified data reflects the basic political and professional situation of the teachers at the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall.
Contrary to the wishes of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall provided an important venue for the Tongmenghui. The revolutionaries actually took control of the Lecture Hall, making it an important part of the Yunnan revolution. The stronghold became the core of uniting revolutionary forces in the southwest region.
At the beginning of the preparations, Gao Deng, the General Office of the Yunnan Military Preparation Department, served concurrently as the general office of the Lecture Hall (equivalent to the principal), and Li Genyuan, a member of the alliance, served as the supervisor (equivalent to the vice president or provost in charge of teaching and training). By May 1910, Gaulden even resigned as the nominal general manager of the Jiangwu Hall. Li Gengen succeeded him as the general manager, Shen Wangdu was the supervisor, and Kaikai Ru was the supervisor. In this way, the first, second and third leaders of the Jiangwu Hall were all allies. Served by members. It is precisely because of this that the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall has a completely new look after its re-opening.
When it was first opened, the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall obviously had several important features that made it even more extraordinary.
First, it is larger in scale, has more classes, and has a larger number of students. The Yunnan Army Military Lecture Hall opened three classes, A, B and C, with a total of 420 people. Later, 100 students with outstanding performance were selected from Class C students to receive special academic education and became a special class. At the beginning of 1910, 200 people from the camp school (selected sergeants and privates with good academic skills from the army, plus some ordinary school students) were merged into Class C. In May of the same year, 30 graduates of the two-level normal schools in Yunnan who were interested in joining the army joined the Jiangwu Hall, so the Jiangwu Hall set up an additional class. In this way, there were 630 students in the school at the beginning. In August 1910, when the first batch of students from Class A and Class B graduated, 80 students from each of the second batch of Class A and Class B were selected to study in the school. In this way, before the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911, nearly 800 people received military training and the baptism of democratic revolutionary ideas at the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall. This group of people returned to the New Army and patrol camps and became the important backbone and basic force of the Yunnan Uprising of 1911.
Second, the academic system is relatively long. According to the regulations on the academic system of military schools in the late Qing Dynasty, each term of the military academy is generally 4 months long. Excluding holidays and travel time, the actual study time in the classroom is only 3 months. However, Yunnan Army Military Academy A and B The academic duration of the class is one year, the special class is two and a half years, and the C class is three years. The academic duration is several times longer than the prescribed time (but the actual implementation is shorter).
Third, the classroom settings are complete and the teaching quality is high. The Yunnan Army Military Lecture Hall is divided into five branches: infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers, and baggage. After entering the classroom, Classes A and B will focus on studying military subjects, such as topography, fortification, weapons, military system, health, etc., and learn military curriculum, such as the classics, models, and orders of this military subject. Class C and special class first study general subjects and basic military courses, such as Chinese, ethics, equipment drawing, arithmetic, history and geography, English or French, infantry drills, shooting instructions, service orders in the formation, work instructions, and field exercises. Wait, and then study military subjects and undergraduate military courses by subject.
The school's system and style are modeled after the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School. The discipline is very strict. There are 6 hours of classes every day, 2 hours of gymnastics, gymnastics and running in the morning, self-study in the evening, and emergency gatherings at night. train. Due to the relatively complete curriculum, strict teaching, and high discipline requirements, the quality of the graduates of the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall was higher than that of other military schools at that time.
Due to these characteristics, the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall has become a military school for training democratic revolutionary fighters, and has made important contributions to the democratic revolution in Yunnan and the country. After the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall was reopened, through the efforts of Li Gengen and others, it finally opened on September 28, 1909. The formulated school motto is perseverance and hard work. The Jiangwu Hall has also produced a series of military songs with impassioned and contagious lyrics. The military songs of the Jiangwu Hall must be sung every morning during morning exercises. We know that there are seven military songs in the series of military songs in Jiangwu Hall, and the important one is:
The storm is rolling,
It feels like he is waking up from a dream.
Forty million compatriots,
stand up to each other and build the Great Wall.
A strange man from the mainland of China,
joined hands to join the army.
But with the power of unity,
turn a new world.
Even if it is European and beautiful,
it is quite fierce.
Have trained your iron arms to shoulder heavy responsibilities,
Mighty Chinese people!
What a mighty Chinese people!
After the Revolution of 1911, the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall was renamed the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall School and continued to run for 19 periods, training thousands of talents.
The teachers and students of Jiangwu Hall continued to play a huge role in the subsequent War to Protect the Country, the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the War of Liberation that overthrew the Chiang Dynasty, and made their own contributions to the liberation cause of the Chinese people and the people of the world.
Among the teachers and students of Jiangwu Hall, in addition to the famous Mao Zedong and the founding fathers of the Republic of China, Marshal Zhu De and Ye Jianying, there are also Tang Jiyao, Hu Ruoyu, Jin Handing and Hu who have served as governor, governor and chairman of Yunnan. Ying, Long Yun, Lu Han, Lu Tao, former governor of Guizhou Province, Zhu Peide, chairman of Jiangxi Province, Sun Du, chairman of Rehe Province, Army Chief of Staff Yang Jie, Army Commanders Fan Shisheng, Zeng Zesheng, Long Zehui, Tang Huaiyuan , Wang Jiaben, former commander-in-chief of the Yunnan Army Li Genyuan, Li Liejun, Gu Pinzhen, Yang Ximin, anti-Japanese hero Zhou Baozhong, famous military strategist Luo Binghui, as well as the revolutionary Chairman Cui Yongjian of neighboring North Korea, the revolutionary General Vo Nguyen Giap of Vietnam, and so on. The Yunnan Army Lecture Hall is full of talents, bright stars, and has a glorious history, which is amazing.