Remembering Tsai Yuan Pei (蔡元培) on Chung Yeung (重陽)

Today is another Chung Yeung Festival.  As usual, I went to pay my respects to Tsai Yuan Pei when I joined my relatives to “sweep the grave” of my grandparents at Aberdeen Cemetery.  

He was, of course, president of Peking University at the time of the May 4 Movement.  He was supportive of the students when they protest against the government’s weak response to the Treat of Versailles at the end of the First World War.  He actually resigned from his presidency in protest when the student leaders were arrested.  

Beyond that, he worked hard to develop a modern education system for China.  He died in Hong Kong in 1940 at the age of 72.  He remains one of the most respected educators.  

From the cemetery, you can get very views of the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter, Ap Lei Chau, and beyond.  

Grave sweeping, at Ching Ming and Chung Yeung, remain one of the most treasured customs of the Chinese culture.