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Chinese Education 
 
 from 
 
 The Western Viewpoint 
 
 By 
 
 YEN SUN HO 
 
 M. A. NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 
 
 RAND McNALLY & COMPANY 
 CHICAGO NEW YORK 
 
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 Copyright, igij, by 
 Rand, McNally & Company 
 
 ©CI.A850333 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Introductory Note 5 
 
 11. Education before the Chow Dynasty 9 
 
 III. Education during the Chow Dynasty 14 
 
 IV. The Appointment System . . .29 
 
 V. The Examination System . . -34 
 
 VI. New Chinese Education .... 42 
 
 VII. Educational Changes under the 
 
 RepubHcan Regime .... 69 
 
 VIII. Final Considerations 75 
 
 Bibliography 90 
 
I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 T^HE following pages contain a general 
 survey of the educational develop- 
 ment of China up to the present time. 
 This is, as far as the writer's knowledge 
 goes, a pioneer work and, as such, 
 contains probably many errors. He has 
 tried, however, to be accurate through- 
 out in the selection of material and the 
 translation of original sources. 
 
 The occidental students of educational 
 history generally have a hazy and in- 
 adequate idea of what the term " Chinese 
 education'* really connotes. Some speak 
 of the examination system, which forms 
 but a link in the whole chain of the 
 educational development of China, as 
 though it constituted the whole history 
 of Chinese education. While it is true 
 that old Chinese education since the 
 founding of the Appointment System 
 
6 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 had been of a humanistic type, it does 
 not follow, as Professor Monroe dogmat- 
 ically asserts, that Chinese literature 
 is so inferior to the occidental classical 
 literature that "when the general results 
 upon intellectual life and social develop- 
 ment are considered, there is little basis 
 for comparison."^ If Chinese literature 
 has not produced great results upon 
 social and intellectual life, it has been 
 due not to its lack of content-value 
 but to the emphasis laid upon its formal 
 side. To look for real Chinese literature 
 under the old system of education would 
 be like the attempt to discover the 
 real Aristotle in the period of scholasti- 
 cism in European history. Monroe also 
 states, in reference to the content of 
 Chinese education, that in studying the 
 teachings of Chinese literature "the 
 principle is seldom discovered on account 
 of the precepts." 2 He would reduce 
 
 1 Monroe, Paul. History of Education, p. 43. 
 ^ Ihid., p. 20. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 7 
 
 the literature of China to a mere body 
 of recipes and prescriptions. In support 
 of his assertions, he cites a few passages 
 from Li Ki, one of the thirteen classics, 
 but does not seem to know that the book 
 he quotes from is especially intended 
 to be a book of "Don'ts." One is not 
 justified in making a generalization out 
 of a single instance. 
 
 I have no intention to engage in a 
 polemic against Professor Monroe, but 
 wish to point out the fact that the 
 aim and content of old Chinese education 
 has not been taken at its true value 
 In this paper I have endeavored to take 
 an objective attitude toward the sub- 
 ject and to reduce the personal element 
 to a minimum. Some errors, I hope, 
 may be thus avoided. 
 
 The old education, too antiquated 
 and defective to meet the needs of the 
 modem man, has been discarded once 
 for all, and in the effort to reorganize 
 her educational system, China has much 
 
8 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 to learn from the Occident. It is for this 
 reason that the whole subject has been 
 treated from the western viewpoint, that 
 is, with the view to discovering points of 
 resemblance and contrast between occi- 
 dental and Chinese education. 
 
II 
 
 EDUCATION BEFORE THE CHOW 
 DYNASTY 
 
 (2357-1 122 B.C.) 
 
 TDEFORE the time of Confucius (552- 
 449 B.C.) the wisdom of Chinese 
 antiquity had built up settled principles 
 as to education, and these settled prin- 
 ciples had been handed down from 
 generation to generation for hundreds 
 of years, taught by father to son, and 
 regarded as the highest wisdom. 
 
 The substance of these principles was 
 that virtue is built up not so much 
 through good statutes as by means of 
 right customs and pious habits. Here 
 imitation plays an important role. The 
 ancients in China said that men naturally 
 and unconsciously mold their lives accord- 
 ing to the models they admire. A 
 state is in a bad condition when it has 
 to resort to legal enactments to hold 
 
lo CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 back vice and crime. They said that 
 wise magistrates would not post up long 
 proclamations and elaborate decrees in 
 public places, but would rather see to it 
 that the people have a love for justice 
 and that honesty is firmly rooted in 
 their minds. Natural sentiments are 
 exalted above legal restraints. It is 
 ineffective to try to reform a people by 
 hedging them about with burdensome 
 police regulations. Laws were in danger 
 of degenerating into mere dead letters 
 unless the people, for the control of 
 I whom they are designed, have been 
 I properly trained and bred to a strict 
 ' obedience and respect thereto. 
 
 With these preliminary remarks, the 
 aim of Chinese education in this period 
 becomes obvious. Briefly stated, it was 
 to give the people such training and 
 discipline, both by word of mouth and 
 by living examples, as to enable them 
 to live the right kind of life and to be 
 good citizens. Education was regarded 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT ii 
 
 as the least expensive but the most 
 effective means of social control. This 
 aim is, to be sure, a narrow one. But 
 that it was understood in that remote 
 age is a significant fact. May we not 
 regard it as an adimibration of the 
 truth embodied in the modem systems 
 of national education, which was first 
 perceived in the Occident by a few 
 great minds, as, for example, "the 
 Early American settlers, who feared 
 lest good learning should be buried in 
 the graves of their fathers, and who 
 held a simple faith in the divine efficacy 
 of education with the same earnestness 
 that they cherished their religion; and 
 Luther who held it the first duty of 
 citizens to educate their children; Knox, 
 too, the father of Scotch education; 
 and Mulcaster, the great English school- 
 master."^ 
 
 The curriculum was determined by 
 this practical and ethical aim. History 
 
 1 Hughes, R. E. The Making oj Citizens, p. 3. 
 
 /I 
 
12 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 records that the Emperor Shun (2357- 
 2206 B.C.) appointed Chi Minister of 
 Teaching to superintend the teaching 
 of what ought to be translated as the 
 *'Five Humanities."^ These are the 
 ethical principles that should govern five 
 relations in old Chinese society, namely, 
 those between father and son, king and 
 subject, husband and wife, old and 
 young, and friend and friend. These 
 relations are respectively love, righteous- 
 ness, attention to their honors, respect, 
 and sincerity. The idea was that with 
 these principles inculcated in the minds of 
 the people, social stability was secured. 
 As to the organization of the schools, 
 we have no sufficient data to enable us 
 to arrive at any definite conclusion. 
 Education was yet in its rudimentary 
 stage. The name for the common school 
 during the Hsia Dynasty (2205-1766 
 B.C.) was Si Haii, which was later 
 changed to Tso Hsioh in the Yin Dynasty 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Chinese Four Books. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 13 
 
 (1766-1122 B.c.).^ This brief survey pre- 
 pares us for a study of the education in 
 the next period, the Chow Dynasty. 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Ancient History or Shu Classic. 
 
Ill 
 
 EDUCATION DURING THE CHOW 
 DYNASTY 
 
 (1122-249 B.C.) 
 
 Tyl7E ARE now entering upon a period 
 which the Chinese regard as the 
 Golden Age in their history. It was 
 marked by great changes in the various 
 departments of life. Great advance 
 was made in different directions, in 
 science, education, philosophy, and the 
 like. Indeed, it was in that age that 
 Chinese culture reached the highest 
 development that it has ever attained: 
 hence the constant reference to the 
 Chow Dynasty in the writings of Chinese 
 writers. Here our interest is limited to 
 the educational aspect. The education 
 in this period has never been touched 
 upon by foreign writers on Chinese 
 education, not even by Professor Monroe 
 in his History of Education. Hence it is 
 
 14 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 15 
 
 with the view of supplying this deficiency 
 that this chapter is written. 
 
 Ai7n. The aim of education in this 
 period was, as might be expected, a 
 further development of that in the 
 preceding one. It was still social and 
 ethical, but its broad and much more 
 liberal character admits of a variety 
 of subjects of instruction of which the 
 preceding period had not the remotest 
 hint. Confucius speaks of this period 
 as an age of refinement a-nd culture.^ 
 It was really the Periclean Age in Chinese 
 history. It might be said that here we 
 have the first attempt made to secure 
 what is now known as a liberal education, 
 as we shall see when we turn to consider 
 the content. 
 
 Content, The curriculum of the lower 
 schools consisted of reading, music, poetry, 
 calisthenics, and ethical training, while 
 that of schools of a higher grade (cor- 
 responding to the present-day colleges) 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Chinese Four Books. 
 
i6 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 embraced what may be called the "Six 
 Liberal Arts." They were (i) the five 
 ceremonies, (2) the six kinds of music, 
 (3) the five kinds of archery, (4) the 
 five kinds of chariot driving, (5) the six 
 kinds of writing, and (6) the nine kinds 
 of mathematics.^ Here the content of 
 education reminds one of the Trivium 
 and the Quadrivium, or of ''the rudi- 
 ments of love, of war, and of religion" 
 which formed the educational ideal in 
 the age of chivalry. It was a com- 
 bination of the Spartan and Athenian 
 ideals, intellectual and aesthetic elements 
 mingled with a considerable amount of 
 military and physical training. How- 
 ever far short of the ideal this may fall, 
 it can hardly be gainsaid that here we 
 have a manifest endeavor to secure an 
 harmonious and symmetrical develop- 
 ment of body and mind, so characteristic 
 of the Athenian education. Moreover, 
 we find here a dim realization of the 
 
 1 Chou Li, one of the thirteen classics. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 17 
 
 fact that education must be brought 
 close to Hfe, and conceived as a training 
 for the activities of everyday life. 
 
