Civilian Education and Cultural Awareness: Rediscovery of Yan Yangchu's Thought of Rural Construction

This paper expounds YanYangchu's thought of rural construction in 20th century, and holds that, as a well-known civilian educator and rural builder, some of his ideas, like cultural consciousness as the core power of social construction, civilian education and "new people education" as the specific path to realize cultural consciousness, knowledge groups in the communication between the state and farmers, were useful in promoting rural construction and social change and responding to the problem of the absence of the traditional gentry in the countryside caused by the abolition of the imperial examination system in the late Qing Dynasty. His thoughts are characteristic with education fit to local farmers, combination of theory with practice and focus on both material and spirit. Under the background of implementing the strategy of Rural Revitalization in China now, Yan Yangchu's thoughts are still of enlightening significance for thinking about the knowledge base, the strength relied on, the implementation path and the spiritual power in rural construction.