Chongqing's Cultural Canvas: Bajiao Village – The Scent of Books Deep in the Mountain City's Fabric

Every first-time visitor to Chongqing is amazed by its terrain: skyscrapers rise in layers on the mountains along the Jialing and Yangtze rivers, stacking up into the clouds; bridges over the rivers and overpasses on land intertwine and spiral upward, dizzying yet uniquely scenic; the light rail at Liziba passes right through a building, speeding along by the river and mountains, full of vitality...

This is a city built on a mountain, or rather, the entire city is a mountain.

There is a city above the mountain, and a city below the mountain.

The urban builders of Chongqing back then, in order to adapt the architecture to the terrain, made the best use of the land by distributing all urban infrastructure—buildings, commerce, transportation, daily life—across various positions on and below the mountains. Thus, the Upper City and Lower City came into being. Today, this has become the source of Chongqing's nickname as an "8D city."

The 8D aspect is the form of the mountain city, but a charming and graceful city must have form and spirit in harmony, form and spirit as one. This "spirit" is the culture and the subtle, intricate daily life of the place.

Mountain city trails were once the pathways connecting life above and below the mountains. To experience the culture of Chongqing's mother city and its everyday life, these trails are a must-visit for tourists.

Among the many trails, the Zhangjia Garden Mountain City Trail is particularly representative, where the everyday and the scholarly coexist.

Bajiao Village is right here.

The Zhangjia Garden Mountain City Trail is part of the third mountain city trail, named after the Zhangjia Garden built during the Republic of China period.

The mountain city trail is rugged and winding. If you choose to descend from the mountaintop, it may seem rushed. Therefore, to explore the mysteries of the mountain city, it is recommended to ascend step by step. Perhaps when you pause to rest, you will sink deep into the texture of the city.

From Exit of Dashigou Station on Metro Line 2, you find your way into Renhe Street and can easily spot the entrance to the Zhangjia Garden Mountain City Trail.

The trail is not particularly straight; the walls are made of blue bricks with white mortar joints, and the stone steps made of large strips extend upward or downward into various corners—these are corners full of surprises. Almost every turn brings a different scene before your eyes.

This is the most typical Chongqing residential area. Along both sides of the trail stand various residential buildings. The mottled walls and architectural styles make it easy to identify this as an old neighborhood.

Occasionally, a small footbridge cuts from the trail into the adjacent residential building. On the wall built along the trail, a few dark red benches are interspersed for tourists or residents walking on the trail to rest.

The most authentic flavor of Chongqing's fabric appears before us, carrying the scent of books.

Walking and stopping, climbing the small slopes unique to Chongqing, you reach the entrance of the Zhangjia Garden Tunnel and see a relief wall coming into view—Bajiao Village has arrived.

The starting point of Chongqing's modern education has arrived.

02 Entering Bajiao Village: Chongqing's Educational Heights

So-called Bajiao Village, full name Bajiao Village Education and Culture Block, is both the deepest fold in Chongqing's urban fabric and a place that has left a deep mark on the history of Chongqing and even the whole country. It is also the starting point of Chongqing's modern and contemporary cultural lineage.

Without exaggeration, this is the core of Chongqing's cultural spirit.

From the eastern hillside, a panoramic view of Bashu School

This is the glory and accumulation that began in the 1920s and 1930s. Nearly a hundred years have endowed this place with a significant chapter in both the history of Chinese education and the history of Chinese revolution.

Today, the Bajiao Village Cultural Block connects Renhe Street via the Zhangjia Garden Trail below and reaches Zhongshan Second Road above, covering radiating Yuechi Street, Zhangjia Garden Community, Huafu Lane Community, Renhe Street Community, Zhonger Road Community of Lianglukou Street, and five schools including Bashu Primary School. It holds kindergartens, primary schools, and middle schools scattered like stars, intertwined, and filled with the scent of books.