 One will appreciate this educational 
 ideal all the more when he comes 
 to consider the succeeding periods of 
 Chinese education, where, as we shall 
 see later, education becomes a rigid, 
 cast-iron system of mere intellectual 
 training or discipline to the utter neglect 
 of the physical aspect of instruction. 
 
 The organization of the schools was 
 quite akin to the township plan so 
 ardently desired by the veteran educators 
 in the United States of America. The area 
 of the unit was about thirty-three square 
 miles; about the same as the township in 
 America, covering an area of thirty-six 
 square miles. The principle of subdivision 
 within this basic unit was determined by 
 the number of families.^ There were 
 usually different kinds of schools in each 
 unit district. Thus, for example, the pupil 
 
 1 Chou Li, one of the thirteen classics. 
 2 
 
i8 
 
 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 went first to a school for the children of 
 twenty-five families. Finishing instruc- 
 tion here he went, or rather was promoted, 
 to a higher school, covering a larger area, 
 that is, for a larger number of families 
 than the one he just left, until he reached 
 the top school for the whole district. 
 The author of the Chou Li, one of 
 the thirteen classics, gave the average 
 nimiber of common schools (the lowest 
 grade) for one feudal state as three 
 thousand. This system can be seen 
 clearly in the following table, which is 
 taken from the figures of Professor 
 C. Y. Wang of the Peking University. 
 
 Table showing the School Districts of Chow 
 
 Name of District 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 Families 
 
 Name of Schools 
 
 Number 
 
 Inside 
 of Capital 
 
 Outside 
 of Capital 
 
 Inside 
 of Capital 
 
 Outside 
 of Capital 
 
 of 
 Schools 
 
 Lu 
 
 Choo 
 Tang 
 Chow 
 Village 
 
 Li 
 
 {T 
 
 Hsien 
 Sui 
 
 25 
 
 100 
 
 500 
 
 2,500 
 
 12,500 
 
 LuShu 
 
 Tang Chu 
 Chow Chu 
 Village 
 Shiang 
 
 Lu Shu 
 
 Pi* Chu" 
 Hsien Chu 
 Sui Shiang 
 
 3,000 
 
 150 
 
 30 
 
 6 
 
 See Note, p. 19. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 19 
 
 In the districts those graduates from the 
 top schools who proved worthy of further 
 development were sent to what were called 
 "National Colleges" within the capital. 
 Here they continued their education until 
 they reached the stage where they were 
 fitted to enter governmental service. 
 
 Such is a general survey of education 
 in this period. For lack of sufficient 
 data we are not able to go into the 
 minute details. But even this general 
 treatment gives us a glimpse of the 
 education in that age. This treatment, 
 however, would not be complete if we 
 omit the education of Confucius, which 
 we shall consider in the following section. 
 
 Educational Theory of Confucius 
 
 Confucius was the one great educator 
 that China has produced. He had in- 
 
 Note: Inside the capital the families were grouped 
 in fives called Be; five Bes (25 families) formed one Lu, 
 four Lus (100 families) one Choo, five Choos (500 families) 
 one Tang, five Tangs (2,500 families) one Chow, five 
 Chows (12,500 families) a village. Outside of the capital 
 the names of the family groups were different, but the 
 number in each subdivision was the same. 
 
20 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 tended to be a statesxnan and to embody 
 his political ideals in some one of those 
 nimierous states, during that age of feu- 
 dalism. After many years of traveling 
 and repeated failures, he returned to his 
 native home, in the province of Shang- 
 tang, to devote the remainder of his life 
 to the great work of teaching and writ- 
 ing. He established a school on the bank 
 of Chu Se (River) . He had gathered around 
 him three thousand pupils, seventy-two 
 of whom became distinguished scholars, 
 and some were later canonized. 
 
 In his teaching he adopted the six 
 arts that were used in his age. He was 
 very fond of music, which he regarded as 
 the chief means of moral training. His 
 conception of music is similar to the 
 Greek idea of ''purgation.'* ''Music," he 
 says, "is the great elevating and quick- 
 ening influence, and stimulates to the 
 activity of the highest part of man's 
 nature."^ He also participated in the 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Confucian Analects. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 21 
 
 prevalent military arts of his age, espe- 
 cially archery, — a fact which gives evi- 
 dence of his appreciation of the physical 
 element in education. 
 
 But his great contribution to Chinese 
 education consisted not so much in his 
 making extensive use of the so-called 
 "Six Liberal Arts" as in his editing and 
 collating what later came to be known 
 as the "Five Classics." To this niimber 
 eight more were added by his followers, 
 making in all thirteen classics. These 
 classics formed the bulk of the content 
 of Chinese education in subsequent times. 
 As we have already seen, there is very 
 little of the intellectual or literary ele- 
 ment in the "Six Liberal Arts." The 
 deficiency was supplied by the addition 
 of these classics. 
 
 We will now turn to consider some of 
 his teachings relating to education that 
 have significance for all time. His is an 
 essentially moral conception of educa- 
 tion. The purpose of education is to 
 
22 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 develop oneself into a man of virtue and 
 culture. "A gem un wrought serves no 
 useful end, so men untaught will never 
 know what right conduct is." In the 
 ' ' Great Doctrine ' ' he says : ' ' It matters 
 not what our position in life may be — it 
 is alike the duty of all to regard self- 
 cultivation as the root. But if the root 
 be disordered how can we possibly expect 
 the branches to flourish, or that he, who 
 neglects that which is of primary impor- 
 tance, will give due weight to secondary 
 matters which may proceed from it?'* 
 This self -development, however, does 
 not prevent one from helping to develop 
 others. ''The man," he says, ''who 
 practices the principle of love, wishing 
 to establish himself, seeks also to estab- 
 lish others; wishing to develop himself, 
 he seeks to develop others."^ Thus 
 the individual and the social factors are 
 provided for. 
 
 In his conception of education he seeks 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Conjucian A nalects. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 23 
 
 to recognize the importance of studying 
 natural phenomena. "Thus we have 
 an example of the order in which our 
 studies ought to be arranged, — first, 
 deep investigation into the nature of all- 
 things, giving us knowledge; knowledge, 
 giving rise to fixed principles ; fixed prin- 
 ciples, to virtuous action."^ 
 
 It might prove of interest to the reader 
 to note some of the aphorisms of Con- 
 fucius concerning instruction and study- 
 in general. That he grasped the signifi- 
 cance of reasoning on the part of the 
 pupil in the learning process is shown in 
 the statement that "when a man has 
 been helped round one comer of a square 
 (meaning here subject) , and cannot man- 
 age by himself to get round the other 
 three, he is unworthy of further assist- 
 ance.'* Concerning study he addressed 
 his students thus: "Study as if you 
 could never reach the point you seek to 
 attain, and hold on to all you have 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Chinese Four Books, 
 
24 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 learned as if you feared to lose it." On 
 self-cultivation he had this to say, 
 namely, that "The cultivator of the soil 
 may have his fill of good things, but the 
 cultivator of the mind will enjoy a con- 
 tinual feast. "^ 
 
 So much for the educational theory of 
 Confucius. We shall now proceed to a con- 
 sideration of the conception of education 
 of Mencius, the most important repre- 
 sentative of the Confucian school, and 
 a contemporary of Plato and Aristotle. 
 
 Educational Theory of Mencius 
 
 (372-289 B.C.) 
 
 Mencius* conception of the purpose 
 of education is much the same as that of 
 Confucius. Emphasis is laid upon the 
 moral element. ''There is a way with 
 men: enough to eat, warm clothing, com- 
 fortable residences, without education, 
 make them like beasts."^ Education is 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. Chinese Four Boohs. 
 '■^ Giles, H. A. The Work of Mencius. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 25 
 
 not a suppression but a drawing-out. 
 "He who seeks to subjugate men by- 
 goodness will never succeed in subju- 
 gating them. He who educates them by 
 goodness will bring the whole realm 
 into subjection." It is through moral 
 suasion that a love for and joy in the 
 good is aroused. Personal example is 
 regarded by him as an important factor 
 in education. The personal example of 
 those in authority is a most impressive 
 teaching for the people, who follow it as 
 children like to imitate what they see in 
 adults. It is for the maintenance of the 
 life of the state that propriety and edu- 
 cation are of special importance. ''The 
 misfortune of a state is not that its 
 walls and fortifications are incomplete, 
 and its armies and armor are not abun- 
 dantly forthcoming; the injury of a state 
 is not that its fields are not increased 
 and its possessions are not accumulating. 
 If the upper classes have no propriety 
 and the lower no education, — the final 
 
26 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 catastrophe is not far off."^ Here we 
 have a distinctly moral conception of 
 education. It is raoral, however, not in 
 the narrow sense of the cultivation of 
 one's own virtue only, but in the broader 
 sense that education promotes the na- 
 tional life and social harmony through 
 the development of the individual. All 
 scholars were expected to fulfill social 
 obligations. 
 
