Hu Yuan-t'an (1872-November 1940), educator. He founded and devoted his life to the development of the Ming-te schools in Changsha.

A native of Hsiangt'an, Hunan, Hu Yuan-t'an was born into a scholar-gentry family. His grandfather, Hu Yun-fan, was magistrate of Nanhai (Namhoi), Kwangtung. His father, Hu T'ung-sheng, and his uncle, Hu Chi-men, had followed their father to Nanhai and had studied under the noted Kwangtung scholar Ch'en Feng (ECCP, I, 90). They specialized in the study of the Shih-ching and the Tzu-chih t'ungchien, and both of them wrote books on these texts. Hu Yuan-t'an's eldest brother, Hu Yuan-i, studied the Shih-ching and the Hsün-tzu, and his writings on these texts were collected by Wang Hsien-ch'ien (q.v.) and included in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh hsu-pien [Ch'ing annotations to the classics, continued]. Another brother, Hu Yuan-yu, was also a recognized scholar. Hu Yuan-t'an was the ninth son born to the family. As was common for persons of his background, Hu received his early education entirely along classical lines. He was known to be assiduous and earnest, and when modern Western ideas became known to students and scholars in his province, he became avidly interested in these new areas of knowledge. He qualified for the degree of senior licentiate. In 1903 a government scholarship enabled him to go to Japan to attend Kobun Normal College. The training he received in Japan, though brief, opened new vistas to the young scholar. One of the most eminent Japanese educators of that time was Fukuzawa Yukichi, the founder of Keio University. His educational emphasis was moral and inspirational, geared to training for strength of character. Hu Yuan-t'an, having been inculcated with Confucian precepts and ethics, was at once attracted to this significant approach to education. After returning to Changsha later in 1903, he set out at once to found the Ming-te School, with the active support of such Hunanese leaders as Lung Chan-lin and T'an Yen-k'ai (q-v.). The school consisted of a normal school for training in pedagogy and a middle school. Later, it was expanded to include a special normal class and a preparatory school. A middle-school affiliate of Ming-te was founded in Chingcheng, and the Ming-te Higher School of Commerce was established in Nanking. The Ming-te schools became comparable in fame to the Nankai school system in Tientsin, founded under the sponsorship of Yen Hsiu and Chang Po-ling (q.v.).

Although Hu himself had never been a revolutionist, the early history of Ming-te was closely associated with a number of leaders of the republican revolution of 1911, notably Huang Hsing and Chang Chi (qq.v.). Huang accepted an invitation from Hu Yuan-t'an to head the normal department, and Chang accepted an invitation to teach history. Other members of the Ming-te faculty were Su Man-shu (q.v.), a poet and writer who was later to become a Buddhist abbot, and Wang Cheng-t'ing (q.v.), a future diplomat and Kuomintang statesman. The presence of such talents in a middle school made a strong impression on the people of Hunan and its neighboring provinces.

Soon after Huang Hsing joined the Ming-te faculty, it became evident that his real purpose was to engage in clandestine revolutionary activities. Huang hatched a plot to murder the prominent leaders of the province, both Chinese and Manchu, when they assembled to celebrate the seventieth birthday anniversary of the empress dowager. The plot was discovered, and a thorough search for Huang was conducted by provincial officials. During the crisis, Huang managed to escape by taking refuge in the home of Lung Chan-lin, probably through arrangements made by Hu Yuan-t'an. Hu attempted to persuade Chang Ho-ling, then the director of educational affairs in Hunan, to be lenient with the plotters. In so doing, Hu endangered his own life. It was largely through his plea for leniency that the search for the culprits was eased. Huang Hsing and Chang Chi were allowed to escape, first to Hankow and then to Japan. In subsequent years, the valiant deed of Hu Yuan-t'an bolstered the prestige and popularity of Ming-te as the home of re"olutionary tradition in Hunan. Hu Yuan-t'an constantly sought to expand Ming-te to include a college. Following the establishment of the republic in 1912