Xing Ruiming
Ms. Xing Ruiming, or Ruiting Xing (simplified Chinese: 邢瑞鸣; traditional Chinese: 邢瑞鳴; pinyin: Xíng Ruìmíng; 1888-1990), was a student of the first girls’ literacy class in Jieyang County (now Jieyang City), Guangdong Province of China. She later became the principal of the first girls’ school in Jieyang. Throughout her life, she made substantial contributions to Jieyang's women education and the spread of the Christian gospel. [1] [2]
Women's education
On April 26, 1888, in the late Qing Dynasty of China, girl Xing Ruiming was born into a poor peasant family in Fengwei Village in the eastern suburbs of Rongcheng, capital town of Jieyang County, Guangdong Province. Later, her father accepted the Christian gospel and led the whole family to Christianity. Little Ruiming therefore was free from the pain of foot binding, which was still popular at that time. [2]
According to "Rongcheng Town Chronicles",[3] there were no schools for girls in Jieyang until the 25th year of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (i.e. 1899), when the American Christian pastor Jacob Speicher hired Ms. Chen Meixian from Chenghai County as a teacher and founded Jieyang's first girls' literacy class (識字班) in Rongcheng. The teaching contents were excerpts from the Three Character Classic and the Bible. Only 12 girls from Christian families were admitted into the class, and eleven-year-old Ruiming was one of them. Unfortunately, two years later, the pastor returned to the U.S. and the literacy class was closed. At the age of 15, Xing Ruiming went to Shantou to study at Zhengguang Girls' School (正光女校), which was run by the Christian Church. She was diligent in study, had excellent grades and was helpful to others, and was elected as the president of the student union. [4] [2]
After the first girls' literacy class was closed, the Jieyang church founded a new one in Rongcheng a few years later. In 1908, Xing Ruiming returned to her hometown after graduating from Zhengguang Girls' School, and was hired as the school administrator (principal). She named the literacy class "Zongguang Girls' School" (宗光女校), making it the first girls' school in Jieyang to have a formal name. [5]
Five years later, in the second year of the Republic of China (1913), Xing Ruiming left Zongguang Girls' School and founded "Jingyuan Girls' School" (靜遠女校) at Zhuxiang near Jinxianmen of Rongcheng, and served as its principal and teacher. At the beginning, there were only a bit more than 20 girl students. In less than 4 years, they expanded to more than 80, divided into 4 classes. The subjects taught included Chinese, mathematics, history, geography, abacus, singing, hand embroidery, etc. The school hired several well-known scholars as teachers. Xing Ruiming’s husband, Chen Dexiu, also assisted in teaching. In the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929), Zongguang Girls' School was renamed the Truth Girls' Middle School (真理女中), Xing Ruiming was appointed as the principal, and students of Jingyuan Girls' School were transferred to Truth Girls' Middle School. Later, the Truth Boys' and Girls' Schools merged to form the Truth Middle School. Xing Ruiming resigned as principal but remained a school director. [5][4][2] [6]
Xing Ruiming had thousands of students, including Professor Xie Haiyan, president of the Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts. [4][2]
Evangelism
In 1932, there were quite a few girls' schools in the county town already. Xing Ruiming put down teaching jobs and devoted herself full-time to the spread of the Christian gospel. With her church colleagues, she went to rural villages for missionary visits, and at the same time taught the sisters there Chinese characters and Bible reading. During the following three years, she visited various rural churches in Jieyang and Puning counties, devoting her knowledge and sweat to women's education and evangelism in the Chaoshan region. [2]
In 1935, Xing Ruiming went to the church-run Jieyang Truth Hospital (真理醫院) as a chaplain, and was engaged in evangelism, inspection, registration and comforting work. In 1944, the Japanese army invaded Jieyang, and the doctors and nurses fled the hospital, leaving Xing Ruiming and a few others behind. At that time, there was a female patient in the hospital who had just undergone surgery. In desperation, Xing Ruiming moved the patient to her mother's home in the suburb for recuperation, and sent her home after her condition improved two days later. Xing Ruiming worked in the hospital for 15 years, getting along well with co-workers, doctors, nurses, patients and their relatives, and led many people to accept the gospel. [2]
After leaving the hospital, the political environment changed in the People's Republic of China. In her later years, Xing Ruiming helped raise grandchildren at her children's homes, looked after her old mother, and preached the gospel to others whenever there was an opportunity. In the following decades, her children and their families faced many difficulties, but she relied on God, believed in God, and faced various trials calmly. She read the Bible and prayed every day, and gave glory to God. During the Cultural Revolution, the churches were closed, the Bible and Hymns at home were destroyed. With her extraordinary memory, she wrote down many Bible chapters and hymns. These materials not only made up for the spiritual needs at that time, but also became precious memorials for her children and grandchildren.
