Nantong, the hometown of education, has many schools. At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of pioneers of early modernization, represented by Zhang Jian, adhered to the concept of "father teaches, mother works" and founded Nantong's first independent normal school, deaf-mute school, textile school, agricultural school, drama school and many other schools with modern significance, which made Nantong stand out as a "model county" and was praised as an "ideal cultural city" by foreign friends.