Author:Wu Shao-Tung

Category：Negative(film)

Year：1946

Introduction：In 1946, students of Shanghai Dachang Town Youth Village pose with their “village father” or “village uncle” Xu Xiao-Tian (right, bearded, 1886–1946), in front of the school building.

Xu Xiao-Tian, whose given name was Jia-En, courtesy name Ze-Zhai, and art name Xiao-Tian, was a noted modern Chinese writer. At seventeen, he joined the revolutionary movement alongside Xu Xi-Lin and Qiu Jin. His literary works covered a broad range of historical themes; among his best-known writings are the serialized court novels The Thirteen Dynasties of the Qing Palace, The Twenty Dynasties of the Tang Palace, and The Sixteen Dynasties of the Ming Palace.

The Shanghai Youth Village was established in April 1946 on the grounds of Baohua Temple in Dachang, funded by the Huisheng Charity Society, and established its administrative office on Hede Road (now Changde Road) in Shanghai. It was chaired and directed by Buddhist scholar Zhao Pu-Chu (1907–2000). The school officially opened in July that year, initially providing care and education for orphans and impoverished children, later expanding to include homeless youth.

At its founding, the village had only two teachers and six students, but soon grew to sixty, aged ten to seventeen. The curriculum combined study and labor: mornings were devoted to basic academics, and afternoons to practical training in farming, animal husbandry, sewing, basket weaving, tin working, and carpentry, cultivating self-sufficiency among the students. A banner visible on the school building behind them reads, “Endure Hardship, and Nothing Will Be Difficult,” reflecting the school’s core spirit and guiding philosophy.

— Li Chia-Hua, Metedata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images, 2024

Media and Techniques：Gelatin silver print

Accession number:NCP2017-018-0058-043