 The method of education which Men- 
 cius suggests is fivefold. "The moral 
 man," he says, ''teaches in five ways, 
 (i) There are some he influences, like a 
 timely rain; (2) with some he perfects 
 their virtue; (3) with some he brings 
 out their talents ; (4) of some he answers 
 the questions; (5) some he teaches pri- 
 vately. These are the five methods 
 which the moral man uses in teaching."^ 
 Every teacher with a moral purpose will 
 influence his pupils in various ways, each 
 
 1 Giles, H. A. The Work of Mencius. 
 •' Ibid. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 27 
 
 according to his individuality. Of these 
 five classes of students, the first, thor- 
 oughly awake to instruction, receive it 
 eagerly and joyously; the second have 
 more aptitude for the ethical, and yield 
 themselves to right guidance; the third 
 have a special inclination for this or that 
 theoretical or practical department, and 
 press on in that direction ; the fourth are 
 intellectual, critical natures, who require 
 answers to their questions, lest, through 
 suppressed doubts, they should end in 
 uncertainty; the fifth are those who 
 specially attach themselves to the mas- 
 ter and allow themselves to be urged on 
 by him. 
 
 Instruction gives ideas, but not the 
 ability to carry them out. "The joiner 
 and wheelwright can give a man the 
 compass and square but cannot make 
 him skillful with them." ^ Thus in teach- 
 ing there must be a correspondence 
 between the ability of the teacher and 
 
 J Giles, H. A. The Work of Mencius. 
 
28 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 the willingness and ability of the scholar 
 in order to reach the highest result. 
 
 About the time of Mencius there had 
 arisen various schools of Philosophy, 
 thirteen in all, contending with each other 
 for supremacy. Upon the accession of 
 theTsin Dynasty (231-201 B.C.), through 
 lack of successors they gradually disap- 
 peared. A memorable act during this 
 period was the burning of all the ancient 
 books, including those of Confucius, by 
 order of Emperor Shi Hwang Ti. He 
 also caused many of the scholars, four 
 hundred and sixty, it is said, to be buried 
 alive. The system of education of the 
 preceding period came at this time to 
 an end, and with the accession of the 
 Han Dynasty (201 B.C.) we have a new 
 system coming into existence, namely, 
 the Appointment System. 
 
IV 
 
 THE APPOINTMENT SYwSTEM 
 
 T^HEN the Han Dynasty arose, an 
 official presented a memorial to the 
 first Emperor Kao-Ti requesting that the 
 old system of education be restored. To 
 which the emperor replied. *'I have no 
 need for learning. I got the empire on 
 horseback."^ But the official retorted, 
 ''Could you control the empire on horse- 
 back?'* The emperor was thus brought 
 to realize the importance of education, 
 and ordered a search to be made for old 
 manuscripts. Accordingly, a great zeal 
 was displayed on the part of the scholars 
 in searching for the lost writings — a 
 situation which finds a modem parallel 
 in the archaeological research and not 
 unlike the zeal manifested in the Renais- 
 sance period in European history. The 
 retentive brains of old scholars were 
 
 1 Williams, S. W. Middle Kingdom, 1883. 
 29 
 
30 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 ransacked for portions of the classics 
 which they might have committed to 
 m.emory. Old walls were razed to see if 
 old books were concealed therein. Many 
 works were thus recovered, though some 
 of them were in a mutilated condition. 
 Following the recovery of the old writ- 
 ings, there came, as might be expected, 
 a group of commentators whose work 
 it was to edit and comment upon the 
 newly recovered works. This task occu- 
 pied the attention of the scholar class 
 for nearly two centuries. Evidently the 
 encouragement given to this kind of 
 work by the emperors put a premium 
 upon forgery. This being a question of 
 higher criticism, we shall be excused from 
 discussing it in this paper. 
 
 Notwithstanding the zeal manifested 
 in the attempt to recover old classics, the 
 age of national training had passed 
 beyond return. The system of common 
 schools maintained by the state was 
 gone, and displaced by such private 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 31 
 
 schools as private individuals thought 
 it profitable to establish. In place of 
 education for all we have a few colleges 
 in the capital for mature scholars. 
 
 The new system that came into being 
 is known as the Appointment System, 
 so called from the fact that officials 
 below the rank of the prefect were first 
 appointed by provincial authorities, the 
 appointments being sent to the emperor 
 for his approval. This system, as the 
 reader will observe, was a complete 
 reversal of the preceding one, under 
 which officials were selected from schools. 
 And it was this fact which accounted for 
 the disappearance of public education, 
 since there was no great need for it. 
 
 In the reign of Wu Ti (139-54 B.C.), the 
 originator of this system, an edict was 
 issued instructing the civil authorities in 
 different parts of the empire to report to 
 the emperor the names of scholars who were 
 qualified to study at the great colleges in 
 the capital as a preparation for civil life. 
 
32 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 Thus education was made to prepare 
 men not for practical, everyday life but 
 for the narrow official career. This 
 ideal, which finds no parallel in the his- 
 tory of education, dominated the Chinese 
 mind until but a few years ago. Indus- 
 trial pursuits came to be looked upon 
 with disdain, as unworthy of a scholar. 
 The highest ideal that parents could hold 
 up to their sons was official life. The 
 result was a literary aristocracy. 
 
 The content of education was limited 
 to old classics. Not the semblance of 
 liberal education was retained. It was 
 in the same reign that Confucianism 
 was made the state philosophy, and the 
 other systems of thought that originated 
 during the preceding dynasty were ex- 
 cluded. This is a significant fact from 
 the point of view of its bearing upon the 
 future development of Chinese education. 
 For from this time on Confucianism was 
 made the basis of Chinese education, that 
 is, the educational content was confined 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 33 
 
 to the five classics. The Confucian Hter- 
 ature would be of some practical use if 
 its content were emphasized as against 
 its mere form. Since the latter was 
 stressed, Confucianism in Chinese edu- 
 cation is similar to " Ciceronianism " in 
 the history of European education. 
 
 However, in justice to this system of 
 training it should be said that its most 
 distinguishing feature is the emphasis 
 laid on moral character. Oftentimes it 
 was those noted for such virtues as filial 
 piety, integrity, and the like, rather than 
 those merely possessing good scholar- 
 ship, that were recommended to study 
 in the great colleges. A premium was 
 thus put on character as against mere 
 scholarship. 
 
 This system prevailed until the seventh 
 century, when it was displaced by the 
 system of Competitive Examination — a 
 topic to which we shall direct out atten- 
 tion in the next section. 
 
V 
 
 THE EXAMINATION SYSTEM 
 
 nPHIS system was set in operation 
 by Emperor Tai Chung of the Tang 
 Dynasty in 631 a.d. So much has been 
 written by students of Chinese literature 
 concerning its nature that this paper 
 shall be confined only to the salient 
 points, and then pass to its evaluation 
 in order to show its significance for, and 
 bearing upon, present-day educational 
 problems. 
 
 Viewed from the standpoint of the 
 complexity of its machinery, this system 
 stood as a monument to the ingenuity of 
 its founder. Its ramifications extend to 
 every nook and corner of the country. 
 In each district there were two resident 
 examiners, with the title of professor, 
 whose duty it was to keep a record of all 
 competing students, and to exercise them 
 from time to time in order to stimulate 
 
 34 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 35 
 
 their efforts and keep them ready for the 
 higher examinations in which degrees 
 were conferred. In each province there 
 was one chancellor or superintendent of 
 instruction, who held office for three 
 years, and was required to visit every 
 district and hold the customary exami- 
 nations within that time, conferring 
 the first degree — Siu-Tsai, or ''Budding 
 Talent" — on one per cent of the candi- 
 dates. The trial for the second degree — 
 Chu-yin, or "Deserving of Promotion" 
 
 — was held triennially in the capital of 
 each province by special examiners 
 deputed from the capital, generally mem- 
 bers of the Hanlin Academy. It con- 
 sisted of three sessions of three days each, 
 making nine days of continuous exertion 
 
 — a strain to the mental and physical 
 powers to which the aged and infirm 
 frequently succimibed. Again one per 
 cent were decorated. The examination 
 for the third degree — Tsin-Shi, or "Fit 
 for Office" — was held within the palace 
 
36 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 and in the presence of the emperor. A 
 score of the best of the successful candi- 
 dates were admitted to membership in 
 the Hanhn Academy, two or three score 
 were attached to it as pupils or proba- 
 tioners, and the rest were drafted off to 
 official posts in the capital or in the 
 provinces. 
 
 Having thus completed our survey of 
 this institution, we shall now proceed to 
 evaluate it, and try to bring out its points 
 of strength and weakness. 
 
