From Hunan to France: The Starting Place in Hunan

第一部分：湖南出发的地方

The Starting Place in Hunan

清晨，长沙市新民路，三五成群的学生，一边啃着包子一边嬉戏着走进新民小学。在车水马龙之中的新民学会旧址显得有些孤寂。

In the morning, several students walked around in small huddles to Xinmin Primary School across the Xinmin Road in Changsha City. They ate steamed stuffed buns and had fun, while the Xinmin lnstitute looked a little lonely around the heavy traffic.

然而，众所周知，这里也曾热闹过，毛泽东、蔡和森等一批热血青年汇聚在此，共同商讨拯救国家民族的新途径。他们当中，有一部分湖湘好儿女不惜远渡重洋，赴法国勤工俭学。

However, as far as we know, it was a busy place more than nine decades ago. Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen and a group of passionate youthes got together here, and they discussed how to save China in new ways. Among them, some Hunan young people had overcome various difficulties to arrive in France and study there.

“他们在这里探讨救国救民的道理，有时露宿在旁边的坟山上，畅谈通宵，有时露宿在岳麓山的爱晚亭。”长沙市近现代文物保护管理中心主任唐德强介绍，在中华民族的危急关头，新民学会的会员个个都怀揣着豪情壮志。不虚伪、不懒惰、不浪费、不赌博、不狎妓是新民学会的五条纪律。

“They studied and searched the truth of salvaging the country here, sometimes they slept next to the cemetery or at Aiwan Paviliono in Yuelu Mountain, by talking and discussing it all night.”Tang Deqiang introduced that the students from Xinmin Institute who wanted to revive the China.“No hypocrisies, no laziness, no wasting, no gambling and no whoring”were five disciplines in Xinmin lnstitute.

由于受俄国十月革命的影响和五四运动的推动，新民学会会员渴望从西方寻找救国救民真理的呼声越来越高。1919年3月17日，全国第一批留法勤工俭学学生89人启程出发，其中，湖南学生43人（新民学会会员3人）。

Influenced by the October Revolution of Russia and the May 4th Movement in 1919, the members of Xinmin Institute had a strong desire to search for the right way to save the nation from the thoughts of the West. On March 17 of 1919 , the first batch of students,89 persons, set off from China to study in France. Among them, there were 43 Hunan students, three of them came from Xinmin Institute.

湖南长沙的湘江是旅法勤工俭学历史上的一个重要起点。许多旅法勤工俭学学生从长沙的湘江乘船出省，转道赴北京、上海，参加旅法勤工俭学。毛泽东和何叔衡也是从湘江轮渡码头登船赴上海，参加中国共产党第一次全国代表大会。

Xiangjiang River in Hunan Province was an important starting point in the history of Work-Study program in France. A lot of work-study students started their journey from Xiangjiang River by ship to Beijing or Shanghai. Moreover, Mao Zedong and He Shuheng also started their trip by ship in Xiangjiang River for attending the 1st National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

据统计，从1919年初到1920年底，全国赴法勤工俭学的人员有1600余人，其中湖南青年346人，仅次于四川378人。而新民学会78名会员中去法国的有蔡和森、萧子升、张昆弟、李维汉、萧三、欧阳泽、向警予、蔡畅等19人。

According to the statistics,from 1919 to the end of 1920, more than 1600 students took part in the work-study program in France, and Hunan,the second large province having 346 youthes for the project, was less than 378 persons of Sichuan Province. During this period, 19 youthes went to France including Cai hesen，Xiao Zisheng, Zhang Kundi, Li Weihan, Xiao San, Ouyang Ze, Xiang Jingyu，Caichang, et al.from the complete 78 members of Xinmin Institute.

当年，他们从湘江出发，乘船到达上海黄埔港，再乘坐法国邮轮横渡东海、南海，经过马六甲海峡，进入印度洋，再过地中海抵达法国。

In those years,they took boats from the Xiangjiang River to Shanghai Huangpu Port, and then they took the French cruise across the East China Sea, South China Sea, through the Strait of Malacca into theIndian Ocean. They reached the Mediterranean Sea and finally arrived in France.

今天我们也从长沙出发，但是不再需要乘船。中国的崛起与世界的繁荣带来了更快和更便捷的交通方式——高铁和飞机。

Today we started in Changsha City by airlines and high-speed rails due to the faster and more convenient transportation development of China and the world.