UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETlNil91!. NO. 15 WHOLE NUMBER 462 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA AS RECENTLY LA RECONSTRUCTED K? By HARRY EDWIN KING VICE PRESIDENT OF THE PEKING UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911 Glass__LAjr2_i Book__ tCS— UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1911, NO. 15 WHOLE NUMBER 462 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA AS RECENTLY RECONSTRUCTED By HARRY EDWIN KING O r T VICE PRESIDENT OF THE PEKING UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911 'b^ OOj^TEI^TS. Page- Letters of transmittal o lutroductiou 7 Chapter I. — The growth of modern education iu China up to 1S9S 9 Tung Wen College 9 Auxiliary schools 10 I Hsueh Kuan established — FoochoAv Arsenal naval schools 11 Government telegraph college at Tientsin 12 Opposition to reforms in education 13 Science placed on a par with classical learning iu metropolitan examinations ^ 13 Yung Wing and the Chinese Educational Commission 14 Jlilitarj^ medical college in Tientsin 15 'ientsin University 15 4^an Yang College 16 Western learning becomes popular 17 Peking Reform Club 17 Educational influence of Kuang Hsu IS Chapter II. — Education from 1898 to 1900 — Reforms and counter reforms_ 19 The Emperor and his famous edicts 19 Imperial University ordered to be established 20 Wen Chang abolished 20 Scholars seek western learning 21 Emperor reproves his ministers for delaj^ 22 Bureau of agriculture established — Agricultural schools 22 Provision for national schools i 23 Dr. Martin appointed president of the Imperial University 24 •'Traitors in Camp," warned by edict 25 Government translation bureau 25 Chinese schools to be established abroad 25 Training school for translators 20 Coup d'etat 27 Counter reforms of Empress Dowager 2S Chapter III. — Development of modern education from 1900 to 1906 .30 Hanlin Academy to pursue new course of study 30 Inducements offered returned students 31 Provision for modern education system 33 Effect of Boxer troubles ,33 Provincial colleges in 1901-2 33 Plans for abolishing old system of examinations 35 The new educational system outlined 35 Edict regarding Chinese students studying abroad .36 Ministry of education created 37 Commissioners sent abroad 39 Tientsin University rebuilt 40 Middle, primary, and night schools 41 3 CONTENTS. Chapter IV. — Controlling agencies of tlie educational system 43 Ministry of education, departments 43 Duties of ministry of education 44 Provincial board of education — duties of commissioners 45 Educational commissioners in foreign countries 46 Supervisory boards of primary schools 47 Lecture halls 48 Chapter Y. — Primary education 49 Kindergartens 49 Lower primary schools — courses of study 50 Higher primary schools : 54 Summarj' of results of primary schools in Chihii Province 56 Chapter YI. — Middle schools, provincial colleges, and universities 58 Middle schools — where and how established 58 Paotingfu middle school : 61 Statistics of middle schools in Chihii Province 61 Provincial colleges 62 Chihii Provincial College 66 Universities 67 College of Chinese classics 69 College of literature 70 College of medicine and agriculture 71 College of engineering and commerce 72 Tientsin University and Shansi University 72 Examinations and rewards of university graduates 74 Chapter YII. — Normal, technical, and miscellaneous schools 75 Normal schools and colleges 75 Technical schools and colleges 79 Miscellaneous schools 81 Provincial colleges of languages at Nanking, Tientsin, Hupei, and Manchuria 83 Law schools 84 Medical schools 84 Nobles' schools 85 Military and naval "schools 86 Customs training college — School of finance 86 " Hsutsai Kuan ; " police high school ; detective school ; reformatory school, 87 Model prisons — Indemnity scholarship school 88 " Colleges for the preservation of the Old Learning " — Female educa- tion 89 Chapter YIII. — Chinese students studying abroad 92 Students in Japan 92 Effect of the Chinese exclusion laws 95 Students in the United Kingdom and Europe 95 Students in the United States 96 Imperial metropolitan examinations for returned students 98 Summary , 101 Bibliography 104 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington^ D. C, Septeml)er 2, 1911. Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a monograph on The Educational System of China as Recently Reconstructed, by Dr. Harry Edwin King, vice president of the Peking University. This monograph was originally submitted to the faculty of the depart- ment of literature, science, and the arts of the University of Michi- gan, and accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy. Dr. King's information was de- rived largely from his personal observation during long residence in China, supplemented by translations of Chinese documents. This work was accomplished with the assistance of Chinese teachers and students, some of whom have since become associated with Dr. King as instructors in the Peking University. I recommend its publica- tion as a number of the bulletin of the Bureau of Education. Very respectfully, P. P. Claxton, C onhtryissioner. The Secretary of the Interior. 