Undoubtedly, this is the high ground of Chongqing's educational history, without equal.

And the culture street, culture wall of Bashu Primary School, and the "Bashu Education Cultural History Exhibition Hall" are the central parts of Bajiao Village that cannot be bypassed. They present the history of Bashu School at that time and the historical events that took place here.

On the relief wall at the entrance of Zhangjia Garden Tunnel are carved Mr. Huang Yanpei, the ideological founder of Bashu Primary School; Mr. Zhou Xucheng, the first principal of Bashu Primary School; revolutionary and educator Mr. Wu Yuzhang; revolutionary martyr Jiang Zhujun; famous writer Yang Hansheng, and other predecessors. They are the founders of the scholarly atmosphere on the Zhangjia Garden Mountain City Trail.

03 Amidst War and Turmoil: The Passion and Indignation of Bajiao Village

On November 20, 1937, the National Government issued the "Declaration on Moving the Capital to Chongqing." Subsequently, Chongqing became the wartime capital, which opened another track for Chongqing's cultural and educational development.

On the trail, at No. 65 Zhangjia Garden, a courtyard gate made of blue bricks catches the eye. Above the lintel are two traditional Chinese characters: "棫園" (Yu Garden). This was one of the first school properties built by Bashu Primary School.

In September 1938, the "Literary Association" also moved to Chongqing and rented a space inside the "Yu Garden" of Bashu School. This became the location of the All-China Literary and Art Circles Anti-Enemy Association.

When the "Literary Association" held meetings, Mao Dun, Lao She, Ge Baoquan, Zhou Erfu, Hu Sheng, Ge Mao, Guo Moruo, Zhang Daofan, Wang Pingling, Hua Lin, Yang Hansheng, Xia Yan, Feng Naichao, He Qifang, Liu Baiyu, and others would gather here.

The former school gate of Bashu School

Through this gate of "Yu Garden" came and went Lao She in a long gown, Bing Xin in a cheongsam, and it gathered the elite of the national literary and art circles at that time, including Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Hu Feng, Zhu Ziqing, Ding Ling, Tian Han, and others.

At that time, Bashu Primary School was the national cultural center, the center of anti-Japanese propaganda activities. Together with the Zhangjia Garden Orphanage on the same Zhangjia Garden Mountain City Trail and the "Sino-French School," the first cadre training school of the Chinese Communist Party in Chongqing, it played an indelible role in inspiring national courage during the Anti-Japanese War and even in the establishment of the patriotic united front.

At that time, the site of Bajiao Village was no longer just the sound of reading aloud, but also full of passion and indignation.

Today, only a mottled old wooden door remains for future generations to pause and reminisce.

This is the calm after the waves of history.

04 Bashu Primary School: Integrating the Philosophy of "Doing"

Opposite the relief wall at the entrance of Zhangjia Garden Tunnel is Bashu Primary School, formerly known as "Chongqing Private Bashu Primary School."

It is not cramped here. The culture street, culture wall, and the "Bashu Education Cultural History Exhibition Hall" enclose a small square. There are many circular resting chairs on the square, surrounded by green trees, the crisp chirping of birds in the air, the sound of reading permeating the campus, interspersed with joyful laughter and calls among friends. It is hard to recall the bloodshed and struggle against suffering that once occurred here.

The "Bashu Education Cultural History Exhibition Hall" is located at the entrance of the Bashu Primary School.

Walking in, you step into history.

Chongqing Private Bashu Primary School, archival photo

In 1932, Mr. Wang Zuanxu, former chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Government of the National Government, built the "Chongqing Private Bashu Primary School" (renamed "Chongqing Private Bashu School" in 1933) in Zhangjia Garden, Yuzhong District, and publicly issued the "Declaration of Chongqing Private Bashu Primary School."

The declaration said: "Create a new school environment, experiment with some new primary education."

