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Preface

Chairman Mao had many mentors in his life, all of whom played a vital role in his growth. After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao did not forget the kindness of his teachers and maintained friendship with them.

But among Chairman Mao's teachers, there was one who was quite special because he had a violent conflict with Chairman Mao. He was Zhang Gan, the principal of Hunan First Normal School when Chairman Mao was studying there.

Chairman Mao was almost expelled from school because of 10 yuan in tuition fees

Zhang Gan was born in a farming family. He lost his father when he was ten years old. His mother was weak and sickly. It was his elder brother who farmed and sold tofu that gave him the opportunity to study. Zhang Gan did not want to disappoint his brother's hard work. He studied hard day and night. With his natural intelligence, he soon achieved results.

In 1911, Zhang Gan graduated from Hunan Zhonglu Normal School with the third place in the exam and was allowed to stay as a teacher. In 1914, the school was renamed "Hunan No. 1 Public Normal School". At the age of 30, Zhang Gan also reached the peak of his life and became the principal of the school.

After becoming the principal, Zhang Gan worked hard to make the school absolutely fair. When some officials and relatives approached him and asked him to help their children get admitted, he refused. When officials offered him gifts to ask for backdoor access, he also refused.

Logically speaking, Zhang Gan would have risen higher and higher with his talent and school management skills, but he was unlucky. After just one year as principal, the government at that time had financial problems.

The government required the normal school students to pay 10 yuan per student per term. Perhaps Zhang Gan had been out of poverty for too long, or perhaps he had become corrupt and only cared about currying favor with his superiors. He did not question the government's request and forced the students to pay.

Most of the students of the Provincial Normal School came from poor families and had a very difficult life. They had no idea where to get extra money. The students were fiercely opposed to paying the money and started a strike. The leader was Chairman Mao, who had just left home to study.

The students reacted violently, but Zhang Gan did not look for the reasons himself, but posted a notice expelling Chairman Mao and 17 other members of the society. This would be the decision Zhang Gan regretted most in his life.

Sure enough, when all the teachers and students in the school saw the announcement, they became even more indignant. They started a vigorous "Drive Out Zhang Movement" to expel this irresponsible principal from the school.

The "Drive Out Zhang Movement" became more and more serious. The Education Department also learned about it and sent an inspector to investigate. When Chairman Mao met the inspector, he handed him a note that read: "As long as Zhang Gan doesn't leave school, we won't have classes!"

At that time, some teachers also stood up to speak up for the students and put pressure on the Education Department.In order to calm the public anger, the inspector had to dismiss Zhang Gan from his post. Chairman Mao and 17 other students were not expelled, but were given serious warnings instead.

In 1918, Chairman Mao graduated from Hunan First Normal School. He then traveled around the country to engage in revolutionary activities and lost contact with the principal with whom he had a brief relationship.

On the eve of the Liberation War, he wrote a letter calling Chairman Mao "brother"

After being dismissed, Zhang Gan continued to make a living by teaching and later became the principal of Hunan Provincial No. 6 Middle School. Zhang Gan never expected that the student he almost expelled would become a leader of the Communist Party in the future.

In 1945, Zhang Gan accidentally read the news in the newspaper that Chiang Kai-shek invited Chairman Mao to Chongqing for negotiations. He was shocked. After discussing with his school teachers, he decided to write a letter to Chairman Mao in Yan'an.

After many years, Zhang Gan was still the school principal, while Chairman Mao had become a great leader, their identities were completely different.Zhang Gan thought about it for a long time and finally put pen to paper. The first sentence he wrote was: "Yan'an, this is a tribute to Brother Mao Runzhi."

Later he wrote: The victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the difficulty of building the nation are getting stronger. I sincerely accept the call to go to Chongqing to assist in national affairs. Please do not be stubborn and lose people's trust.

After writing, Zhang Gan also said to the teachers: "Mao Runzhi is Mao Zedong. He is my academic monk and he will listen to me. This is a major national event and he must listen."

Although he called Chairman Mao "brother", Zhang Gan still regarded himself as a teacher and even asked Chairman Mao to "respond to the call to Chongqing". He believed that he was Chairman Mao's teacher and would definitely listen to him.

But Chairman Mao in Yan'an had actually decided to go to Chongqing for negotiations a long time ago. This was not because of Zhang Gan's letter, but out of his expectations for the people of the whole country.

As a result, as everyone knows, Chairman Mao was invited to Chongqing to seek a solution to reconciliation, but Chiang Kai-shek was stubborn and wanted to achieve national rule, regardless of the suffering of the people who would suffer from the war. As early as the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek was ambitious and deliberately targeted the Eighth Route Army.

