Soong Ching Ling often said that a country or a nation can't have only today and no tomorrow, and can't just care about the present and ignore the future. What is the future of the country and the nation? Today's children, today's children. He also said: "Children's work is to create the future, and the future of the country belongs to a new generation." It is from such a strategic height that she treats the work of children and the education and training of the next generation with a sense of historical responsibility as a great politician.
Soong Ching Ling has no children of her own, but she regards all the children in China as her own, and with great love, a loving grandmother dedicated her life to it.
1947 In April, in the darkest days before liberation, she came to the children's welfare home and sat with the poor children, personally teaching a 7-year-old child to read. The little boy was deeply inspired and later grew up to be a senior engineer in a research institute in Chengdu. "Mother Song" will always leave him with good memories. 1956, Soong Ching Ling visited Southeast Asia as Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC). Back in Kunming, one evening she walked out of the hotel and walked by the quiet Cuihu Lake. At this moment, a red scarf passed by and saluted her. Soong Ching Ling was very happy. She stopped to talk to the child. When she knew that the child liked writing and was the editor of the blackboard newspaper, she encouraged him to contribute to the children's own publication "Childhood". A year later, the child's first work "Golden Starling" was published in childhood. Since then, he has embarked on the road of literary creation. Now he is a Bai writer in Yunnan. These two seemingly ordinary and accidental events are the natural expression of Soong Ching Ling's love, which embodies her care and love for her children in the old and new times.
As a great politician and revolutionary, Soong Ching Ling cares and cares for children for the future of the motherland and mankind. She believes that educating children is an urgent task. The wealth we left our children is not only material wealth, but also the excellent traditions of the Chinese nation and the China revolution. Soong Ching Ling advocated the concept of great education, that is to say, educating and cultivating a new generation of children is not only a matter for education departments and experts, but also the responsibility and obligation of the whole society and the whole nation. All sectors of society and all citizens should care, protect and help children grow up healthily. Soong Ching Ling believes that the contents of children's education mainly include moral education, intellectual education, physical education, aesthetic education, technical school and psychological education. In moral education, she advocates that children should cultivate "people with the best human qualities" from an early age. The basic aspects of these qualities are: love, labor, courage, honesty and collectivism, plus simplicity and thrift. She also said that these noble qualities "are the pointers for us to cultivate our character." Soong Ching Ling's view on education is not only firm in class, but also distinctive in the times. She opposes treating children as passive objects of education. She practices and speaks loudly: give children the right to play and effectively protect all the legitimate rights and interests that should belong to them. According to the literature we have, Soong Ching Ling was the first person in China who advocated strengthening children's quality education.
In the treasure house of Soong Ching Ling's educational thought, children's literature has always been placed in an important position that cannot be ignored. Soong Ching Ling herself took part in school drama activities at the age of seven. She has profound artistic accomplishment and rich appreciation of literature, music, drama and art. Therefore, she attaches great importance to the subtle educational role of literature and art in children.
65438-0947 Shanghai is cloudy. Soong Ching Ling invited Huang, a famous dramatist, to talk with Ren Deyao, a children's playwright, and asked them to try to organize a children's troupe. She said, "We should not only give them food and clothing, but also give them spiritual food so that they can see the future." The first play that she personally appointed the troupe to rehearse was the excellent children's play The Table translated by Lu Xun and adapted by Dong Lincoln. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this troupe was changed to China Welfare Children's Art Theatre, which was regarded as a treasure in her pocket. She asked the theater to train the best actors, cultivate first-class bands, write the best plays, and even choose the best theater venue. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), everything has yet to be completed. She personally guided the preparation and founded the first comprehensive children's magazine "Childhood" in China. 1950 In April, she wrote an inscription on the inaugural issue: "Point out the right path for children, inspire their thoughts, and make them move towards a bright and brilliant situation." In the two thick sets of Selected Works of Soong Ching Ling, there are dozens of speeches, articles, letters and inscriptions on children's literature and art, among which there are many articles such as "continuously providing spiritual food for children", "making children's books better serve the cultivation of revolutionary descendants", "creating and performing more and better children's plays" and "creating more and better works for children".
In these articles and speeches, she emphasized that children are the wealth of the world and the wealth of mankind, so "the most precious thing should be given to children." Soong Ching Ling believes that good spiritual food can "plant high-quality seeds in a pure and young mind", which can help children understand the world scientifically and guide them to uncover the secrets of nature. Can inspire children's thoughts, love the party and the motherland more, and become healthy people. If spiritual food can emerge continuously, it is a sign of social progress and civilization. She stressed the need to cultivate the next generation, "to have a healthy cultural and artistic literacy. You must have an eye for literature and art. Beautiful music, art, literature, etc. It plays an important role in cultivating temperament, resisting unhealthy and harmful things, and cultivating beautiful and noble sentiments. "
Song Qingling sent a message that "literary and art workers and scientific and technical workers should actively create literary reading materials, scientific reading materials, book stories, plays, movies, songs and nursery rhymes for children, so that they can be educated in a colorful cultural life." She hopes that "famous writers should write for children" and "writers and artists should include writing for children in your annual creative plan". She put forward ardent expectations for children's literature, theme, genre, content and language of children's books, book binding, cover, illustration and layout design, paper and printing technology. I hope that in the field of children's literature, there will be a prosperous scene with a wide range of themes and constantly improving quality. In short, we should give our children the most precious and best.
1May, 980, a few years after the downfall of the Gang of Four, just one year before Soong Ching Ling's death, she, as a national leader, demanded that "all relevant departments put the work of vigorously cultivating children's literature and art workers on a more important agenda. We should always care about children's literary and art workers in politics, work, study, writing and life, give them support and create the necessary conditions. " She also suggested that national awards should be organized for children's literature and literary and artistic creation, which can be held once a year or two to encourage and prosper creation.
It is based on the above teaching and legacy of Soong Ching Ling that the Soong Ching Ling Foundation established the Soong Ching Ling Children's Award Fund in the mid-1980s. 1986 Under the enthusiastic advocacy of Ba Jin, Bing Xin and other famous writers of the older generation, I will co-sponsor the Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television, the State Education Commission, and the the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. The award is selected every two to three years and has been successfully held for five times so far. Judging from the first to fifth selection, "Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award" has become an important award in the field of children's literature in China. The evaluated works generally reflect the achievements and level of children's literature creation in China for more than ten years. The award has not only attracted the attention of children's literature circles, but also been welcomed by children.
In recent years, with the deepening of reform and opening up, the characteristics of "Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award" have become more and more distinctive. At present, the 6th Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award has been launched. In order to encourage young people in children's literature to come forth in large numbers, we set up the "Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award"; In order to affirm and commend the old comrades who have devoted their lives to children's literature, we have established the Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award for Lifelong Achievement. In order to further carry forward China's excellent cultural tradition and national spirit, and strengthen the cooperation and exchange of China children's literature writers, we also launched the Soong Ching Ling Children's Literature Award "World Chinese Award". We believe that the establishment of the above awards will further promote and prosper the creation and development of children's literature.
The times are developing and history is advancing. Compared with the time when Soong Ching Ling lived, the situation and environment have undergone fundamental changes. However, the precious spiritual wealth that Soong Ching Ling left us-her thoughts, her morality, her wisdom and her cultivation-is still an inexhaustible source of our thoughts, which still has important guiding significance for us to develop children's literature in the new century.
Soong Ching Ling famously said, "Some things can wait, but the cultivation of children can't wait." Let's work together for this lofty cause of "can't wait"!