Before the reform and opening up of China, Chaoshan region was quite poor, and many people lacked food and clothing. Xing Ruiming lived a simple life herself and was enthusiastic to help others. She only had two sets of clothes for each season of the year. Every time her children or grandchildren bought her new clothes, she would give a set that could still be used to someone in need. She often said, "It's better to give these clothes to others while I'm still alive. After I'm gone, no one will want it." [2]
Family
Xing Ruiming's husband, Chen Dexiu, was also a teacher. They had four children, all sent to school for new cultural education.
The eldest daughter Chen Shihui (陳詩輝) worked as a teacher and principal in a school after graduating from college. Later she took an active part in the Anti-Japanese War. Like her mother, she was passionate about Christian preaching. [4]
The eldest son, Xing Shitong (邢詩統), was a student of the 27th grade of Guangzhou National Defense Medical College. After graduation, he and his wife, Liang Huici, enlisted in the army to participate in the Anti-Japanese War. At that time, they went to Burma to fight in the Chinese Expeditionary Force as military doctors, and Xing Shitong was later promoted to colonel and director of the military medical department. After returning to Jieyang from the army, Xing Shitong continued to practice medicine and worked at the County People's Hospital until his retirement.
The second daughter, Chen Shihui (陳施惠), worked as a nurse, doctor and teacher. She also loved God and people, and was enthusiastic about spreading the Christian gospel.
The younger son Chen Zhiyuan (陳志遠) was also diligent and studious. After graduating from Sun Yat-sen University, he became a college teacher and was later promoted to professorship at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. [4]
On November 23, 1990, old principal Xing Ruiming passed away at home at the age of 102, after devoting her life to Jieyang women's education and Christian evangelism. [2][5]
Anecdote
One day in the mid 1960s, Xing Ruiming, accompanied by a grandson, walked more than 5 miles from her second daughter's home to a pier on the Rongjiang River to take a ship back to the county town. There was a newspaper stand in the waiting hall of the dock, and several people were standing there reading. Xing Ruiming, who was in her late seventies, also walked over to read the news. A young man shouted impatiently, "Old lady, what are you doing here if you can't read? Besides, your eyesight is also blurry, right?" Xing Ruiming smiled and said, "Brother (an honorific term given to young men by older women in the Chaoshan region), let me read it to you." Then she read out a section of the front-page news of the day fluently, followed by a burst of applause from the audience. [lower-alpha 1]
See also
Notes
- ↑ According to the grandson’s later dictation
References
- ↑ Zhang, Li (张丽) (2016). "性别、社会与教育：清末民国的潮汕女子兴学 (Gender, Society and Education: Women's Education in the Chaoshan Region of the Late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China)". Journal of China Women's University (中华女子学院学报), 2016, No. 2.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Huang, Pingping (黄平平) (2016). 邢瑞鸣先生传略 （A brief biography of Ms. Xing Ruiming), in 真理之路 (Road to the Truth). 真理礼拜堂 (Church of the Truth), Jieyang City. pp. 26–29. Search this book on
- ↑ Rongcheng Town Local Chronicles Compilation Office (1990). 榕城镇志 (Rongcheng Town Chronicles). Jieyang: Rongcheng Town Local Chronicles Compilation Office. Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Cai, Yilong (逸龙蔡) (2021-07-07). "静远女校和一位专职女校长的往事 (The story of Jingyuan Girls' School and a full-time female principal)". 揭阳文明网 （Jieyang Civilization Network）.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Zhang, Li (丽张) (2018). "女学与社会：多重语境下的近代潮汕女子教育". Journal of Shantou University, Humanities and Social Sciences Edition (汕头大学学报 人文社会科学版), Issue 8, 2018.
- ↑ Church of the Truth (真理礼拜堂) (2016). 真理之路 (Road to the Truth). 揭阳市基督教协会 (Jieyang Christian Association). Search this book on
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