Cultural and educational reform was the theme of China at that time, as well as the world's main melody. In the 20th century, philosopher John Dewey's pragmatist education thought, Kilpatrick's Project Teaching Method, Parkhurst's Dalton Plan, etc., had a huge impact on educational reform at the time.

Dewey proposed life education theories such as "Education is life," "School is society," and "Unity of teaching, learning, and doing." His most famous student in China, Mr. Hu Shi, said, "Study more problems, talk less about isms," which embodies this thought.

During the May Fourth New Culture Movement, these progressive Western education ideas were introduced to China. The then Chongqing Private Bashu School, now Bashu Primary School, was a product of this educational trend.

It benefited from the famous modern Chinese educator and founder of the China Democratic National Construction Association, Huang Yanpei. In the founding of Bashu School, his educational thoughts of "labor is sacred," "hands are omnipotent," "hand and brain work together," and "unity of doing and learning" forged the soul of the school.

From its inception, the philosophy of "doing" was integrated into the marrow of Bashu School, and thus Bashu School became part of the surge of global educational reform.

The educational concept emphasized by Huang Yanpei in the declaration was "the mind is scientific, the hands are those of laborers." Around this concept, the "triple life" of students was proposed, and educational principles of "both nurture and discipline" and "hand and brain work together" were adopted for students.

It must be remembered that this was still an era dominated by traditional private schools. Even if there were some sprouts of modern education, they were largely initiated by foreign missionaries. A modern school entirely proposed and practiced by Chinese people at that historical stage was rare, though not unique nationwide.

Especially for Chongqing, an inland port city, this was revolutionary and subversive. In this sense, starting from Bajiao Village's Bashu Primary School, modern education in Chongqing was inaugurated.

In front of the original north teaching building of Bashu School stands a large banyan tree. The north end housed specialized classrooms: the ground floor was a music room, the second floor a laboratory, and the third floor an art room.

The two founders of Bashu Primary School: Left: Principal Zhou Xucheng, Right: Educational Director Sun Bocai

Within just a few years, Bashu School became the primary education experimental center in eastern Sichuan and even entered the ranks of famous schools in the whole Sichuan province and nationwide. In October 1937, Lin Sen, Chairman of the National Government, upon learning of Bashu Primary School's achievements, wrote the four characters "成績斐然" (remarkable achievements) in praise.

Bashu School teachers' office in 1950

Today's Bashu Primary School, Bashu Middle School, Bashu Kindergarten, Renhe Street Primary School, No. 42 Middle School... With Bajiao Village at the core, this modest area has become the high ground of Chongqing's basic education.

Amidst the everyday life, the scent of books lingers.

In 1914, philanthropists from the Chongqing Historical Celebrities Museum established the first modern private orphanage on the mountain city trail. Sister Jiang (Jiang Zhujun) was influenced by progressive ideas in this private orphanage and embarked on the revolutionary road.

The earliest kindergarten of Bashu, 1938, photo of children with Teacher Yao Junyi

The ancient site of the "Sino-French School" holds great significance for the Chinese Communist Party. It was the first cadre training school of the Chinese Communist Party in Chongqing, and also the birthplace of the earliest Party organization in Chongqing—the Chongqing Branch of the Chinese Communist Party, founded by Mr. Wu Yuzhang in 1925.

On September 29, 1940, Premier Zhou Enlai gave a speech titled "International Situation and China's Anti-Japanese War" on the open-air playground of Bashu School. This was the famous "Nine Questions on the Anti-Japanese War."

The stone steps outside the corridor lead to the main road, and the thatched pavilion on the bridge hole faces east to the playground.

The audience numbered over 3,000, including elites and socially responsible individuals such as soldiers, workers, merchants, and students. Premier Zhou Enlai raised and answered nine questions regarding the international situation and China's Anti-Japanese War, resolving the confusion of the people in the rear about the war, the cooperation between the Nationalists and Communists, and the international situation.