 The system, while responsible for many 
 of the shortcomings of Chinese educa- 
 tion, possessed several features that were 
 worthy of commendation. In the first 
 place, the whole system was based on the 
 principle that education was primarily 
 a discipline, the so-called "dogma of 
 formal discipline." Students of the his- 
 tory of education will find here a close 
 analogy to the disciplinary conception of 
 education as first explicitly formulated 
 by Locke. It is interesting to note that 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 37 
 
 there is to-day in the pedagogic world a 
 reaction against the conception of edu- 
 cation as interest, and an effort to secure 
 a harmonization of interest with effort 
 in education. The doctrine of interest 
 turned loose upon the world since the 
 time of Herbart was responsible for what 
 is known as ''soft pedagogy," — that 
 namby-pamby sort of education so con- 
 spicuous by its presence in many of the 
 modern schools. The opportunities af- 
 forded by the system under considera- 
 tion for developing effort, the ability to 
 tackle difficulties through the rigid lin- 
 guistic training, have therefore a meaning 
 for the present-day educational problems. 
 Another commendable feature of this 
 system was its democratic character. 
 The examinations were open to all classes 
 of people. Any man, in whatever sta- 
 tion of life he might be bom, might aspire 
 to the highest ofhce in the government, 
 excepting, of course, that of the emperor. 
 This accounts for the absence in China of 
 
38 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 any bureaucracy that approximates to 
 
 I that in England or Japan, and for the 
 
 I fact that so many of the high officials 
 
 \ rose from humble walks of life. In this 
 
 respect, therefore, it was akin to the 
 
 modem ideal of equal opportunity in 
 
 education. Every student of educational 
 
 affairs realizes how far we are yet from 
 
 that goal. The Gymnasium of Germany 
 
 and the Lycee of France are class schools. 
 
 The lack of equal opportunity for all in 
 
 education gives rise to the cry for the 
 
 Einheitschule — one school for all — in 
 
 the former country. 
 
 Finally, this system proved to be an 
 effectual means of securing the tran- 
 quillity of the public. The safety valve 
 of society, it provided a vent for that 
 ambition and energy which would other- 
 wise burst forth in civil strife and bloody 
 revolution. 
 
 Having seen the lights of this picture, 
 let us now turn to its shades. The 
 greatest evil of this system was that it 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 39 
 
 provided no room for individual varia- 
 tion. It helped to create types rather 
 than individuals. In the essays pre- 
 sented by candidates for degrees, a cast- 
 iron, prescribed form is observed. Mere 
 rhetorical effect was aimed at. If edu- 
 cation is a drawing-out process, a means 
 of developing originality of thought, 
 inventiveness, and adaptability, the sys- 
 tem under consideration is as far from 
 realizing the true educational ideal as 
 the South Pole is from the North. One 
 might call it a rigid, narrow scheme of 
 scholasticism. The blind deference to 
 authority makes any striking out on new 
 paths a sin. All knowledge is stored up 
 in the repository of the past; there is no 
 terra incognita. No wonder that Chinese 
 thought furnishes a most striking case 
 of arrested development. But our pur- 
 pose is not so much to condemn it as to 
 take to heart the solemn lesson it teaches. 
 It is commonly admitted that in certain 
 countries — as, for example, France — 
 
40 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 the conception of education as develop- 
 ment or self-realization is as yet far from 
 realized. Another serious defect of the 
 Examination System was its remoteness 
 from life. It is true that it did succeed 
 in creating for China a number of men 
 endowed with good sense, ripeness of 
 judgment, and ability to cope with vari- 
 ous situations in life. But this is true 
 only of the very few successful candi- 
 dates; the unsuccessful usually form an 
 educational proletariat — a class of intel- 
 lectual paupers. Once a man decides upon 
 the literary career, all other careers are 
 closed to him. He knows nothing about 
 real life beyond the ability to versify, or 
 to write up an elaborately embellished es- 
 say. The absence of ' ' real ' ' studies makes 
 him a stranger to the varied world in 
 which he lives. The scholars are usually 
 spoken of, by way of ridicule, as lacking 
 in the knowledge of the distinction be- 
 tween common natural objects as, for 
 instance, that between rice and wheat. 
 The consideration of these defects 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 41 
 
 reminds us of the fact that education 
 must be brought close to life — a fact 
 which forms an important topic for dis- 
 cussion in the educational world to-day. 
 One might mention only the agitation 
 for vocational training and vocational 
 guidance, and the stress laid on content 
 studies, as opposed to mere formal 
 studies, as striking examples or expres- 
 sions of the universal protest against 
 divorcing education from life. The mod- 
 ern tendency is to socialize education, 
 that is, to conceive of education as a 
 preparation for the activities of life 
 rather than as a mere luxtiry for a few 
 literary aristocrats. 
 
 Thus far we have been considering 
 what may be called old Chinese educa- 
 tion. Through contact with western 
 nations and the repeated himiiliations 
 China suffered, she was brought to 
 realize that a radical change in her edu- 
 cational system was necessary for her 
 self-preservation. This fact accounts for 
 the rise of the new education in China. 
 
VI 
 
 NEW CHINESE EDUCATION i 
 
 T^HE first modern school was estab- 
 lished in China in 1862, two years 
 after the treaty of Tientsin, with the 
 appellation Tung Wen Kuan. Since 
 then there has come a great zeal or pas- 
 sion for the ''new learning." People 
 became intoxicated with it, as with new 
 wine. Schools teaching western learning 
 sprang up like mushrooms. There was 
 such a fascination about the whole move- 
 ment that the best parallel to it in Eu- 
 ropean history would probably be the 
 passion for Greek and Latin li-terature in 
 the period of the Renaissance. In place 
 of the old Board of Rites, or Li Boo, there 
 has come the Board of Education. The 
 Chinese Educational Mission in the 
 
 iThis section is based on the monograph, "The Edu- 
 cational System of China recently constructed," by 
 H. E. King, United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 
 191 1, No. 15. 
 
 42 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 43 
 
 United States oi Amenca was established 
 in 1872, and has continued to be active. 
 The movement, however, was checked 
 for a short time by the coup d'etat of 1898. 
 But after the Boxer trouble in 1900 it 
 resumed its usual vigor, and has ever 
 since gone on with ever increasing 
 momentum. In 1905 the old system of 
 competitive examinations was abolished 
 with one stroke of the "vermilion pencil " 
 — a memorable event in the educational 
 history of China. With it there came 
 a complete system of modern education, 
 organized on modern lines. 
 
 The subject of the new educational 
 system will be best treated by considering 
 its various parts separately. The part 
 that will first occupy our attention is the 
 primary school system. 
 
 I. Primary Education 
 
 The elementary schools are divided into 
 two grades, the lower primary and the 
 higher primary, as in France, Germany, 
 
44 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 and England. Sometimes the two are 
 combined in one school, called a higher- 
 lower primary. 
 
 There has not been coeducation m 
 China, as in occidental countries. This 
 does not imply, however, that to the 
 girls was not given the same educational 
 opportunity as to the boys. The differ- 
 ence is only one of form rather than of 
 spirit, that is, they are educated in dif- 
 ferent schools, while the course of study 
 is identical in both cases. 
 
 Lower primary schools, having a course 
 of five years, are open to boys six years 
 old. These schools are classified as 
 government, public, and private schools. 
 The government proposed to establish 
 in each Hsien^ at least two of these so- 
 called government lower primary schools, 
 and one such school in each town. The 
 funds for these government schools are 
 to be supplied by the local magistrate. 
 The public lower primary schools are 
 
 1 Hsien corresponds to the township of America. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 45 
 
 such as have been established and organ- 
 ized according to the regulations of the 
 Ministry of Education for lower primary 
 schools, and are being supported by con- 
 tributions that formerly were used for 
 other purposes, such as theatricals. These 
 contributions may be turned into a per- 
 manent endowment. Any private school 
 supported by any individual, if it has an 
 enrollment of over thirty boys and con- 
 forms to the regulations made by the 
 government, may be placed under gov- 
 ernment control, — in this case, under 
 the control and supervision of the local 
 magistrate. All schools are to be estab- 
 lished by sanction of the local magistrate, 
 and without his sanction no school is to 
 be closed. The magistrate is expected 
 to do all in his power to encourage such 
 schools. Should he be negligent in these 
 duties, and should it be reported to the 
 central government, he may be degraded 
 or cashiered. If, on the contrary, he is 
 faithful, and shows discretion in the 
 
46 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 choice of assistants to help him in 
 securing the estabHshment of schools, he 
 is usually promoted. 
 
