Jilin Yuwen High School

Jilin Yuwen High School (Chinese: 吉林毓文中学; pinyin: Jílín Yùwén Zhōngxué), also known as Yuwen Middle School, is a high school in the Chinese city of Jilin City, Jilin Province. The school is situated next to the Songhua River.[3] The school was center of left-wing political thought during the 1920s.

Not to be confused with another school known contemporarily as Jilin High School, and since 1959 as Jilin City No.1 High School.

Jilin Yuwen High School
吉林毓文中学
Location
Jilin City
,
Jilin

China
Coordinates43°49′44″N 126°31′56″E[1]
Information
TypePublic
MottoDevelop morals. Spread knowledge. Cultivate talent. Promote character.[2]
Established1917[2]
Staff261[2]
Number of students3213[2]
Websitewww.jlyw.com

Among prominent alumni is Kim Il Sung, the first leader of North Korea. There is a museum, a schoolroom memorial and a statue dedicated to him at the school. There is also a slogan proclaiming Sino-Korean friendship on the roof.

History

The school was founded in 1917.[2] The school was heavily influenced by left-wing ideology in the late 1920s, and was described as the most progressive in the city.[4] Many prominent Chinese left-wing intellectuals have taught in the school, including Guo Moruo and Shang Yue.

In 1964 Deng Xiaoping allowed the school to continue use the name "Yuwen".[2]

In 1978 Jilin Province officials approved Yuwen as the focus of the first run high school, and in 2003 the local government identified the school as a model high school.[2]

Since 2005 there has been an international cooperation program with Australia. There have also been recent cultural exchanges with schools from countries such as United States and Japan.[2]

Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung during his time in Yuwen Middle School

North Korean president Kim Il Sung attended the school for two and a half years starting from 1927.[5] The school was described as the most progressive in the city of Jilin.[6] Kim organized protests against "reactionary teachers" and Japanese-made goods in 1928.[4] Kim was part of the South Manchurian Communist Youth Association there in 1929. Kim was arrested in the spring of 1929 and was consequentially expelled from the school.[7]

Kim Il Sung struggled to continue his studies in Yuwen High School. He had to live in a cheap dormitory owned by the Methodist Church, as recalled by his younger friend from the school. Kim survived from his mother's modest earnings after his father died. Kim wrote in his memoirs that he tried to spare his only pair of shoes for school by walking barefoot. Kim also complained about the blatant nature of the class society of Jilin.[6]

There is a bronze statue of Kim Il Sung, portraying him in a guerrilla uniform, at the school grounds.[8] A schoolroom where Kim Il Sung studied is retained as a memorial, and there is a modest museum at the school.[3]

Kim also studied in the Korean Huadian School (also known as Hwasong Middle School[9]), which was also in Manchuria. When he chose to enroll in the Chinese-language Yuwen Middle School, he would have had other choices beyond Korean Huadian School, because there were other Korean language schools in Manchuria.[6]

Visits by North Korean officials

Since 1964 the Pyongyang Akinori school has been a sister school, and related visits have been received since then.[2] A slogan on the roof of the building proclaims: "Long Live Sino-Korean Friendship".[6]

In September 2010, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il made Yuwen Middle School his first stop during a trip to China.[10][11] Kim stayed there for some 20 minutes.[11] Only days later, upon his return, Kim pronounced his son Kim Jong Un as his successor. The visit to Yuwen associated with Kim Il Sung's youth thus became a political message of a young successor's viability.[10] Premier Choe Yong-rim visited the school, too, in November 2010.[12]

On 15 April 2014 around 400 to 500 North Koreans gathered at the school in honor of Kim Il-sung's birthday. Volleyball and other sporting events were held on the same day in Jilin. No Chinese officials attended, but Chinese security was present.[13]

On 6 July 2014 officials from the DPRK's Shenyang consulate-general joined Chinese officials and Chinese-Koreans in a ceremony to lay floral baskets at Kim Il Sung's statue.[14]

People
A statue of Guo Moruo sitting.
Teacher Guo Moruo is remembered for his work on archeology and history, as well as for his literary works and poetry.

Former teachers

Alumni

Awards
  • Teaching Quality and Improvement Award[2]
  • Excellent Teaching Achievement Award[2]

See also

References
  1. "Yuwen High School (Jilin City)". Wikimapia. 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  2. "JILIN YU-WEN HIGH SCHOOL". en.fseducation.org. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. Heonik Kwon; Byung-Ho Chung (12 March 2012). North Korea: Beyond Charismatic Politics. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 183–184. ISBN 978-1-4422-1577-1.
  4. Scott McDonald (26 August 2010). "N. Korea's Kim Jong Il apparently snubs Jimmy Carter to visit school in China". www.cleveland.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015. Kim Il Sung attended the school from 1927 to 1930, after his family fled the Japanese occupation of Korea. At the time, Yuwen was a hotbed of leftist thinking. Biographies of Kim say that he began absorbing communist ideology while at Yuwen. In 1928, Kim organized protests against "reactionary teachers" at Yuwen in addition to demonstrations against Japan and the purchase of Japanese goods, according to the Jilin provincial government's website.
  5. "(LEAD) N. Korean leader arrives in Chinese industrial city on second day of surprise trip". english.yonhapnews.co.kr. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  6. Bradley K. Martin (1 April 2007). Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. St. Martin's Press. pp. 22–. ISBN 978-1-4299-0699-9.
  7. Jae-Cheon Lim (24 November 2008). Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea. Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-134-01712-6.
  8. "THE TUMEN TRIANGLE DOCUMENTATION PROJECT SOURCING THE CHINESE-NORTH KOREAN BORDER: AKS Special Edition" (PDF). January 2015. p. 20. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  9. "Kim Il-sung - President of the DPRK" (PDF). North Korea Leadership Watch. September 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  10. "Hagiography of the Kims & the Childhood of Saints: Kim Il-sung". Sino-NK. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  11. "Big Fatty Gives Jilin Kids a Vacation". dailynk.com. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  12. "DPRK Premier Visits Jilin Yuwen Middle School". KCNA. 6 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  13. Adam Cathcart; Christopher Green; Steven Denney (24 April 2014). "Sino-NK in the Border Region Executive Summary" (PDF). White Rose University Consortium. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  14. "Floral Baskets Laid before Statue of Kim Il Sung at Yuwen Middle School in Jilin, China". KCNA Watch. 6 July 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  15. Wolfgang Bartke (1 January 1997). Who was Who in the People's Republic of China: With more than 3100 Portraits. Walter de Gruyter. p. 69. ISBN 978-3-11-096823-1.
  16. "郭沫若在毓文中学". Jilin City. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  17. Won Tai Sohn, M.D. (7 July 2003). Kim Il Sung and Korea's Struggle: An Unconventional Firsthand History. McFarland. pp. 134–. ISBN 978-0-7864-1589-2.
  18. "历史名人". Jilin Yuwen High School. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2015.

Further reading
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