I began my acquaintance with Dr. Chiang Monlin during the preparatory stage of the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction in 1948. On August 12 of that year the Executive Yuan recommended for presidential appointment Dr. Chiang, Dr. James Yen, and myself as the Chinese Commissioners of JCRR. I was then Director of the National Agricultural Research Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. On my first visit to Dr. Chiang after our appointment, we talked about the events that led up to the exchange of notes between the Chinese and American governments for the creation of JCRR and about JCRR objectives. I invited Dr. Chiang to come to the National Agricultural Research Bureau to see what we were doing. He kindly accepted my invitation and came one day in early September. There he saw many of our young men with Ph.D. and M.A. degrees doing field experiments and was very much impressed by it. He highly praised the achievements of the Bureau. This favorable first impression might have caused him to show preference for appointing high-ranking technical personnel of the Bureau to responsible positions on the JCRR staff in later years.
Dr. Raymond T. Moyer and Dr. John Earl Baker, the two American Commissioners of JCRR, arrived at Nanking towards the end of September and JCRR was formally inaugurated on October 1, 1948. The five of us chose from among ourselves Dr. Chiang to be Chairman, a position he had continued to hold until the day of his death. All through the 15 years of our association, we met each other almost daily except on holidays and when either of us was on official or sick leaves. It was a pure pleasure to see him and listen to his views on academic or practical problems, or to discuss JCRR projects and operations with him. My own life has been enriched by our intimate contacts and long association. Thinking of all this, I cannot help feeling a deep sense of loss with his passing on June 19. I shall try here briefly to summarize what I know of Dr. Chiang's interests, hopes, and achievements as a last tribute to our respected Chairman and leader.
1. From the Study of Agriculture to Work in JCRR
When Dr. Chiang first went to the United States as a student, he chose agriculture as his major field of study but later switched to education. This change was not due to youthful whim. He did it only after mature consideration. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that after having devoted 30 years of his life to education he should have given the remaining 15 years of a long career to rural reconstruction.
As he himself has pointed out, "Here I must explain why I turned to agriculture when my preparation was along literary lines. This was not a happy-go-lucky move as it might have been with many a young student; it had been carefully considered and decided upon in all seriousness. Since China was mainly agricultural, the improvement of agriculture, as I saw it, would bring happiness and prosperity to the largest number of people in China; moreover, I had always taken delight in plants and animals since my early years in the village, where farming was the main current of life.”1
Continuing the story, Dr. Chiang said, "I stayed in the college of agriculture for half a year. One of my friends had meanwhile been urging me to take up some branch of social science instead of a practical science like agriculture. He argued that though agriculture was very important, there were other studies more vital for China; unless we could solve our political and social problems in the light of modern developments in the West we could not very well solve the agricultural ones."2
Dr. Chiang tells us how the final decision was made. "Early one morning, on my way to a barn to watch the milking," he recounted, "I met a number of fresh-looking youngsters—pretty girls and lively boys—on their way to school. Suddenly an idea struck me: I am here to study how to raise animals and plants; why not study how to raise men? Instead of going to the barn I went up into the Berkeley hills and sat under an old oak tree overlooking beautiful sunlit San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate. As I gazed into the bay, thoughts on the rise and decline of the successive dynasties in China presented themselves one after another. All of a sudden I saw as if in a vision children emerging like water nymphs from the waters of the bay and asking me to give them schools. I decided to take education as my major, in the College of Social Science."3
This change from the study of agriculture to that of education reflected a corresponding change in his early thinking. It also showed us his views on the modernization of China.
He devoted the first part of his career to educational work, because he wanted to modernize China by training men and women for such a task. He engrossed himself in rural reconstruction in the latter part of his life, because he wanted to modernize China's vast hinterland, the rural districts. His purpose was consistent from beginning to end.
(File photo)
Dr. Chiang Monlin, who died in June, was one of China's outstanding educators: a former Minister of Education and for 15 years the chancellor of National Peking University. Yet since 1948, he had been the chairman of the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, an organization dedicated primarily to agriculture, and from 1958, the chairman of the Shihmen Development Commission and therefore in charge of Taiwan's largest multi-purpose water project. What led a world-famed educator into agricultural development during the last phase of his brilliant career? Dr. T. H. Shen, fellow-commissioner of Dr. Chiang from the establishment of JCRR, explains the decision and presents other facets of Dr. Chiang's personality and accomplishments in this personal reminiscence.