The three-and-a-half-hour speech concluded with one sentence: "Unite to deal with the enemy; unity is no problem, victory is certainly ours!"

"Only the matters of one's hometown are familiar to the ears and seen daily. Even street talk, a mountain, a stream, a tree, a stone—things that children play with—become knowledge once pointed out. There is no better way to attract people than this."

"All human affairs and natural products are worthy of love and treasure." Local customs and objects are the starting points of knowledge; education and life are no different.

The trails are places for sightseeing, but due to the preservation of their original functions, they are even more a part of the living Yuzhong. Standing on these historic coordinates of the mountain city trails and Bajiao Village, you can truly feel the connection of time.

The community environment and living facilities around Bajiao Village are very complete. Along the trail, there are kindergartens, nursing homes, vegetable markets, sauced meat shops, and even cotton fluffing and lock-picking services that are rarely seen elsewhere... The residents are serene, unhurried, content with their lot, moving slowly with inner peace.

For tourists, these are just roads, the form beyond Chongqing's 8D aspect. But for the residents here, it is a place to live and study, a lifetime, a spiritual sustenance.

Some regard the mountain city trails as the negative of Yuzhong, a microcosm of Chongqing's mother city culture. Of the Zhangjia Garden Trail, they say that on this trail, one can see stubbornness, hard work, endeavor, and the smoke of daily life.

And the scholarly atmosphere of Bajiao Village.

We are nostalgic about life, but education needs innovation.

At the current school gate of Bashu Primary School, the newly built and opened Bashu Education Cultural History Exhibition Hall now houses these heavy historical records and glories belonging to Bashu Primary School. Exiting the school gate, on the mountain city trail of Zhangjia Garden, the construction and renovation of the Bajiao Village Education and Culture Block have been completed.

This is a block filled with the scent of books, with a century of historical and cultural accumulation. It is also the deepest fabric of Yuzhong, the mother city of Chongqing. On the bluestones are engraved the stories of Bashu Primary School, and also recorded the storms it has experienced over the past nearly hundred years—from its founding, through the war, after liberation, after reform and opening up, after the new millennium... Each point in time carries the deepest love of Bashu people for Bashu Primary School.

In the time to come, the senior students of Bashu Primary School will, as always, lead the newly enrolled younger students along this cultural block, telling them the stories and history of the school, its weight and glory, and the shared honor and dreams of all Bashu people.

Whether it was the Bashu School of 1933, the Bashu Primary School after the split in 1954, or the Bashu Primary School after curriculum reform, it has stood at the crossroads of the times countless times, changing with the course of history. The one thing that has never changed is Bashu's earnest educational heart towards its students and its persistent commitment to teaching and nurturing.

Nearly a hundred years of accumulation, with countless iterations of educational methods over time, are the foundation and heritage of Bashu Primary School. It is precisely for this reason that countless honors and awards have frequently found their way into the trophy room of Bashu Primary School. From winning the Panama Gold Prize on behalf of the Ministry of Education in 1938 to winning the National Educational Achievement Award in 2018 for "Subject +," every certificate or trophy embodies the hard work and sweat of every Bashu person under the spirit of "doing."

In fact, the greatest achievement of Bashu Primary School in nearly a hundred years is not limited to this. The students who have studied, learned, and graduated here are its most precious treasure—Zou Jiahua, Lu Guoji, Yin Jicheng, Zhang Cunhao, Wu Jinglian, Wang Xiaotang... A series of well-known names and those Bashu graduates unknown to us are all important forces supporting the construction of our great country.

It is foreseeable that the education in Bajiao Village will never stop, and their pursuit of education will never stop.

Up and down the steps, the fragrance of ink lingers.

Perhaps at some point in the future, later generations will recall and eulogize Bajiao Village as we do now, counting the seeds of hope that the Bashu people have planted at this moment.

These seeds of hope will take root and sprout in the future Chongqing, China, and the world, growing into towering trees that reach the clouds, sheltering humanity.