During the two sessions meetings, the proposal of "changing teacher's day to Confucius' birthday" was jointly proposed by 53 members of the National Committee of CPPCC .

On March 7, Wang Xuedian, member of the national committee of CPPCC and executive dean of the Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies, Shandong University told The Paper that during the National Two Sessions this year, he submitted "the proposal to adjust Teacher's Day to Confucius' Birthday (September 28)" with other 52 members.

According to his analysis, generally speaking, the reason why a specific date is selected as a festival should have its significant social, historical and cultural connotations: either it is an important time node, or it is closely related to major historical events and important historical figures.

"But there is no specific historical and cultural connotation of September 10 which is not enough to reflect the importance of this day. In view of this, we propose to change the date of teachers' day from September 10 to Confucius' birthday (September 28).

The 53 CPPCC members include Chen Lai, Professor of School of Humanities, Dean of Academy of Chinese Learning, Tsinghua University; Wang Shiming, Ye Xiaowen and sun Qingju; Guo Yunde, Vice Chairman of China Federation of Literary And Art Circles; Li Wei, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Du Wei, Former President of Hangzhou Normal University; and Xu Jingkun, Vice President of Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Yang Chaoming, Dean of Chinese Confucius Research Institute, Li Yeping, Professor of Shandong Normal University, etc.

They are from different fields including the Communist Party of China, Education world, Social Sciences world, Sports world, Culture and Art world, Medicine and Health world, Religion world, Friendship with Foreign Countries world, Agriculture world, China Democratic National Construction Association, China Democratic League, China Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, All-China Youth Federation, Chinese Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, All-China Federation of Trade Unions, All-China Women's Federation, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, persons without party affiliation, specially invited persons.

In the past few years, the proposal to change teacher's day to Confucius' birthday has received many appeals and suggestions from people inside and outside the education industry.

Since 2004, Li Hanqiu, member of the national committee of CPPCC, has repeatedly called for Confucius' birthday to be regarded as teachers' day; In 2005, Zhang Liwen, a professor of Renmin University of China, submitted to the Standing Committee of National People's Congress the proposal on designating Confucius' birthday as teachers' day; In 2006, more than 50 scholars including Pang Pu and Chen Lai, lifetime professors of Shandong University, jointly issued the proposal on Confucius' birthday as teachers' day; In 2008, Ling Zi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference, proposed to change teacher's day to Confucius' birthday.

In fact, as early as 2019, the Ministry of Education replied to the proposal to change teacher's day to Confucius' birthday.

In October 2019, the Ministry of Education mentioned in its reply to "the proposal to change China's teacher's day from September 10 to the birthday of Confucius (September 28)" that the Ministry of Education attaches great importance to the proposal. The opinions and suggestions have been carefully consulted in the revision of education laws that have been carried out before, and related work has been done. Due to the statutory procedures required for the rescheduling of the Teacher’s Day, the Ministry of Education will continue to carry out relevant research, extensively listen to opinions from all quarters, actively report to the national legislature, and cooperate with relevant departments to do a good job.

"China's current teacher's day on September 10 was established by the resolution of the ninth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on January 21, 1985. September 10 has been designated as teachers' day. The main consideration is to create an atmosphere of respecting teachers and valuing education at the beginning of the school year. " Wang Xuedian said.

A survey questionnaire in 2013 showed that 75.1% of education administrators “fully agreed” or “basically agreed” that Teacher’s Day was changed to Confucius’s birthday.

"This shows that we already have a profound social foundation to make Confucius' birthday the teacher's day." Wang Xuedian puts forward four specific reasons: first, Confucius has an extremely important position in the history of world education and is the most representative symbol of education; second, as a great educator and the most representative cultural symbol of Chinese civilization, Confucius is respected by people all over the world; third, there has been a fine tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education in Chinese history, which juxtaposes "teachers" with "heaven", "Earth", "monarch" and "kinship"; fourth, setting Confucius' birthday as teacher's Day is getting more and more recognition from the cultural and educational circles and the public.

As for how to change teacher's day to Confucius' birthday, the proposal also proposes a "four step" approach.

According to Wang Xuedian, firstly, relevant departments should pay close attention to the adjustment of teacher's day, so as to respond to the long-standing concerns of the education and ideological and cultural fields as soon as possible.

Second, we should strengthen the publicity of the historical and cultural connotation of Confucius' birthday (September 28), so as to further enhance the cohesion and cultural confidence of the Chinese nation.

Third, the proposal to change the teacher's day from September 10 to Confucius' birth date (September 28) shall be submitted to the office of Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee of the CPCCC and open to the whole society for advice. On the basis of public consultation, the Teachers Law was amended to officially adjust the teacher's day from September 10 to September 28, when Confucius was born.

Fourth, it is suggested that schools at all levels should organize teachers and students to hold activities such as offering sacrifices to Confucius or reading the Analects of Confucius on September 28 (the birth day of Confucius), and take this activity as a public ceremony for young students and the whole society to strengthen national cultural identity.