2. Increased Agricultural Production and Social Reform
JCRR aims at boosting agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and livestock production in order to better the livelihood of the farmers and foster economic development. Though the attainment of this objective has to depend upon the introduction of modern agricultural sciences and techniques and on experimentation, research, and extension, a far more important factor is the will of the farmers to produce more. In other words, the farmers must be interested in increasing the productivity of their lands. They can be so interested only if they know beforehand that whatever additional incomes they can obtain will be used to better their own livelihood. Hence rural social reform must go hand in hand with efforts to increase production. It is the essence of social reform to bring about what Dr. Chiang has called "social justice" or "fair distribution". Only when there is social justice or fair distribution can the fruits of production be enjoyed by the producer themselves thus encouraging them to produce still more.
Being a Commission, JCRR makes its decisions by open discussion and agreement among the five Commissioners. At the beginning we spent two full' months in threshing out the most suitable methods to be adopted for rural reconstruction in China. Dr. James Yen, who was an advocate of mass education, proposed to begin with the education of the masses and then go on from there to develop the rural economy. But Dr. Chiang and I were in favor, as a first step, of boosting the production of the more important crops and removing some of the main obstacles that had been hindering production, such as the irrational system of land tenure, in, order to meet the urgent needs of the country.
As Dr. Moyer and I are students of agriculture, both of us were more interested in raising the level of production. But Dr. Chiang's interests were in social reforms such as land reform and the reorganization of farmers', fishermen's, and irrigation associations as well as 4-H club training and the population question, questions which came much later. Each of us thus concentrated his efforts on some particular aspect of rural reconstruction and all of us pulled together as a team. This fine example of cooperation through internal division of labor has made it possible for JCRR to achieve some degree of success in all the things it has undertaken to do.
Dr. Chiang was gifted with keen insight and penetrating views. This was only natural, as he was thoroughly conversant with Chinese and Western histories and cultures. Following his appeal to the public to face up to the realities of the population explosion in Taiwan in 1959, an expanded planned parenthood program was carried out by the Rural Health Division of JCRR and has since made much headway. He also called upon the people to pay more attention to the protection of our forestry resources in 1952.4 Thereafter, JCRR made annual grants for reforestation. Many other JCRR projects were promoted under Dr. Chiang's leadership.
3. The Democratic Spirit and Scientific Technology
Having been profoundly influenced by Western culture, Dr. Chiang had devoted his whole life to the modernization of China. This was also the spirit he had infused into all his work in JCRR. By modernization is meant the transformation of China into a democratic and prosperous nation, a task which requires modern science and technology.
Dr. Chiang always deferred to the opinions of experts. In talking with JCRR colleagues, he invariably referred to himself as a layman and would always ask for advice on scientific and technical problems from members of the JCRR technical staff. He was an equally good listener and could grasp the most essential points of any question under discussion.
In the past, the various kinds of farmers' organizations had been under the control of non-farmers. But since the successful implementation of land reform in 1953, the economic condition of the farmers has been greatly improved and their cultural level raised. Inconsequence, their aspirations for a still better life became stronger than ever. Specifically, they wanted to have a still bigger voice in matters which intimately concern themselves.
In response to these praiseworthy aspirations, JCRR assisted the government in reorganizing the farmers', fishermen's, and irrigation associations. Dr. Chiang would often personally attend the more important meetings at which policy decisions on the reorganization of farmers' organizations were to be made. As is well known, the beneficent results of such reorganization have been felt by all farmers and fishermen in Taiwan. Most of the rural people now know something about parliamentary rules and take part in debates in large or small gatherings freely to express their views on rural problems. This may be regarded as the mainspring from which has come rural progress on this island.
The 4H clubs which Dr. Chiang had done much to promote have successfully trained nearly 300,000 rural youths, who are thus able not only to get acquainted with useful techniques of production but also to become useful citizens. The home economic course, which formed part of our agricultural extension program, has brought about the modernization of rural women. All these will have far-reaching effects on the villages of Taiwan.
Dr. Chiang was basically an eclectic. He regarded himself as a cultural amalgam of East and West. He was fond of saying that he took his stand as a Confucianist treated other people around him as a Taoist, and acted like a "foreign devil" (i.e., in the spirit of Western science). This is in consonance with the description of Chinese liberals as given in an article in Fortune magazine.5
4. Lao-tzu, Kung-tzu, and Yang Kwei-tzu
Dr. Chiang had steeped himself in the Confucian classics in his youth. He was the very embodiment of the Confucian virtues of gentleness, goodness, civility, moderation, and humility, and retained a sort of childish innocence all through his life. Like a good Confucianist that he was, he was ever solicitous for the welfare of his country and its people. All his best thoughts, writings, and actions were dictated by this simple idea. Like other Confucianists, he took upon himself the responsibility of watching over the well-being of the entire nation.
