In the 20th century Chinese history, the Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945 is a deep national suffering for China.In this brutal war, Wuxi, its education field suffered serious damage and influence under the iron hoof of the Japanese invasion.The academic research on the Japanese invasion of China has been relatively rich in military, economic and political aspects, but the research on education and cultural history is still relatively weak.Especially on the education status of Wuxi during the war, the research results of the academic circle are not common. Japanese attacked Shanghai in August 1937, the political and economic environment of Wuxi suffered great damage.Especially in the education level, the Japanese implemented a series of aggressive policies to Wuxi with "enslavement education" as the core.These policies varied from region to region, but the purpose was to control and corrupt the Chinese people ideologically.In 1938, after the establishment of the puppet regime of the traitors in Wuxi, the education of Wuxi gradually went towards enslavement under the control of the Japanese.At that time, there were three kinds of puppet regime institutions in Wuxi: the puppet autonomous committee, the puppet Wuxi County Office and the puppet education bureau. These institutions in the process of restoring Wuxi education, although the efforts to rebuild the war-damaged education system, but in fact is under the control of the Japanese side, making education inevitably to the enslavement. Although in the fall of Wuxi education in the period of insight some weak resistance, but the enslavement of education in the management institutions, school system and social activities is still purposefully carried out and corroding the people's thoughts. This article chooses Wuxi as a case study, through combing the education policy of the puppet government of Nanjing and the local education management institutions, primary and secondary education and other aspects, aims to reflect the process of enslavement and colonization in education after the fall of Wuxi, focusing on the study of how primary and secondary education in teaching materials, teaching, activities were infiltrated, revealing the Japanese ambition to control the Chinese people in the consciousness. This study mainly adopts the literature analysis method, excavates the historical materials of the Republic of China period, such as books, newspapers and periodicals, etc., to reproduce the educational situation of Wuxi in the period of occupation. At present, the academic circles have less research on individual cities in Jiangsu during the period of occupation, and it is not meaningless to study Wuxi as a typical case.Through this study, we can deeply understand the brutal implementation of the enslavement education of the Japanese army in Wuxi, so as to better reflect on history and be vigilant for the future.Through the study of the educational situation of Wuxi during the period of occupation, we can better reflect on history, and be vigilant for the restoration tendency of Japanese militarism.At the same time, it has important vigilance and guiding significance for the education sovereignty and patriotic education today.

Competitive examinations have historically been a significant means to promote social mobility. Through the imperial examinations and college entrance examinations, numerous rural impoverished students have successfully transcended their class constraints, achieving a transformation in their social status. Influenced by the concept of social equity, competitive examinations have provided substantial support to these students. Across different historical periods of the imperial examinations and college entrance examinations, the evolution of competitive examinations has manifested in three major support aspects: institutional safeguards, policy favoritism, and resource assistance. A historical examination of the support provided by competitive examinations not only reveals the pursuit of aligning "effort—outcome" within the fairness perspective but also demonstrates the compassionate care embedded in the examination culture. Looking ahead, the support of competitive examinations for rural impoverished students should not only address the existing shortcomings but also call for increased participation from various stakeholders to collectively uphold the path of educational advancement for these students.The concept of "examination support" centers around the term "examination," specifically referring to "competitive examinations." Competitive examinations, with significant implications for social class mobility, are closely tied to individuals' life trajectories. Consequently, fairness in these examinations is highly sensitive and requires various complementary systems or measures to ensure equity. Throughout history, the educational journey of rural impoverished students has relied on the collective support of various examination support mechanisms. Even in the rigidly stratified feudal era, the imperial examination system exhibited a tendency to favor rural impoverished students. Some scholars believed that the imperial examination system was established for the sake of the less privileged, as articulated by Gu Yanwu, who stated, "When the ruler establishes the examination system to select scholars, it is meant for the less privileged. It is indeed inappropriate for the children of high-ranking officials to advance alongside them, as it would show favoritism towards them personally" (Gu Y.W.,1990). In such a value vision, both the government and the general public paid considerable attention to the success of rural impoverished students in the imperial examination. Various forms of examination support emerged to help them achieve their aspirations, and stories of "talented individuals emerging from humble backgrounds" were celebrated widely. During the imperial examination era, three types of examination support—institutional safeguards, policy favoritism, and resource assistance—were already present, although their appearance was somewhat dispersed and manifested differently in various dynasties.

