To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. In July 2003, grassroots activists founded the James Yen Institute for Rural Reconstruction in Dingzhou, the site of the MEM's activities before the war. His ashes are interred in the Memorial Garden in the IIRR World Center in Silang, with those of his wife. His experiences on the European battlefield made him reflect on his people and even all the disadvantaged ethnic groups. [5], In 1926, the MEM set up a village campaign in Ding Xian, a county some 200 miles south of Beijing. The movement has changed the outlook of Chinese rural regions by increasing the quality of life of the people there, and Y. C. James Yen or Yen Yangchu was one of the proactive leaders of this construction work. The China-raised American author Pearl Buck published a short book of interviews with Yen, Tell The People; Talks With James Yen About the Mass Education Movement . in Shanghai. Not only the salvation through Jesus Christ, the gospel includes the freedom at the moment and the beautiful promise in the future. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the New Rural Reconstruction Movement took up Yen's name and legacy to address the problems of the countryside created by the success of the globalized economy. In 1890, Yen was born into a traditional teachers' family in … 2005. The ideas and the related works that were carried out included: Foolishness: He applied arts education and mass scientific knowledge for the development of people's intelligence. James Yen, Liang Shuming and others to revive the Chinese village.They strove for a middle way, independent of the Nationalist government but in competition with the radical revolutionary approach to the village espoused by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party To peasants, he gave 'livelihood training', such as promoting improved crop varieties, preventing pests, applying scientific swine and chicken raising techniques, and keeping bees. "Before I died, God opened my eyes to the wisdom of reading the Bible." In 1943, the US remembrance committee of the 400th anniversary of Copernicus' death elected 'Great Revolutionaries who Contributed to the Modern World' and YAN was the only Chinese of the ten elected along with Dewey, the pragmatist philosopher, and Einstein, the physicist. In 1929, on the 50th anniversary of St. John's University in Shanghai, Yan was awarded an honorary degree. In the summer of 1952, Yen organized the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, which grew into the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR). Review terms of service for more information. Fort Myers, FL 33913 In 1987, then US President Reagan awarded Yen with the "End Hunger Lifetime Achievement Award" and wished him a happy 97th birthday. [8] In 1985 the Chinese government finally welcomed Yen back to China and acknowledged his immense contribution to Mass Education and Rural Reconstruction. William B. Aldis, who inspired him for the rest of his life. To change a society is to change people first and that must be done via education. In 1926, he chose Ding County in Hebei province as an APME experiment and started a vigorous construction campaign. Yen categorized Chinese rural issues into four categories: foolishness, poverty, feebleness, and selfishness. He said, 'I am a combination of Chinese culture, Western democracy, and science. Dr. James Yen is a Senior Scientific Manager within NeoGenomics’ Pharma Services division. However, the church does not walk the way in which Jesus takes. [7], In 1937 the Japanese invasion drove MEM operations first to Hunan, then to Sichuan, but Yen spent much of the war in Washington, D.C. After 1945, Yen found himself increasingly at odds with the Nationalist government’s military preoccupation; in 1948 he persuaded the American Congress to fund an independent Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, of which he became one of the Commissioners.