 The program of study extends through 
 five years, and embraces eight subjects, 
 as given below: 
 
 c u •^r.^c Number of hours 
 
 Subjects ^ ^^^^ 
 
 Ethics 2 
 
 Chinese classics 12 
 
 Chinese literature 4 
 
 Mathematics 6 
 
 History i 
 
 Science i 
 
 Geography i 
 
 Drill 3 
 
 Total : 30 
 
 It was discovered that this program 
 failed to yield the desired results. Among 
 the complaints offered against such a 
 course of study were these, that it con- 
 tained too many subjects and that the 
 number of hours of study was too 
 limited. Accordingly the Ministry of 
 Education sent in a memorial on May 15, 
 1909, asking that the program of study 
 be altered so as to. make it adapted to 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 47 
 
 the needs of the students. The request 
 was granted on the same day. An edict 
 was issued to the effect that each school 
 should have at least thirty pupils, and 
 that there should be offered two courses 
 of study, one a complete course and the 
 other a much easier course. The com- 
 plete course remains the same as the old. 
 In the easy course, history, geography, 
 and natural science are not to be studied 
 as subjects, and in their place music 
 is added and drawing is made optional. 
 In case a pupil who has completed a short 
 course wishes to enter the higher primary 
 school he must make up all the work 
 required in the complete course before 
 he enters. The number of years may 
 also be shortened from five to three 
 in the easy course. After completing 
 the lower primary course of study, stu- 
 dents may enter the higher primary. 
 The course is limited to four years of 
 thirty-six-hour recitations per week. 
 These schools may be established in any 
 
48 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 city, town, or village. In every Hsien 
 there must be one government higher 
 primary school. The regulations that 
 govern the establishment of private 
 higher primary schools are the same as 
 those that control the lower primary. 
 The nine subjects taught during the four 
 years embrace the following: 
 
 Subjects Hours 
 
 Morals 2 
 
 Chinese literature 8 
 
 Chinese classics 12 
 
 Mathematics 3 
 
 Science 2 
 
 Chinese history 2 
 
 Geography 2 
 
 Drawing 2 
 
 Physical drill 3 
 
 Total 36 
 
 It will be seen that here, as in the pri- 
 mary, the humanistic or classical element 
 predominated — a relic of the old system 
 of education. The greater portion of 
 the time, twenty out of thirty-six hours, 
 is given to the study of Chinese classics 
 and literature. That this arrangement of 
 subjects of instruction is unsatisfactory 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 49 
 
 is obvious enough. They are not corre- 
 lated in such a way as to secure many- 
 sidedness. 
 
 As has been said, these schools, both 
 lower and higher primary, are placed 
 under the control of the local magistrate. 
 The regulations for schools recommend 
 that the principal of primary schools 
 should be a normal graduate, but, 
 knowing that there is not a sufficient 
 niunber of such graduates to man the 
 schools, permit any one reputed to be a 
 good manager to be employed tempora- 
 rily as principal. The principal and his 
 teachers are not allowed to leave their 
 posts, nor to have any other occupation 
 outside of the school, except by permis- 
 sion of the magistrate. Reports of the 
 primary schools are to be made at 
 the end of the second term, stating the 
 nxmiber of teachers, assistants, students, 
 and graduates, and given to the local 
 magistrate, who will forward them to 
 the viceroy or governor of the province, 
 
go CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 and he in turn will forward them to the 
 Ministry of Education. 
 
 Here we have a sort of educational 
 hierarchy — a system based evidently on 
 the centralized systems of Germany and 
 France rather than upon the decentral- 
 ized system of the United States of 
 America. All the textbooks used in 
 the primary schools must be approved 
 by the Ministry of Education. The 
 aim here, as in Germany and France, is 
 to secure absolute uniformity in school 
 curricula. The higher primary school 
 finds its prototype in France and Ger- 
 many. But while in these countries the 
 higher primary school is intended as a 
 class school, — that is, for those who 
 are unable to receive higher education, 
 chiefly because of financial reasons, and 
 have to engage in commercial and mer- 
 cantile pursuits very early in life, — in 
 China it forms a necessary connecting 
 link between primary and secondary 
 education. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 51 
 
 The school buildings are largely con- 
 verted from public buildings, private 
 temples, and nunneries. It is required 
 that these buildings are to consist of 
 one story and contain recitation rooms 
 and a large public room where all the 
 pupils may assemble for public services. 
 Dormitories are not at first to be required, 
 but later on they may be built to accom- 
 modate boys from country villages some 
 distance from the school. All schools 
 are to provide drill grounds, and the 
 compound is to be sufficiently large to 
 accommodate all buildings without 
 crowding. 
 
 While the establishment of the primary 
 schools has not been as rapid as the 
 government had desired, what has al- 
 ready been accomplished within this 
 decade justifies the hope that the time 
 is not far distant when China will have 
 as large a per cent of her children attend- 
 ing schools as any of the western nations 
 has now. 
 
52 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 The following table ^ gives (i) the at- 
 tendance in the lower primary schools in 
 Chili Province for the years 1902-3 to 
 1907-8, and (2) the ratio or per cent of 
 attendance to the number of children of 
 school age. 
 
 Per cent of attendance 
 Year Attendance of children 
 
 of school age 
 1902-3 1,000 0.0173 
 
 1903-4 6,000 o. 1043 
 
 1904-5 36,344 0632 
 
 1905-6 68,000 1 . 1826 
 
 1906-7 109,467 1 . 9037 
 
 1907-8 148,399 2.5908 
 
 The table is interesting as showing 
 the progress that China is making in 
 the direction of general education. In 
 the year 1907-8 there were in Chili 
 Province 8,675 lower primary schools, 
 with an attendance of 148,399. Grad- 
 uates for the year numbered 537; the 
 nimiber of teachers, 8,969, with an average 
 of some sixteen pupils for each teacher. 
 The cost of educating a pupil during 
 the year was about $1.88. For the higher 
 primary schools of that year we find 
 
 1 H. E. King, p. 56. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 53 
 
 the following: total ntimber of schools, 
 220; total number of students, 10,599; 
 number of graduates, 521; average 
 number of pupils per teacher, 20.4; 
 cost per pupil for the year, $28.23. 
 The amount of funds raised that year 
 for higher primary schools was $299,320. 
 Graduates of higher primary schools 
 are recommended for admission to nor- 
 mal schools and middle technical schools, 
 as well as to the middle or secondary 
 schools proper. 
 
 2. Middle Schools 
 
 The government proposes to have a 
 middle school established in each Fu,* 
 but if any Chou or Hsien can provide 
 for such a school, and desires to do so, 
 it is allowable; but in the beginning it 
 was thought wiser to establish these 
 schools only in the Fu cities. Each Fu 
 is responsible for financing its own 
 school. When the finances of any 
 
 Fu corresponds to the county of America. 
 
54 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 middle schools are managed by the 
 magistrate and some of the wealthier 
 citizens of that Fu, and it conforms to 
 the regulations for the middle schools, 
 it is classed as a public middle school. 
 Any school established and supported 
 by individuals or by a corporation in 
 accordance with the regulations of the 
 Ministry of Education is entitled to 
 the same recognition, privileges, and 
 protection as are given to the govern- 
 ment institutions and is known as a 
 private middle school. Public buildings, 
 nunneries, and temples may be used as 
 schoolhouses. Not only are graduates 
 of the higher primary schools admitted 
 to these middle schools, but all others 
 who are able to meet the requirements 
 for admission. Reports are required 
 from these middle schools just as from 
 the primary schools. 
 
 The course of study extends through 
 five years and embraces the following 
 subjects: 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 
 
 55 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Morals 
 
 Drawing 
 
 Physical drill 
 
 Chinese classics 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 Algebra, geometry and 
 
 plane trigonometry. . . 
 
 Chinese and foreign history 
 
 Foreign language 
 
 Chinese literature 
 
 Geography 
 
 Natural science 
 
 Botany 
 
 Zoology 
 
 Physiology 
 
 Mineralogy 
 
 Geology 
 
 Physical science 
 
 Physics 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 Political science and econ- 
 
 omy . 
 Total 
 
 First 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
 Second 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
 Third 
 Year 
 
 Fourth 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 Fifth 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
 It was soon discovered that the 
 curriculum embraced too many studies 
 and that on this account the students 
 failed to "make good." The Ministry 
 in a memorial requested that the course 
 of study might be revised and that the 
 middle schools, following the methods 
 of German schools, offer two courses, 
 
56 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 one a technical course and the other a 
 literary course. The memorial was 
 granted. The students entering the 
 middle school may choose either course. 
 In the technical department the major 
 requirements are a foreign language, 
 mathematics, physics, chemistry, and 
 biology. The minor subjects are 
 Chinese classics and literature, history, 
 geography, drawing, political science, 
 and political economy. In the literary 
 department the student must take for 
 his major work Chinese classics and 
 literature; a foreign language (English 
 and Japanese are recommended as the 
 more important languages), history, and 
 geography. His minor subjects are 
 mathematics, science, political science 
 and political economy, drawing, and 
 physical drill. All textbooks, before 
 being used in the schools, must have the 
 approval of the Ministry of Education. 
 The schools are to be supplied with 
 suitable laboratories, especially for the 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 57 
 
 teaching of physics and chemistry. 
 Charts of all kinds are to be supplied 
 for the work in botany, zoology, and 
 physiology, and also good maps for 
 teaching geography. Dormitories and 
 dining rooms, also reading rooms, are to 
 be provided for the students in the com- 
 pound. An athletic ground is provided 
 for the pupils where they have military 
 drill and various athletic sports. The in- 
 structors of the middle schools are to be 
 graduates of the Chinese normal colleges 
 or of normal colleges in foreign countries. 
 By January, 1908, there were 32 
 middle schools in Chili Province, enrolling 
 2,125 pupils, and loi pupils had been 
 graduated. There were 157 teachers in 
 these schools, with an average of 13.5 
 pupils per teacher. The examination 
 of students of the middle schools for 
 promotion to the provincial college is 
 held in the presence of the viceroy or 
 governor and of the president of the 
 Board of Education. 
 
