Xu Teli (; February 1, 1877 – November 28, 1968) was a politician of the People's Republic of China. Xu was the teacher of Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng, and Tian Han. Xu was a member of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Biography Xu was born Xu Maoxun () in Changsha County, Changsha, Hunan on February 1, 1877, during the Qing Dynasty. At the age of four, his mother died. In 1885, by age nine, Xu was sent to school. At age eighteen, Xu set up a private school and taught there. In 1905, Xu attended the imperial examination when he was twenty-eight. After graduation, he became a teacher at Changsha Zhounan Girls' School. In 1907, Xu made a report on current affairs in the school, when he talked about the humiliating things of the corrupt government of Qing Empire, large tears began to fill his eyes and broke hot across his cheeks, Xu was indignation that he cut his little finger off with a kitchen knife, and wrote a protest with a pen dipped in the blood, fainted on the spot. In 1911, Xu took part in the Xinhai Revolution and Hunan Uprising. In 1912, Xu founded the Changsha County Normal School (currently Changsha Normal University). In 1919, Xu studied natural sciences at the University of Paris, he also visited Belgium and Germany. In this trip Xu observed modern European societies and cultures for the first time. In June 1924, Xu returned to Changsha, he founded the Changsha Women's Normal School and served as the President there. At that time, Xu also taught at Hunan First Normal University. In 1927, during the White Terror, Xu joined the Chinese Communist Party and took part in the Nanchang Uprising. In 1928, Xu was sent to Moscow Sun Yat-sen University to study at the expense of the government. In 1930, Xu returned to Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet, he was appointed as the Minister of Education of the Chinese Soviet Republic, a position he held until September 1937. In 1934, Xu took part in the Long March. In 1940, Xu worked as the President of Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences. When he was in Yan'an, he and Dong Biwu, Lin Boqu, Wu Yuzhang, and Xie Juezai were called the Yan'an Five Seniors (). After the founding of the Communist State,