In 1943 Yan won the Copernican Citation as one of the “ten greatest revolutionaries of our time.” He was the only Asian ever to rank with such luminaries as Albert Einstein and John Dewey. In 1930, Yan devoted to training a new generation of well-informed, productive and healthy farmers in Dingxian County. His Rural Reconstruction Movement was an integrated program involving education, livelihood, public health and self-governance that targeted the interlocking problems of illiteracy, poverty, disease and civic inertia among peasants in developing countries.After 1950, he promoted Dingxian Trial in countries in Africa, Asia and South America. He devoted his life in developing popular education and rural construction, which made wide and deep influence in the world.

Since 1920, Yan devoted to popular education for more than 70 years, who was regarded as the father of world popular education. His education experience from 1920 to 1930 had become intangible treasure for Hebei Province. According to statistics in 1980s, Dingxian was the only county in Hebei Province without illiterate person. Dr. Yan taught the villagers to read and write, helped them improve their strains of cotton and breeds of pig and established a village clinic and teachers’ school for girls. He tried to improve general conditions in Dingxian through his broad education program. The rural doctor training program in 1970 and political system reformation in later 1990s were all the repetition of Yan’s Dingxian Trial.

After Kuomintang moved to Taiwan in 1949, Yan’s experience in Dingxian Trial was put into practice in Taiwan, which was an important base for local economic development.

After Yan migrated to America, he promoted Dingxian Trial in many countries in the third world nations, such as Philippine, Columbia and etc. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) finally succeeded in civil war. As Yan was Christian, he was not welcomed by CCP. Since then, Yan and his popular education movement were disappeared in Chinese mainland.

Until later 1980s, Chinese government realized the importance of Yan’s popular education theory. Some researchers majored in rural problems such as Wen Tie-jun, carried out the rural education movement and organized to found Yan Yangchu Rural Construction College and other non-governmental organizations. In Dingxian, Yan’s old house and his middle school still existed.

Honors

In 1943, Yan won the Copernican Citation as one of the “ten greatest revolutionaries of our time.”   On Nov 13, Yan was awarded the Los Angeles Honorable Citizen.   On May 2, 1967, Yan was awarded the Golden Medal by Philippine President.   On Oct 15, 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan granted him the Presidential End Hunger Award for lifetime achievement.