58 chinese education 
 
 3. Provincial Colleges 
 
 In each provincial capital there has 
 been established a higher school, more 
 commonly called the provincial college. 
 It is organized on lines similar to those 
 of the German Gymnasium or the French 
 Lycee, In the beginning, owing to lack 
 of adequate preparation on the part of 
 the students, a preparatory department 
 was usually established in connection 
 with the college. To-day, however, only 
 graduates of the middle schools are 
 admitted. The curriculum requires three 
 years of thirty-six hours per week. The 
 graduates are prepared to take work in 
 the colleges of the university at Peking. 
 The national system of education pro- 
 vides only for the establishment of one 
 college in each province, and requires that 
 accommodation should be made for at 
 least five hundred students, but any col- 
 lege may open with two hundred students. 
 The finances of a college must be attended 
 to by the province in which it is situated. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 
 
 59 
 
 At the end of the second semester of each 
 year reports of the college must be sent 
 to the provincial Board of Education, 
 who in turn make reports to the Ministry 
 of Education. The curriculum provides 
 for three courses of study. Course A 
 prepares students to enter the imperial 
 university colleges of Chinese classics, 
 political science and law, literature, and 
 commerce; Course B prepares for the 
 colleges of science, agriculture, and en- 
 gineering; Course C prepares for the 
 college of medicine. 
 
 Course A 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Ethics 
 
 Chinese classics 
 
 Chinese literature 
 
 English language 
 
 German or French 
 
 History 
 
 Geography 
 
 Oratory , . . 
 
 Law 
 
 Political economy 
 
 Military science 
 
 Military drill and gym- 
 nastics 
 
 Total. 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 Third 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
6o 
 
 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 In place of oratory in the second 
 year a student may elect mathematics 
 or physics. Students wishing to study 
 law may elect two hours of Latin in the 
 third year. Those who wish to specialize 
 in Chinese classics may take mathematics 
 in the second year in place of oratory, 
 and physics in the third year in place 
 of Chinese literature. 
 
 Course B 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Ethics 
 
 Chinese classics 
 
 Chinese literature 
 
 English language 
 
 German or French 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 Physics 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 Geology and mining 
 
 Drawing 
 
 Military science 
 
 Military drill and gym- 
 nastics 
 
 Total. 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 Third 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
 Those who wish to specialize in botany, 
 zoology, or geology, in the scientific 
 college, or agriculture, in the third year 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 
 
 6i 
 
 may drop mathematics and substitute 
 four hours' work in hne with their 
 specialty. Those who wish to speciahze 
 in architecture, electrical engineering, 
 naval construction, mathematics, physics, 
 or astronomy, may drop two hours in 
 chemical experiments in the third year 
 and substitute in place thereof a three- 
 hour course in surveying. In the third 
 year a two-hour course in Latin may 
 be elected by any who wish to specialize 
 in zoology, botany, geology, agriculture, 
 and veterinary science. 
 
 Course C 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Ethics 
 
 Chinese classics . . . 
 Chinese literature . 
 Military science . . . 
 
 Military drill 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 Biology 
 
 German 
 
 English or French . 
 
 Physics 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 Latin 
 
 Total , 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 Third 
 Year 
 
 36 
 
62 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing tables 
 that special stress is laid on modern 
 language, so that students may read 
 foreign books with facility. The great 
 number of subjects covered gives the 
 curriculum a ' ' bunched' ' character. What 
 can be expected from such a course 
 of study I am going to dwell on under 
 a separate heading. 
 
 The regulations for the colleges require 
 dormitories with studies and bedrooms 
 provided for the students. Laboratories, 
 museums, and libraries are also to be 
 provided. A director stands at the head 
 of the college. Below him is a president, 
 who superintends the work done by the 
 teachers and makes recommendations to 
 the directors concerning the ways and 
 means of bettering the work. 
 
 4. Universities 
 
 The educational code of China provides 
 for an imperial university composed of 
 eight departments or colleges — (i) 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 63 
 
 Chinese classics; (2) law; (3) literature; 
 (4) medicine; (5) sciences; (6) agriculture; 
 (7) engineering; (8) commerce — and a 
 graduate school to be located at Peking ; 
 also such other universities as may be 
 established later by the provinces, and 
 which shall not be obliged to furnish 
 instruction in more than three depart- 
 ments as outlined for the imperial uni- 
 versity. Thus far there have been 
 established, in addition to the imperial 
 university, the coping-stone of the whole 
 educational system at present, the 
 Tientsin University and the Shansi 
 University. 
 
 The University Council is composed 
 of the president, the deans of all the 
 colleges, the professors, and assistant 
 professors. The president of the uni- 
 versity convokes the University Council 
 and presides at its meetings. Faculty 
 meetings, composed of all the professors 
 and assistant professors, must be held in 
 each college. In case of a disagreement 
 
64 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 between the president and the University 
 Council in regard to matters concerning 
 higher education, the question may be 
 referred for settlement to the Ministry 
 of Education. All courses offered in 
 the colleges cover three years* work, 
 except the two courses in the law 
 college and the course for physicians in 
 the college of medicine, which require 
 four years' work. The graduate school, 
 or rather the school for independent 
 research and investigation, requires five 
 years' work. The graduation examina- 
 tions are to be held in the presence of 
 the president of the Ministry of Edu- 
 cation, together with a commissioner 
 appointed by the government. High 
 honors are bestowed upon the successful 
 candidates. 
 
 Such is an outline of the entire twenty- 
 five-year course of study outlined for 
 the national schools of China. There 
 are, besides these schools, normal, 
 technical, and miscellaneous schools: — 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 65 
 
 a topic which, for lack of space, shall 
 not be considered in this paper. 
 
 5. General Remarks on the New 
 Education 
 
 The new system of education in China 
 is a matter of but a few years' standing. 
 It being still in the infant stage, one 
 has, therefore, to be somewhat indulgent 
 in passing comments upon it. But 
 leaving out of account the inevitable 
 mistakes, it has not, in our opinion, 
 accomplished as much as it should have 
 done. Under the Manchu regime educa- 
 tion, that is, the new education, was a 
 pure farce. There could be no excuse 
 for the inefficiency and the rank rotten- 
 ness that characterized the educational 
 system. 
 
 Indeed, one may say that the new 
 system of education was not in any way 
 different from the old, except in name 
 or form. Students were craving for 
 official honors as were the students under 
 
66 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 the old system. There was no hint 
 on their part of the reaHzation of the 
 great truth that education is chiefly 
 preparation for life — the whole life. 
 Chinese classics form the predominating 
 element in the curriculimi. The policy 
 of the authorities seems to be to preserve 
 ancient values and at the same time to 
 check dangerous ideas, — -ideas which, 
 if adopted, would subvert the social 
 order. That this proved futile is shown 
 by the fact that the revolution came 
 on in spite of these precautions. 
 
 The new education ought to be made 
 more practical and scientific. But a 
 single glance at it will convince one 
 that the reverse is the case. Cramming 
 and stuffing are the main features. No 
 wonder that no nourishment is absorbed 
 from intellectual diet, since there is 
 no mastication and digestion. Educa- 
 tion becomes identified with the mere 
 acquisition of information. The mind 
 is conceived as a tabula rasa receiving 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 67 
 
 impressions from without, as would a 
 sensitive plate, perfectly inactive and 
 passive. It is true that this objection 
 is often urged against French and German 
 schools, but it applies in China in an 
 infinitely greater degree than probably 
 in either of the two former countries. 
 Not until a more rational basis is applied 
 for school curricula can Chinese educa- 
 tion succeed in creating men or women 
 with capacity for independent research 
 and thought. 
 
 As in the intellectual field, so in the 
 realm of morals has the new education 
 failed. It is true that the program of 
 study provides for ethical teaching all 
 the way through, but it is generally a 
 quackery. Mere oral teaching can never 
 succeed in developing strong character. 
 Character, as is often said, is caught 
 but not taught. True education is 
 possible only when teacher and pupil 
 enter into an intimate relation, thereby 
 allowing the former to come into close 
 
68 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 touch with the inner life of the latter. 
 Of course we cannot make religion the 
 corner-stone of the educational system, 
 as is done in Germany, but some form 
 of religious and moral instruction must 
 be given; not simply by word of mouth, 
 but also through personal example. 
 While religious instruction is not given 
 in American public schools, its deficiency 
 is supplied in most of the students' 
 families. The importance of the fact 
 can hardly be overemphasized that a 
 new criterion for judging conduct should 
 come in China to take the place of the 
 old moral and religious sanctions which 
 are now fast passing away. This is 
 one of the greatest problems that con- 
 front Chinese education to-day. 
 
