Rooted in Hetao Land, Safeguarding a Happy Childhood
By admin | 未知 Updated: 2026-10-24 19:47
The 2026 Symposium on the New Education Initiative Successfully Held in Linhe, Inner Mongolia
The Yellow River winds onward, and the Yin Mountains stand towering. From July 11 to 12, the 2026 Symposium on the New Education Initiative, hosted by the New Education Branch of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies, grandly opened in Linhe District, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Centered on the theme “Let a Happy and Complete Childhood Unfold”, this symposium carried out in-depth discussions on children’s education. It gathered nearly one thousand peers of the New Education Initiative from across the country, with more than 600,000 people watching the live stream online, to reflect together on the 26 years of dedicated exploration of the New Education Initiative.
Zhu Yongxin, President of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies; Sun Junqing, Vice Chairperson of the People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Chairperson of the Inner Mongolia Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy; He Weihua, Secretary of the Bayannur Municipal Party Committee; Chen Luo, Executive Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies; Zhao Junling, Deputy Secretary of the Bayannur Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Linhe District Party Committee; Cheng Jieming, former Vice President of the University of Hong Kong; Yan Wenfan, Tenured Professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston; Xu Xinhai, Chairperson of the New Education Branch of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies; Lu Zhiwen, Li Zhenxi and Yan Wenfan, Honorary Presidents of the Suzhou New Education Research Institute; Zhang Rongwei, President of the Suzhou New Education Research Institute, and Chen Dongqiang, Executive Vice President of the Institute, attended the symposium. Together with education administrators, school principals and frontline teachers from different regions, they explored optimal pathways for the development of preschool education in the new era.
The opening ceremony on the morning of July 11 was presided over by Lu Zhiwen, Vice President of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies. Zhao Junling extended a warm welcome to New Education practitioners nationwide. He noted that in recent years, the Party committees and governments at municipal and district levels have prioritized education as the paramount livelihood project, giving priority guarantees to education in layout planning, financial investment and infrastructure upgrading, continuously launching training programs to boost principals’ capacity, and steadily lifting the overall quality of teaching and education. He remarked that a great era calls for profound educational thought, people’s educators who integrate knowledge with action, and pragmatic educational reforms. Linhe District has thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on education, firmly upheld the correct political orientation for school running, and developed a region-specific perse education model led by scholarly campus development.
Chen Luo, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies, traced the inherent connection between Mr. Tao Xingzhi’s Life Education Theory and the educational philosophy of the New Education Initiative. He stated that to let a happy and complete childhood unfold, we must uphold the child-centered stance and inherit Mr. Tao Xingzhi’s original aspiration of putting children at the center; embrace digital intelligence empowerment to explore new paths for high-quality preschool education; and consolidate the foundation of early enlightenment by embedding moral education into all aspects of early childhood education.
Following the opening ceremony, Wang Sheng, Party Secretary and Director of the Linhe District Education Bureau, delivered a report on the regional outcomes of the New Education Initiative. Taking seven ecological dimensions — mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts — as the framework, he presented a full picture of how Linhe has built an ecological New Education system. He pledged that all New Education practitioners in Linhe would live up to this land and the great era, so that every young seed may grow toward the sun amid mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts. Thereafter, frontline teachers and students from Linhe shared eight life narratives, covering early childhood enlightenment in kindergartens, classroom transformation, arts-based education, teacher development and home-school collaboration. Through authentic and vivid life stories, they showcased the warm power of the New Education Initiative taking root in local soil and nurturing lives.
Professor Zhu Yongxin delivered a keynote address. He affirmed the value of Linhe’s eight-year all-region implementation of the New Education Initiative, explained why this symposium focuses on early childhood education, and proposed that in building an education powerhouse for the future, we must safeguard childhood, empower teachers and stay rooted at the grassroots. He put forward three proposals for the road ahead: respect children’s authentic and free growth rhythm; recognize the professional value of preschool teachers and secure their well-being; and view AI rationally, harness technology with humanistic care rather than letting it replace the warm human connections that lie at the heart of education. He emphasized that high-quality preschool education forms the foundation of building an education powerhouse, and New Education practitioners must return to educational sites and preserve the authenticity of childhood.
On the afternoon of July 11, all participants visited 12 primary, secondary schools and kindergartens across Linhe for on-site observation, witnessing the tangible outcomes of New Education practices on local campuses. At the observation sites, participants stepped into classrooms, student clubs and reading spaces to inspect the progress of scholarly campus construction, ideal classroom development, arts and sports literacy cultivation and other initiatives. They engaged in face-to-face exchanges with teachers and students on the ground, gained insights into Linhe’s exploration of advancing the New Education Initiative across the whole region, and experienced the vibrant changes brought by New Education ideas to regional education.