After the Coleman Report I, a famous American study on educational equity, was published in 1966, its conclusion was that factors outside school, such as family, social economy and cultural background, had the most significant impact on students’ academic achievement, which led to the misunderstanding and related debates that “school is irrelevant” in promoting educational equality. In this regard, Coleman et al. explored which factors affected students’ academic achievement by comparing public and private schools, and published the Coleman Report III in 1982 as a response. From the perspective of educational research, the Coleman Report III is a revision and development of the Coleman Report I, and provides strong evidence that schools play an irreplaceable role in promoting education “equality” and “excellence”through social science empirical research. The study found that school order and discipline, academic standards, participation in academic courses, homework and attendance were effective norms; Schools actively create social capital with “public property” attributes through community construction; The rational choice of education consumers as an action principle and the interaction between education service providers, to a certain extent, make the school in promoting education “equality” and “excellence” really play an effective role. After the release of the report, some of the views of all circles have aroused strong responses, but the report puts forward some universal education laws to promote the high-quality development of school education, which has certain enlightenment for the realization of fair and quality basic education in our country.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Japan launched a full-scale aggression against China, not only carrying out autocratic rule in politics and plundering in economy, but also promoting enslavement education in an attempt to manipulate the people’s thoughts. Chinese universities carried out an arduous anti-enslavement education struggle under this background. Wuxi Sinology Specialized School, as a “Collegiate School”, takes the continuation of China’s excellent traditional culture and educational spirit as its mission. During the turbulent period of the Republic of China, it takes “rightening people’s hearts and saving people’s lives” as its pursuit, and takes the revival of Chinese culture and developing national spirit as its own responsibility, and actively fought against enslavement education. Currently, most of the studies on the struggle of anti-enslavement education focus on the struggle practice in specific areas, while there are relatively few studies from the cultural perspective. Focusing on the cultural perspective, this paper takes Wuxi Traditional Chinese Culture College as an example, through the in-depth excavation of its textbooks, commemorative books and other materials, and makes a detailed analysis of its anti-enslavement education struggle in the cultural battlefield. In terms of ideology and culture, Wuxi Sinology Specialized School starts with the educational purpose of “rightening the people’s mind and saving the people’s life”, deeply excavates the connotation of ancient Chinese civilization, and advocates and practices ancient Chinese civilization and traditional cultural concepts to shape the personality, national integrity and patriotic feelings of students in the time of national peril. In terms of curriculum setting, it pays attention to the inheritance of classics, highlights its educational characteristics of ancient Chinese civilization, and also combines the situation of the times, offering new courses such as “Anti-Japanese war historical materials”, “Ethnic literature”, “National geography” and so on. In addition, in terms of practical education, Wuxi Sinology Specialized School has always adhered to the militarization of students’ lives under the background of the war of resistance against Japan. It organized speech contests with a focus on anti-Japanese war themes, and encouraged students to donate money and supplies to support the battlefield. The spirit and practice of “cultural salvation” of Wuxi Sinology Specialized School and other universities injected strong power into the cultural education front at that time, highlighting the responsibility and social mission of Chinese higher education in the national crisis. Based on the national culture and nurturing national integrity, it is an important part of the anti-enslavement education struggle, and an important basis for rebuilding cultural identity and national identity. The anti-enslavement education struggle carried out by Chinese universities is committed to awakening the people’s national self-esteem and confidence, and improving their resistance consciousness. More importantly, this struggle also provided strong support and inspiration for the national liberation movements of various countries, and even more, provided valuable experience and lessons for the global anti-colonialism movement.