5 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA AS RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED. INTRODUCTION. When we think of China, with a history dating back more than 4,000 years, with a national literature not excelled by that of any other ancient people, a system of government conducted by her ablest scholars, chosen for more than 12 centuries by competitive examina- tions, we are not surprised to find her characterized by a spirit of self-confidence. By reason of her early development in culture and in government, she became the teacher of neighboring countries, and invariably compelled her victor to adopt her lang-uage, literature, customs, and laws, literally absorbing the conqueror and making him lose himself among her people. With her 4,277,170 square miles of territory, occupying geograph- icallj^ one of the most favored portions of the globe, having such a diversity of climate and such fertile soil, she has been able to provide not only the necessities but also many of the luxuries of life, and has made content her 400 millions of people. Secluded by sea, mountain, and desert from contact with outside nations, she has been left alone to develop her own social, moral, intellectual, and governmental institutions. To quote Capt. Brink- ley : " No other nation has preserved its type so unaltered ; no other nation has developed a civilization so completely independent of any extraneous influences; no other nation has elaborated its own ideas in such absolute segregation from alien thoughts; no other nation has preserved the long stream of its literature so entirely free from foreign affluents; no other nation has ever reached a moral and national elevation comparatively so high above the heads of con- temporary States." ^ China has a right to glory in her ancient civilization, which has produced some of the most learned sages the world has ever known. Her longevity has been due largely to the teachings of her ancient sages, her reverence for the past, her educational system, with its one object to provide able men for the State, and her civil-service ex- aminations, which determined who were worthy to rule. 1 Oriental Series : Japan and China. Vol. X, p. 1. 8 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. Confucius warned his disciples to " walk in trodden paths," and these loyal disciples have proclaimed, " What Confucius teaches is true; what is contrary to his teaching is false; what he does not teach is unnecessary;" and Kang Hsi (1662-1723) also urged his people to " discard strange doctrines in order to glorify the orthodox teaching." The competitive-examination system has done more than anything else to make the officials and literati ojDpose the introduction of " western learning." Under the old educational regime China can not be said to have possessed any Government schools. All educa- tion was left to private effort, but literary attainment was decided by the Government through its system of competitive examinations, and rewarded by official recognition. Coming into forced contact with European powers, China has slowly discovered the fact that in order to preserve her national existence she must modifj^ her educational system, and instead of devoting all her attention, as formerly, to the study of the classics, she now seeks also to understand the literature, sciences, arts, laws, and governments of western nations. It is not the province of this thesis to enter into a discussion of the old system of education nor to attempt to treat the excellent educa- tional work done in the mission schools and universities — a work that has up to date been the most efficient of all educational work done in the Empire. It has been a great object lesson and a great factor in hastening on the new education in China. To it is due more than to any other cause the establishment of Government schools for girls. It has furnished many native teachers for the Government schools, and many of the presidents of the first Government colleges and universities have been men who had been engaged in missionary education. Among them are the well-known names of Drs. Martin, Tenney, Ferguson, Hayes, and Richards, and Messrs. Duncan and Soothili. We purpose first to trace the growth of the first national educa- tional institutions and the struggle over the introduction of modern education into China before the formation of the ministry of edu- cation. Second, to treat of the present educational system as outlined by the ministry of education. CHAPTER I. THE GROWTH OF MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA UP TO 1898. China's contact with foreign nations, the misunderstandings and conflicts she encountered, ending often in unsuccessful wars, con- vinced her finally that she had need to learn from the western world. Dr. Martin tells us that " within less than a year from the close of hostilities in 1860 large bodies of Chinese troops might have been seen learning foreign tactics under foreign drillmasters on the very battle grounds where they had been defeated. Arsenals, well sup- plied with machinery from foreign countries, were put in operation at four important points, and navy yards were established at two principal seaports where native mechanics were taught the construc- tion of steam gunboats."^ The treaty of 1860 called into being the " tsung-li-yamen " or " foreign office." One of the provisions of the treaty required that all dispatches for the period of three years should be accompanied by a Chinese translation, thus giving the Chinese Government time to provide competent native interpreters. Almost immediately after- wards the yamen memoralized the Throne advocating the establish- ment of a school for the training of official interpreters. Now for the first time it dawned upon the minds of Chinese officials that unless they became conversant with foreign affairs, and understood foreign languages and literature, it would be impossible to protect the nation from becoming the victim of crafty imposition. This led to the establishment of the Tung Wen Kuan in Peking in 1862. Prior to this in 1861 Prince Kung had sought to secure as teachers Chinese competent to give instruction in foreign languages. Failing in this, he was forced to seek the aid of foreigners. The Tung Wen Kuan, though connected with the tsung-li-yamen, was placed under the direction of Mr. Robert Hart, the inspector general of maritime customs. An English department was first established, with a class of about 10 students. The next year French and Russian depart- ments were added, later a German department, and by 1899 a Jap- anese department also. During the four years following the estab- lishment of the Tung Wen Kuan, the " new education " had made such progress that the tsung-li-yamen again presented a memorial to iLore of Cathay, p. 16. 