He used to say, "We often speak of loyalty and reciprocity in the same breath, but reciprocity is really much more difficult to practice than loyalty. We may have seen cases in which a person noted for loyalty is surprisingly deficient in reciprocity. One who is too strict with himself may also be too strict with other people. We tend to forget that in human association and social life what is required is not only loyalty but also reciprocity. Where can we acquire the virtues of loyalty and reciprocity? We acquire them through study and learning. That was why Confucius was never tired of learning, nor of teaching.6 Dr. Chiang was ever learning and teaching all his life. It was evidence of the Confucian spirit in him.
Dr. Chiang was fond of quoting Lao- tzu's aphorisms:
Produce but do not be acquisitive;
Act but do not be presumptuous;
Having succeeded, do not vaunt your success.
These maxims sum up in a nutshell Dr. Chiang's philosophy of life. He was heart and soul for the Taoist doctrine of naturalism and inaction. He highly commended the Taoist practice of setting up the heavenly ways as standards for human conduct.7 He agreed with the Taoist philosophy of action through inaction. His conception of inaction partook of the nature of non-interference of laissez faire. Applying this tenet to the administration of JCRR, he allowed all chiefs of our technical divisions complete freedom of action in matters coming under their own jurisdiction and would never try to intervene. This attitude of letting it alone stemmed partly from his belief in inaction and partly from his respect for expert views.
A stout champion of science for several decades, Dr. Chiang carried the scientific spirit into every field of activity—in his studies as well as in his office work. He laid special emphasis on intellectual honesty, which required that one be honest enough to confess one's ignorance in matters falling outside one's competence. In the same spirit, he would welcome any JCRR colleague to discuss with him questions on which they might hold different views. If he could be shown the reasonableness of an argument, he would be immediately convinced. He was, in a word, animated by a spirit of searching for the truth, or the scientific spirit.
5. Dr. Chiang's Hopes for JCRR
Though JCRR is a cooperative enterprise, Dr. Chiang had given of his best and devoted his whole time and energy to its work during the last 15 years of his life. But he had one unrealized hope and one unfinished task.
Before his last illness, Dr. Chiang had entertained a fond hope, that of creating for JCRR endowment fund which would, according to him, come partly from the outstanding JCRR loans and partly from the counterpart fund generated by the sale of U.S. aid commodities. Such a fund, if created, would enable JCRR to carryon its useful work after the phasing out of U.S. aid by the end of June, 1965. He was wholeheartedly dedicated to JCRR and thought of it as a meaningful setup that had made significant contributions to rural reconstruction in China. He was afraid that the technical personnel recruited by JCRR over the years would each go his own way after JCRR's dissolution. "As soon as they are disbanded," he used to say, "it would be impossible ever to assemble them again." Though he was aging and lay on the sick bed in the last couple of months of his life, he still wanted to see the realization of his dream, that of creating an endowment fund for JCRR.
Dr. Chiang was equally sorry that he could not live long enough to see the liberation of the Chinese mainland. He was deeply convinced that with the experience gained by JCRR we could solve the agrarian problem on the mainland once it was liberated from the Communist tyranny. He had once pledged that when we went back to the mainland, he would be ready to devote ten more years of his life to rural reconstruction there. "In case I am too old to walk then," he joked, "please carry me about in a chair."
In coordination with the Chinese Government's 10-year economic development objectives and its fourth Four-Year Economic Development Plan, JCRR has been drawing up a long-range agricultural development project further to develop and utilize our agricultural resources so that there may be plenty of food and other farm products for export and raw materials for industrial use. This project is closely related to the proposed endowment fund for JCRR. Unfortunately, however, just as the matter was being discussed between the Chinese and American governments, Dr. Chiang was called away from us on June 19. In our grief over his lamented death, we feel that a new burden has fallen on our shoulders, and must redouble our efforts to finish the unfinished business Dr. Chiang has bequeathed to us.
1 Tides from the West, pp. 70-71.
2 Tides from the West, p. 72.
3 Tides from the West, pp. 72-73.
4 Meng Lin Wen Tsuen (Selected Works of Chiang Monlin), p. 162.
5 "The Chinese liberals have a saying that whatever they have accomplished on Formosa results from the combining of three schools of thought: the school of Lao-tzu, the school of Kung-tze (Confucius), and the school of Yang Kwei-tzu, meaning the 'foreign devils.'"—Fortune magazine, June 1959, p. 228.
6 Meng Lin Wen Tsuen, p. 65
7 Meng Lin Wen Tsuen, p. 11.