The Origin and Significance of Teacher's Day

The Origin of Teacher's Day

In 1932, the government of the Republic of China designated June 6th as Teacher's Day. After liberation, the Teacher's Day on June 6th was abolished and replaced with May 1st International Labor Day as Teacher's Day.

In 1951, the Ministry of Education and the National Education Union announced that "May Day" was also "Teacher's Day", but the result of implementation was that Teacher's Day was gone. During the Cultural Revolution, teachers were demoted as "stinky old nine" and their social status was extremely low.

At the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, chaos was brought to justice. Since 1980, the National Education Trade Union has carried out a series of activities such as "celebrating teaching years" and "five lectures and four beauties, serving as role models", which have raised the political and social status of teachers.

In March 1981, at the 4th meeting of the 5th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, 17 members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference jointly submitted a proposal to determine the date and content of the National Teacher's Day activities. The proposal points out that teachers bear the heavy responsibility of cultivating talents for the construction of the Four Modernizations and should enjoy a noble social status.

In April 1982, the Party Group of the Ministry of Education and the Sub Party Group of the National Education Trade Union jointly issued a "Request Report on the Restoration of 'Teacher's Day'" by Zhang Chengxian and Fang Ming, which was sent to the Central Secretariat. The report also suggested that May 5th, Marx's birthday, should be designated as Teacher's Day.

At the first meeting of the sixth session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March 1983, Fang Ming and 18 members of the Democratic Progressive Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference once again proposed "to improve the social status of teachers and create a social trend of respecting teachers and valuing education, it is recommended to restore the Teacher's Day plan". In September of the same year, the General Office of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a letter to the General Office of the Ministry of Education, and after studying the proposal of Comrade Fang Ming and others at a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, agreed to resume Teacher's Day.

In December 1983, the "Request for Resumption of Teacher's Day" jointly issued by Minister He Dongchang and Minister Fang Ming of the Ministry of Education and the Party Group of the National Education Trade Union was sent to the Central Propaganda Department.

In October 1984, central leaders such as Wan Li and Xi Zhongxun circulated requests for instructions from the Party Group of the Ministry of Education and the Sub Party Group of the National Education Trade Union.

In December 1984, the Party Group of the Ministry of Education and the Sub Party Group of the National Education Trade Union submitted a report on the establishment of 'Teacher's Day' to the Central Secretariat and submitted it to the State Council.

In January 1985, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed this bill, establishing September 10th as Teachers' Day every year.

Since 2004, renowned humanities scholar Li Hanqiu, who was then a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has repeatedly called for Confucius' birthday as Teacher's Day through proposals. He believes that traditional festivals are passed down from generation to generation, and we no longer have the right to choose a day; The re set holiday is chosen by ourselves, so we should consider whether this day has historical and cultural connotations and how to continue historical traditions. Teacher's Day should be a festival with cultural connotations and should continue a long-standing historical tradition. It is very appropriate to celebrate Confucius' birthday as Chinese Teacher's Day. According to research and calculations by authoritative departments, Confucius was born on September 28, 551 BC (Gregorian calendar), which is also appropriate: the busy start of the new academic year has passed, and there is time to organize Teacher's Day and National Day.

The significance of Teacher's Day

On January 21, 1985, the 9th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress made a resolution to designate September 10th as China's Teachers' Day every year, in order to express gratitude to teachers who have preached, taught, and dispelled doubts. Teachers are hailed as engineers of the human soul, and the teaching profession is often hailed as the most glorious profession under the sun.

The establishment of Teacher's Day is to further enhance the political and social status of teachers, gradually making their work one of the most respected and enviable professions in society, and forming a social atmosphere of respecting teachers, valuing knowledge, and respecting talents; It is beneficial for the whole society to care about the education industry and improve the scientific and cultural quality of the entire Chinese nation.

Establishing Teacher's Day signifies that teachers are respected by the whole society. This is because the work of teachers largely determines the future of the country. The work of a teacher is closely related to every family, every child, teenager, and youth. In the development and progress of human society, teachers play a huge role. Teachers are engineers who cast human civilization, disseminators and builders of human civilization. The continuity of human civilization development depends on the labor of generations of teachers. If there is no hard and effective labor from teachers in a society, a country, or a nation, then the civilization process of that society, country, and nation will suffer losses. So, it is unimaginable for a history of civilization to depart from the factors of teachers.