10 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. • the Throne in which occurred these words : " It is plain that it is impossible to do otherwise than to pursue the study of western knowl- edge." This memorial received the imperial sanction December 30, 1866, and the school was raised to the rank of a college. The mem- bership, previously limited to 30, was now increased to 120. At first languages only had been taught, now a scientific department was added, and the chairs of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and astron- omy were established. International law was taught by Dr. W. A. P. Martin, who in 1868 had been called to that professorship, and in 1869 was appointed the first president of the college — an office ably filled by him for 25 years. The progress made during that period was largely due to his scholastic attainments, his extensive transla- tions, and his executive ability, influencing its entire life of nearly 40 years. In the beginning students were selected only from the Manchus or from Chinese families who had been adopted by the conquerors of the Mings in 1644. Later on the doors of the college were opened to members of the Hanlin Academy, but these supreme scholars of China scorned to sit at the feet of the west, and being supported by the president of the academy, who was also the Emperor's teacher, they haughtily refused to become members of the college. Unable to secure students from the higher literati, they had to be content with recruits of lower degree. In 1896 the full course of study extended over eight years. The first three were given exclusively to languages, and the remaining five . were devoted to securing scientific and general knowledge through the medium of those foreign languages they had pursued. It was not usual for a student to attempt more than one foreign language. Classes of about 30 students were formed, who were ex- pected to devote one-half of each day to Chinese and the remainder of the day to the language chosen and to scientific study. The col- lege was in session for the entire year, with the exception of a short vacation at Chinese new year and during a few days in the warmest part of summer. Sundays were holidays for the foreign teachers only. The college provided all its students with free tuition, food, and clothing, and in addition each received a monthly allowance from the Government; this amount was increased or decreased according to the student's proficiency in examinations. Written examinations were held at the end of each month, and examinations of three days' duration at the end of each year, the latter being always held in the presence of the ministers of foreign affairs. At each examination, monthly or yearly, prizes to the amount of from 40 to 60 taels were distributed as an encouragement to effort. Once in three years was held the " great examination " for determining the awarding of GEOWTH OF MODERN EDUCATIOlSr. 11 official distinction. Receiving this distinction did not necessarily remove the student from the college. After performing his official duties at the yamen, which were usually but nominal, he was allowed to return to the college and continue his studies as a resident gradu- ate; but he must hold himself in readiness to fill any official post to which he might be appointed. In 1896 the faculty consisted of 4 native professors, 10 assistants, and 10 foreign instructors, including the president of the college. There were 120 students, averaging 30 years of age. Up to that time about 1,000 students had been enrolled in the college. Some of the students secured positions in Government schools and arsenals; two became tutors in English to the Emperor Kuang Hsii ; some became secretaries or interpreters to foreign embassies ; others were appointed as consuls or vice consuls, while at least four represented their Government abroad. There is no doubt but that Tung Wen College played an important part in helping forward the cause of modern education. Soon after the establishment of the Tung Wen College the tsung- li-yamen established two auxiliary schools. One was located at Shanghai, having two departments, one in French and the other in English, enrolling about 30 students in each department. The other school, established in 1864, was located at Canton, By imperial edict it was to furnish instruction in English and Chinese to 20 Manchu and Banner boys. In 1870 this school sent 14 students to the Tung Wen College at Peking for further study. Of these, in 1880, 5 had retired, 3 had been appointed abroad, and 6 were still in the college. Up to 1880 no more students had been promoted from that school to the college ; and these boys who had entered the school at 17 grew to manhood, married, and had families of their own, and were still pursuing their foreign studies. In 1897 Russian and Japanese departments were opened, and in 1900 a French department was added. In 1904 there were 40 students in the Russian, 37 in the Japanese, and 42 in the French department. This Tung Wen school was in 1903 amalgamated with another school under the name of I Hsueh Kuan. The Foochow Arsenal naval schools, which had their beginning in 1867, were very prosperous under the management of Mr. Prosper Giquel, and have supplied China with some of her best naval officers. In 1880 the English school had about 50 students divided between the naval and the mechanical branches. The course of four and one-half years included the subjects of English, analytic geometry, algebra, trigonometry, navigation, and geography. The students received a monthly stipend of $4. 