VII 
 
 EDUCATIONAL CHANGES UNDER THE 
 REPUBLICAN REGIME 
 
 'T'HE overthrow of the Manchu Dy- 
 nasty removed a great barrier in 
 the way of the development of educa- 
 tion in China. The new government 
 has taken up the question of educational 
 reform in a way which justifies one in 
 hoping that the defects mentioned above 
 will in time be eliminated. In this 
 part of the paper we shall briefly consider 
 the reform measures that have been 
 adopted by the new government in the 
 field of education. 
 
 The educational aim as formulated and 
 promulgated by the new government 
 is, in respect to general education, to 
 secure adaptation to environment and 
 such development of the character of 
 the people as will fit them for citizen- 
 ship in a democratic country, and, as 
 69 
 
70 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 regards technical education, to secure 
 such a blending of knowledge and tech- 
 nical skill and morality on the part 
 of the students as will enable them to 
 contribute toward national advancement 
 along various lines. The stress is laid 
 on moral instruction, supplemented by 
 industrial and military training. 
 
 All technical education shall be placed 
 under the direct control of the Ministry 
 of Education, and all general education 
 under the control of local agencies, as 
 well as of the Board of Education. 
 Efforts shall be made to encourage the 
 establishment of private institutions. 
 The funds for the technical education 
 shall be supplied by the central govern- 
 ment, and the property owned by the 
 government in the form of public lands 
 may be used as an endowment fund. 
 But the funds for general education 
 shall be derived from local taxes, and 
 the local public property may be used 
 as endowment. The question of the 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 71 
 
 unification of local dialects as a basis 
 and means for securing national unity 
 has also been taken up, and some advance 
 has been made in that direction. On 
 every hand one can see indications of 
 a real determination on the part of the 
 new government to put the educational 
 system on a sound basis. 
 
 It has been decided that, in addition 
 to the university at Peking, there shall 
 be established three more universities — 
 one each in the cities of Nanking, Wu- 
 Chang, and Canton, thus making four 
 great educational centers. Only gradu- 
 ates of provincial colleges will be, as 
 heretofore, admitted to these universities. 
 When carried out, it will be a great step 
 forward. 
 
 In addition to these universities there 
 will soon be established six higher normal 
 schools for men and two for women. 
 This is a clear indication that the new 
 government is coming to appreciate the 
 fact that professional training for teachers 
 
72 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 underlies the success of any educational 
 scheme. 
 
 As we have already seen, boys and 
 girls were educated in different schools 
 under the old Manchu regime. It has 
 now been decided that this system will 
 be abolished, and that all lower and 
 higher primary schools shall be coeduca- 
 tional institutions. 
 
 Moreover, that the new government 
 recognizes the importance of simplifying 
 the Chinese language which is now, 
 owing to its ciunbersome character, a 
 great barrier in the way of diffusing 
 intelligence, is indicated by the fact 
 that an alphabet consisting of thirty-nine 
 letters has been adopted as a basis for 
 carrying out this important task. One 
 may hope, therefore, that ere long the 
 babel of tongues that now exists will 
 be replaced by one uniform language. 
 
 That the new government is going to 
 make teachers of elementary schools 
 civil servants is attested by the fact 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 73 
 
 that a pension system has been intro- 
 duced as an integral part of the educa- 
 tional system. This is evidently in line 
 with the centralized system of education 
 that China has adopted. In America 
 no pensions, as a rule, are awarded to 
 the teachers, while in Germany and 
 France the teachers, being civil servants, 
 are entitled to pensions. It has been 
 decided that an elementary teacher who 
 has to retire on account of overwork, 
 deformity, or other cause after five 
 years' service is entitled to a certain 
 amount of pension, determined and paid 
 by the local community. The amount 
 is not to exceed two fifths of the salary 
 he received in the last year. 
 
 In case of death of the teacher, after 
 five years of service, the widow is en- 
 titled to one fifth of the salary her 
 husband received in the last year. If 
 death takes place after ten years of 
 service, the allowance may rise to two 
 fifths of the salary. 
 
74 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 There are other changes of rainor 
 importance that have been proposed, 
 and all these come from an earnest 
 desire for educational reform. What 
 little has been achieved holds out prom- 
 ise that greater things will yet come in 
 the near future. The new Ministry, 
 as opposed to the old, becomes, so to 
 speak, conscious and reflective. It is 
 no longer in the somnolent state, as 
 was the old. It is this fact that makes 
 one sanguine about the prospect of 
 Chinese education. 
 
VIII 
 
 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 
 
 T^E HAVE thus far traced the general 
 development of Chinese education 
 up to the present time. It is now in order 
 for us to look forward and venture a 
 few remarks concerning elements that 
 are to be desired in the future educational 
 system of China. 
 
 The first question on the admmistra- 
 tive side that immediately presents itself 
 is, which of the two systems of education 
 
 — the centralized and the decentralized 
 
 — should China adopt? The present 
 tendency is, as already indicated, toward 
 centralization. But is this the better 
 of the two? May there not rather be 
 a proper balance of both systems? To 
 answer this question we have briefly 
 to consider the relative merits and de- 
 merits of both. In general it may be 
 said that centralization asstires uniformity 
 
 75 
 
76 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 in the school system of the state, elim- 
 inates school administration from local 
 politics, and helps to bring a higher 
 grade of talent into educational admin- 
 istration. All these advantages are 
 realized in France and Germany. On 
 the other hand, decentralization gives 
 opportunity for individual initiative, per- 
 mits instant adaptation to local needs, 
 and, above all, favors the participation 
 of all the interested social factors in 
 the administration of education, thus 
 helping to bring the school into harmony 
 with society. The advantages of the 
 one system are the disadvantages of 
 the other, and vice versa. The advan- 
 tages of centralization are realized in 
 countries like France and Germany, 
 those of decentralization in America. 
 The fact that either extreme is inade- 
 quate, and that it is possible to secure 
 such a blending of the two that the 
 benefits of both may be retained without 
 sacrificing the important advantages of 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 77 
 
 either, is proved by the circumstance 
 that France and Germany are moving 
 toward decentraHzation and centraHza- 
 tion is making progress in America. 
 
 But how is this to be brought about? 
 The question will be answered with 
 particular reference to the conditions 
 in China. 
 
 Education may be divided into two 
 classes, namely, general and technical 
 education . The aim of general or national 
 education is to make citizens, to bring 
 them en rapport with their whole en- 
 vironment. ''Every school is a machine 
 deliberately contrived for the manu- 
 facture of citizens,'* says R. E. Hughes.^ 
 For the realization of this ideal, no 
 definite rules can be laid down as to 
 whether centralization or decentraliza- 
 tion is to be adopted. This can be deter- 
 mined only by the national ideals and 
 the political and social conditions of a 
 country. The ideals of American govem- 
 
 1 The Making of Citizens, p. 4. 
 
78 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 ment are in favor of decentralization, 
 but if it should be transferred to Europe 
 she would probably have to adopt some- 
 thing like centralization, yielding to the 
 pressure of circumstances. To inculcate 
 common ideals, to develop habits of 
 disciplined obedience to law and author- 
 ity, calls for a centralized system of edu- 
 cation and can never be accomplished 
 where there is lack of symmetry and 
 uniformity in school administration. In 
 China the general political situation, the 
 necessity for removing provincialism and 
 substituting in its place a national con- 
 sciousness, the need for a national lan- 
 guage instead of the present babel of 
 tongues, the importance of having com- 
 mon national ideals, especially in respect 
 to political problems — all these things 
 demand that general popular education 
 be placed under direct supervision of the 
 Ministry of Education. As to the details 
 of a centralized scheme, we would offer 
 the following suggestions : 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 79 
 
 In the first place, as far as school 
 administration is conceived, it seems to 
 us that the German system should be 
 adopted, with such modifications as to 
 make it suit the conditions in China. In 
 each province there should be a commis- 
 sioner of education, appointed by the 
 Board of Education, who should act at 
 the same time as the president or head 
 of the provincial school board. His 
 duties should be to act as a sort of official 
 intermediary between the central and 
 local authorities in Chinese education,^ 
 and to have general supervision of all 
 the schools in the province, especially 
 of the higher grades of schools. 
 
 Each province is to be divided into 
 prefectures, ^ the number of which should 
 depend upon the size of the province. 
 Each is to have a school board of at least 
 
 1 This is not the case in China to-day There the 
 provincial superintendent cannot communicate directly 
 with the central authorities, and can only do that through 
 the medium of the provincial governor. 
 
 ^ A prefecture corresponds to the county of America. 
 
8o CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 six officers, appointed by the Commis- 
 sioner of Education. One third of the 
 members of these boards are to go out of 
 office every three years and another 
 one third appointed to take their place, 
 so that there will be always some men 
 on the staff who are acquainted with 
 the actual condition of affairs at any time. 
 Their main duty will be the supervision 
 of primary and middle schools. 
 
 Further, each of these prefectures is to 
 be subdivided into districts. The dis- 
 trict school boards are to be appointed 
 in the same way as are those in the pre- 
 fecture, and should consist of three offi- 
 cers. The district magistrate is to serve 
 as the head of the school board ex officio; 
 so that, including the magistrate, there 
 will be four men on the staff. Their 
 duty is to supervise all the primary 
 schools in the district. 
 