On the evening of July 11, six parallel workshops were held, featuring case narratives, expert guidance, interactive discussions and aesthetic education performances for in-depth research on key preschool education topics. A forum for regional leads of the New Education Initiative also took place. Regional leads from different areas exchanged insights, sorted practical experience in rolling out the New Education Initiative locally, and discussed opportunities and challenges facing regional New Education development, building consensus and charting directions for deeper implementation.
The professional guidance session on the morning of July 12 was hosted by Li Zhenxi. Representatives from ten institutions took the stage in sequence: Shi Jianbin from the Education and Sports Bureau of Haimen District, Nantong; Liu Xiaoli from the Second County Kindergarten in Linyi County; Zhu Jierong from Jiangnan Kindergarten, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou; Shi Yanlai from Qijin Group Education Research Institute; Shao Min from the Kindergarten Affiliated to the No.2 Primary School of Nantong Normal University; Gao Yanqin and Li Yan from the Second Kindergarten of Linhe District, Bayannur; Chen Tiemei from the New Arts Education Research Center of the New Education Research Institute; Wang Miaomiao from Dafeng Experimental Kindergarten, Yancheng; Liu Xiaoming from Zhenyuan School in Kaifeng; and Wang Zhengxian from Sanyuan District Experimental Kindergarten, Sanming. They shared distinctive local practices of New Education for early childhood education covering perse themes including regional New Education advancement, game-based kindergarten curricula, children’s reading, K–12 integrated education, Chinese character aesthetic education and breathing classrooms. Their presentations spanned public kindergartens, private education groups, urban and rural schools, demonstrating how the New Education Initiative has taken root and grown in the Jiangnan region, the Central Plains and northern frontier areas such as Inner Mongolia. These narrative presentations were selected nationwide and polished through several rounds of expert review, delivering replicable and learnable real cases for attendees.
After the sharing session, Professor Yan Wenfan delivered professional comments and a thematic report drawing on global trends in preschool education. With an international academic vision, he examined the local value of New Education practices and put forward forward-looking suggestions on child development, teacher growth and curriculum construction, bringing cross-cultural educational reflections to the audience.
Zhang Rongwei, President of the Suzhou New Education Research Institute, presided over the subsequent sessions.
Xu Xinhai, Chairperson of the New Education Branch of the Chinese Society for Taoxingzhi Studies, released the 2026 Annual Report on the New Education Initiative and read out the Linhe Declaration. The report systematically reviewed years of theoretical accumulation and nationwide implementation of early childhood education within the New Education Initiative. The Linhe Declaration embodies the shared consensus of all New Education practitioners and sets the action framework of “rooted in local soil, safeguarding childhood and facing the future”, serving as the guiding document for the New Education Initiative in its new phase.
At the conference, eight new regions and twenty-three schools joining the New Education Initiative in 2026 were announced. Chen Dongqiang, Executive Vice President of the Suzhou New Education Research Institute, signed cooperation agreements with representatives of these new regions and schools. With the addition of these members, the New Education community keeps expanding, enabling more teachers and students to embrace the educational vision of “a happy and complete educational life”.
Toward the close of the conference, a video unveiled that Bao’an District, Shenzhen, would host the 2027 Symposium on the New Education Initiative. Wang Xiaoyan, Deputy District Chief of the Linhe District People’s Government and representative of the 2026 host, handed over the conference flag to Huang Xiaorong, Deputy Director of the Education Bureau of Bao’an District, Shenzhen, the 2027 host. Lu Zhiwen witnessed the handover. On behalf of Bao’an education, Huang Xiaorong extended an invitation to all New Education peers to gather next year, expecting to deliver another high-quality educational event leveraging the educational strengths of the Greater Bay Area.
President Zhang Rongwei delivered the closing summary. He reviewed the fruitful outcomes of this symposium, expressed sincere gratitude to the Party committees, governments at all levels in Inner Mongolia, Bayannur City and Linhe District, as well as all New Education practitioners in Linhe for their full support and hard work. He called on all participants to return to their campuses with the ecological education experience from Linhe, continue to devote themselves to frontline work, protect children’s growth, and fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education with concrete actions. Zhang Rongwei then formally declared the 2026 Symposium on the New Education Initiative closed.
Grounded in local Hetao practices in northern Inner Mongolia and centered on core preschool education issues, this symposium integrated theoretical discussions, regional achievement showcases, frontline narratives, expert guidance, annual releases and school site visits. It marked a comprehensive display of Linhe’s eight-year all-region New Education outcomes, as well as an annual intellectual gathering for New Education practitioners nationwide to exchange ideas and build consensus. Over 26 years, the New Education Initiative has spread like wildfire across thousands of schools nationwide. Going forward, guided by the Linhe Declaration, all New Education practitioners will keep exploring pathways for balanced county-level education and improved preschool education, marching toward a broader and warmer educational future.