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CHEN Ning
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2185/2026.05.006
Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China
Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) was an epoch-making educator in modern China. Living through a period of intense encounter between Chinese and Western cultures, he traversed a personal life trajectory that resonated with the educational transformation of modern China itself. Evolving from a traditional scholar-official into a reformer of modern education, Cai grounded his thought in China’s social realities while integrating Chinese and Western intellectual resources, and thereby formed a comprehensive and internally coherent system of educational thought. Taking the cultivation of a “complete personality” as his overarching goal, he formulated the guideline of “simultaneous development of the five types of education”, upheld the university-governing principle of “freedom of thought and inclusion of diverse schools”, promoted faculty governance and academic autonomy, and advocated the educational method of “respecting nature and cultivating individuality”. Through top-level design of the Republican-era educational system, the comprehensive renewal of Peking University, and the wide promotion of social education, he powerfully advanced the paradigmatic shift from old-style feudal education to modern national education. A dialectical examination of his historical contribution and an objective grasp of the contemporary value of his educational paradigm can facilitate the creative transformation and innovative development of his educational ideas, and offer reference points for present-day educational reform.
Cai Yuanpei, complete personality, educational thought, educational practice
CHEN Ning. (2026). Educational Quest in a Transformative Era: A Research on Cai Yuanpei’s Educational Paradigm. Management Studies, Vol. 14, No. 5, 298-303. doi: 10.17265/2328-2185/2026.05.006.
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