In 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale attack on the liberated areas, and the Chinese people, who had just escaped from the suffering of the Japanese invaders, fell into war again. Chairman Mao led the People's Liberation Army to rise up in resistance and defeated the Kuomintang army with an overwhelming force.

On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded. Chairman Mao and other leaders stood on the Tiananmen Gate Tower to witness this historic moment.

Just as people all over the country were cheering "Long Live Chairman Mao", Zhang Gan, who had always been dedicated to teaching, was feeling uneasy.Thinking about how he had threatened to expel Chairman Mao from school and then had the audacity to ask Chairman Mao to go to Chongqing for negotiations, he felt extremely terrified, fearing that Chairman Mao would find him to settle old scores.

But this was completely Zhang Gan's way of judging others by his own mean character. Chairman Mao had long since let go of what happened back then.

In 1950, Chairman Mao met with his teachers Xu Teli, Xie Juezai, Wang Jifan and classmates from the First Normal School at his home in Fengze Garden. When talking about Zhang Gan, Chairman Mao said with emotion: "Zhang Gan is a very talented person. He became our principal in his thirties. It is not easy."

Chairman Mao said that he did not like Zhang Gan at first, thinking that he only knew how to please his superiors, but later he thought carefully and felt that he could not be entirely blamed for having to pay an extra 10 yuan in tuition and miscellaneous fees.

Teacher and student reunion, Zhang Gan is filled with emotion

Later, Chairman Mao learned from his classmate Zhou Shizhao that Zhang Gan was still teaching and his family was very poor. He said: "I didn't expect that he was still eating chalk dust. It's rare. We should take care of such an old educator."

Because Chairman Mao cared about the relationship between teachers and students, Zhang Gan's family received government assistance. When Zhang Gan learned that it was Chairman Mao who arranged it personally, he burst into tears.

Thinking of his previous mistakes, Zhang Gan felt deeply regretful. He immediately wrote a letter of thanks to Chairman Mao. There was no arrogance of an elder in this letter, and every word was full of sincerity.

Zhang Gan was extremely anxious as he received no reply for a long time after sending the letter. The first thing he did every morning after getting up was to run to the post office to see if there was any reply from Chairman Mao.

On this day, Zhang Gan's son came back from outside with a letter printed with "Mao Zedong, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China". Zhang Gan read the letter several times before finally saying to his son with satisfaction: "Chairman Mao is really great!"

Zhang Gan was already satisfied with Chairman Mao's forgiveness, but what he did not expect was that Chairman Mao actually invited him to Beijing for a chat.

Zhang Gan was very happy. The day before leaving, he asked his wife to find new clothes that he usually didn't want to wear from the closet, and then he got on the train to Beijing cleanly.

After arriving in Beijing, Zhang Gan was temporarily arranged to stay in a guesthouse. A few days later, a jeep took him to Zhongnanhai. Through the car window, Zhang Gan saw Chairman Mao standing at the door early in the morning, and he was very excited. As soon as the car got off, Zhang Gan hurried forward and shook Chairman Mao's hands tightly.

Thinking of what happened before, Zhang Gan still felt guilty, and he immediately reviewed his mistakes. However, Chairman Mao said, "Principal Zhang, it's all in the past. Don't mention him anymore." Zhang Gan was deeply moved.

After a brief greeting, Zhang Gan was invited by Chairman Mao to the reception room, where two little girls were standing. Chairman Mao introduced them, "These are my two daughters, Li Min and Li Na." Chairman Mao then said to his daughters, "This is my teacher, and your great teacher." Li Min and Li Na bowed obediently to Zhang Gan, and Zhang Gan nodded happily.

Zhang Gan stayed in Beijing for several days. Chairman Mao was too busy to accompany him personally, so he sent his secretary to take care of him. When Chairman Mao was leaving, he could not see him off in person. The secretary apologized, but Zhang Gan waved his hands and said, "Chairman Mao is busy with state affairs. I am very relieved. I have troubled you to say goodbye to the Chairman on my behalf. Please don't worry about him."

At this point, Zhang Gan returned to his hometown, and he maintained contact with Chairman Mao until his death.

References:

Tang Liancheng. Chairman Mao and educator Zhang Gan. New Economy. Issue 31, 2014

Li Lin, Li Hemin. A few things about Mao Zedong and Zhang Gan. "Hongyan Chunqiu". Issue 9, 2018