 As to the inspection of the schools, the 
 inspectors, we think, should be appointed 
 by the Minister of Education and sent 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 8i 
 
 out to the various provinces in groups of 
 three or four. This system has the 
 advantage of precluding the rise of any 
 such evils as ''wire pulling'* and the like, 
 that might appear if men chosen by local 
 authorities were to serve as inspectors. 
 
 The decision that has been reached by 
 the new government as to the matter of 
 school finance is very good and falls in 
 line with a centralized scheme of edu- 
 cation.^ 
 
 There is probably nothing so unsatis- 
 factory about the present primary school 
 system in China as the deplorable condi- 
 tion of most of the school buildings. 
 There seems to be no effort made on the 
 part of local authorities to look into the 
 physical needs of the children. Radical 
 changes should therefore be made in 
 this direction. Definite requirements 
 should be laid down concerning ventila- 
 tion, heating, and other details of school 
 hygiene. Gymnastic apparatus should 
 
 1 See p. 70. 
 
82 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 be provided. All these things must not 
 be left to the whims and caprices of 
 local authorities, who are often dishonest 
 and deficient in civil virtues. An objec- 
 tive standard should be set up to which 
 they should conform. 
 
 Conformably to a centralized system, 
 the power to draw up and prescribe 
 courses of study should be left in the 
 hands of the state. Any books written 
 by individuals for the use of students in 
 the lower grades of schools as textbooks 
 should have the approval of the Board 
 of Education. As already indicated, 
 China needs certain common national 
 ideals. The best means to the end is a 
 certain degree of uniformity in school 
 curricula. 
 
 The next thing that demands our 
 attention in a centralized scheme is that 
 concerning school attendance. A law 
 of compulsory attendance, should be 
 passed and enforced. The law should 
 provide that children be compelled to 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 83 
 
 attend school between six and fourteen 
 years of age, and that their parents or 
 guardians be responsible for any viola- 
 tion thereof. To help enforce this law, 
 registers should be placed in the schools, 
 and the name of the children who are 
 absent should be noted daily. The data 
 gathered from these records should be 
 sent annually to the Board of Education, 
 and there utilized for statistical purposes. 
 In this way the people would gradually 
 become reconciled to the situation, and 
 the habit of school attendance would 
 become, in course of time, automatic and 
 habitual. 
 
 Of course, several conditions have to 
 be fulfilled to realize the scheme here 
 suggested. It presupposes, in the first 
 place, a sufficiently large number of 
 schools to make them accessible to the 
 children in all parts of the country. 
 Again, the financial condition of parents 
 is to be taken into account. Even if 
 primary education could be made free, 
 
84 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 which is at present practically impossible 
 owing to the unsatisfactory financial 
 condition of China, that alone would 
 not guarantee regularity of attendance. 
 In the homes of the poor the children 
 are expected not only to support them- 
 selves but to contribute toward the sup- 
 port of their parents as well. And when 
 one comes to think of the tremendous 
 amount of inertia or passive resistance 
 that has to be overcome, one cannot fail 
 to note the fact that a great many obsta- 
 cles stand in the way of carrying out 
 successfully a system of comoulsory edu- 
 cation in China. 
 
 Finally, a system of centralization 
 demands that teachers acquire a sense 
 of the national importance of their 
 work. Their tenure of office should be 
 made secure, and a pension system, as 
 the new government has come to know 
 already, should be adopted. They should 
 be treated as civil servants. Every 
 effort should be put forth to draw to the 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 85 
 
 teaching profession the best intelligence 
 and the noblest character that can be 
 secured. 
 
 The question of professional training 
 for teachers should receive special atten- 
 tion. All secondary teachers should re- 
 ceive at least a college or a normal-school 
 education, while primaiy teachers should 
 be chosen from among graduates of 
 secondary or normal schools. 
 
 All teachers should possess such quali- 
 ties as sympathy, devotion to duty, per- 
 sonal magnetism, and the like; they 
 should have a thorough knowledge of 
 the subjects they teach, a good general 
 education, and some knowledge of the 
 subjects that are connected with their 
 profession, such as pedagogy, the prin- 
 ciples of education, and the history of 
 education. 
 
 The best way to choose teachers is 
 through a competitive examination, which 
 should be conducted under the auspices 
 of an examination committee appointed 
 
86 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 by the Commissioner of Education. The 
 examination may consist of two parts — 
 oral and written. The successful candi- 
 dates should be assigned to various 
 grades of schools, according to their abil- 
 ity and the quality of their training. 
 
 This is an outline of what we think 
 should be done in connection with a 
 centralized system. But along with this 
 scheme of centralization there should be 
 provided as much elbow room for local 
 initiative as circvimstances permit. Edu- 
 cation should be socialized or "localized/* 
 as well as nationalized. In the words of 
 C. H. Thurber, ^ "Intellectual affairs grow 
 and flourish best where a warm interest 
 is felt for them, but this interest is 
 enduring and effectual only when those 
 who share it are not mere spectators, 
 but are also fellow workers. '* 
 
 Further, while national education 
 should be put mainly under the control 
 of the central authorities, the agencies 
 
 1 The Principles oj School Organization, p. 21. 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 87 
 
 of higher education, such as universities, 
 technical schools, and the like, should 
 remain independent of the Board of 
 Education. Decentralization should be 
 the rule in the case of higher education. 
 Universities, being places for original 
 research and investigation, should be 
 free from all implication in political 
 changes and shiftings. They should be 
 controlled by a Board of Trustees, inde- 
 pendent of the central government. Thus 
 only can a university or a technical 
 school remain unaffected by whatever 
 changes may come in the personnel of 
 the Board of Education. Decentraliza- 
 tion in higher education has this further 
 advantage, that it introduces a spirit 
 of rivalry between different schools, cre- 
 ating among them an ambition to excel 
 each other in making contributions to- 
 ward himian knowledge. 
 
 In addition to the question of centrali- 
 zation or decentralization, there are other 
 problems waiting for solution. One of 
 
88 CHINESE EDUCATION 
 
 these has to do with the correlation of 
 studies, that is, how to arrange the two 
 categories of studies, natural and human- 
 istic, so as to secure the greatest possible 
 degree of many-sidedness. 
 
 As we have already indicated, the edu- 
 cation of China is yet in its infant stage. 
 Many things have yet to be done to set 
 it upon a satisfactory basis. In its course 
 of development many mistakes will prob- 
 ably be made, even though precautions 
 are taken. But China has this advan- 
 tage over the more developed nations, 
 that she can, by studying their educa- 
 tional history, avoid some errors, at 
 least, which she could not otherwise do. 
 China is free to appropriate such ele- 
 ments in the systems of Europe and 
 America as will suit her special needs 
 and idiosyncrasies. 
 
 Educational reform in China forms the 
 pivot around which all other reforms 
 turn. It is to education that China 
 looks for the supply of those men and 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 89 
 
 women who are able to steer the Ship of 
 State into the haven of safety. We shall, 
 therefore, conclude this paper with the 
 words of R. E. Hughes :' ^' The school of 
 to-morrow will aim to produce mental 
 alertness in its pupils, and to supply the 
 nation with a corps of trained intelli- 
 gences. The national strength and great- 
 ness will be estimated in terms of trained 
 intelHgence, not of bullion or acreage.'* 
 
 1 The Making of CitizenSy p. 395. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Alexander, G. G., Confucius the Great Teacher. 
 London, 1885. 
 
 Brinkley, C. F., China — Its History, Art, and 
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 Brown, E. E. , Our Middle Schools. London, 1 9 1 o. 
 
 Brown, J. F., American High School. New 
 York, 1909. 
 
 Faber, E., The Mind of Mencius. Translated 
 by Hutcheson. New York, 1889. 
 
 Farrington, F. E., French Secondary and Ele- 
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 Giles, H. A., China and Chinese. New York, 
 1902. 
 
 Giles, H. A., Chinese Four Books. London, 1898. 
 
 HiRTH, F., The Ancient History of China. New 
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 HoLLisTER, H. A., High School Administration. 
 Boston, 1909. 
 
 Hughes, R. E., The Making of Citizens. New 
 York, 1904. 
 
 King, H. E., The Education System of China as 
 Recently Constructed. The United States De- 
 partment of Education. Washington, 1 9 1 1 . 
 
 90 
 
THE WESTERN VIEWPOINT 91 
 
 Legge, J., The Chinese Classics. Translated in 
 
 Max Mailer's Sacred Books of the East. 
 
 London, 1885. 
 Martin, W. A. P., Awakening oj China. New 
 
 York, 1907. 
 Martin, W. A. P., The Lore of Cathay. New 
 
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 United States Department of Education, 
 
 (Washington, 1905, Vol. I; 1908, Vol. I; 
 
 1909, Vol. I). 
 Monroe, P., History of Education. New York, 
 
 1911. 
 Monroe, P., Cyclopedia of Education. New 
 
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 Russell, J. E., German Higher School. New 
 
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 Thurber, C. H., The Principles of School Organ- 
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 Thwing, C. F., Education in the Far East. New 
 
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 Williams, S. W., The Middle Kingdom. New 
 
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 In addition to the above secondary sources, I have 
 gotten all of the material for the first four chapters of this 
 thesis from the following two Chinese works: Wen Shien 
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JUL 6 1913