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A bronze statue of famous educator Cai Yuanpei(1868-1940) who liberated the Chinese education system. [Photo/shaoxing.com.cn]

Shaoxing in East China's Zhejiang province sent a bronze statue of famous educator Cai Yuanpei(1868-1940) as a gift to the National Library of China in Beijing on Nov 30.

The 1.95-meter-tall statue looks alive with a book in the left hand. It was created by Jin Guosheng, professor at Shaoxing University and made by a copper factory in Hangzhou.

Jin introduced that he studied the Cai's extraordinary life experience and tried his utmost to bring back the educator's spirits.

Shaoxing native was a Chinese educator, revolutionary and politician. He was the president of Peking University from 1916 to 1927, and the founder of Academia Sinica.

He studied philosophy, literature, aesthetics, psychology and cultural history in Germany and France, which laid a theoretical foundation for his efforts to reform feudal education.

Cai returned to China late in 1911 and became the newly formed Republic of China's Minister of Education in 1912. In 1917, he was named president of Peking University, a post he held until 1923.

Cai Yuanpei was a staunch believer in universal education at a time when Chinese scholars were mostly male. Women were admitted to Peking University as soon as he became president.

He liberated the Chinese education system from feudal shackles and introduced an aesthetic appreciation-based model that would radically transform the nation's thinking.