12 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. The French school enrolled about 40 students in four divisions. The subjects taught were French, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, analytical geometry, calculus, and mechanical engineer- ing. The students likewise received $4 per month. The Chinese Imperial Naval College at Nanking was established in 1890. During the first six years about 120 cadets had been enrolled, and in 1896 80 cadets were in attendance, averaging 19 years of age. Foreign instructors in navigation and engineering were employed, as well as several native assistants. The students were boarders and drew Government pay. English was taught and the college was doing good work, but after the war with Japan it received a new stimulus to progress. At Wuchang was established in 1892 the Government mining and engineering college of the Hupei board of mines. Its 20 students received instruction from 1 foreigner assisted by an able corps of native teachers. The Imperial Northern Government Telegraph College at Tientsin was established in 1879. Its superintendent up to recent date was Mr. C. H. O. Poulson. Native teachers were employed. In 1896 50 students were enrolled, varying in age from 16 to 22. They were divided into four classes and received a monthly pay of from 3 to 10 taels, according to their rank. Students entering with a good founda- tion in English and mathematics could complete the course of study in 4 or 5 years. During the first 16 years 300 students were sent out, having completed the entire course of study. Not a few of the more intelligent Chinese had been gaining some knowledge of mathematics and science through the medium of works that had been translated by the early Catholic missionaries, and there were among them those who were thirsting for more knowledge and felt that the entire educational system needed reorganization. The subject was widely discussed and bitterly opposed, as is shown by the memorials establishing some of the above-named schools. These memorials sternly repudiated the notion that they were seeking to introduce new ideas borrowed from foreigners, as appears from the following citation : " The idea that it is wrong to abandon Chinese methods and follow in the steps of Europeans may also be dilated upon. It is to be remarked that the germ of western science is, in fact, originally borrowed from the heaven-sent element of Chinese knowledge. The eyes of western philosophers, having been turned toward the east, and the genius of their men being minutely pains- taking and apt for diligent thought, they have succeeded in pursuing the study to new results. For these they have usurped the name of science brought from over the sea, but in reality their methods are Chinese methods. This is the case with astronomy and mathematics, GROWTH OF MODERN EDUCATION, 13 and it is equally so with the other sciences. China has originated the methods which Europeans have received as an inheritance." ^ As evidence that it has not been considered a disgrace for a scholar to receive manual training in the application of the theories of sci- ence the}^ refer in the same documents to their sacred books. But they added the following apology: "The study now urged is the study of theory; that is to say, it is the scholar's duty to acquire knowledge through scientific analysis without compulsion upon men of letters and officers of government to take hold personally of me- chanical pursuits. Can doubt further exist ? " The new movement was making slow progress. The importance of wider dissemination of the new learning was making thinking men desirous of reforms. In 1869 the viceroy of Fookien memoralized that a knowledge of mathematics should be required for the Government civil-service examinations. The memorial failed to receive the royal sanction, and in 1875 the viceroy of Chihli, Li Hung Chang, made a second peti- tion, adding physical sciences. This likewise failed to receive the sanction of the Government. Meanwhile attempts were made to introduce mathematics into the provincial examinations, which doubtless showed that the new learn- ing was acquiring favor more rapidly with the literati of the country than with the Peking authorities. In 1874 an examiner of mathematics accompanied the commis- sioner of education to Hunan, but no candidates appeared. In 1885 a few candidates were examined in Shantung, but it was not until 1887 that the Government yielded, and by an imperial decree these subjects were added to those required at the metropolitan examina- tion. The following year, at the triennial examination held in Peking, for the first time in Chinese history students of science were placed on a par with those of classical learning. Sixty candi- dates presented themselves, only 32 of whom were considered ad- vanced enough to be admitted to the examination, and only 1 obtained the degTee. A writer of the time remarks : " No one can possibly overestimate the importance of the effect upon the future history of China. This first and only man promoted to the second literar}'" rank for his knowledge of science is the sure leader of a great host in days to come. The thin edge of the wedge has been driven into the competitive system, which in the end will rive asunder the old wall of Chinese conservatism, liberalizing the minds of the literati and setting them forward in the path of progress." - It was after the Tientsin massacre (1870) that the Chinese Govern- ment, through Tseng Kuo Fan's representations, consented to Yung 1 " The new education in China," by L. W. Pilcher. The Chinese Recorder, 1889, pp. 305-310. - November number of the Chinese Recorder, pp. 89, 90. 14 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Wing's plan to educate Chinese youth in the United States. It was during his undergraduate days at Yale (1850-1854) that he con- ceived the plan of organizing a Chinese educational commission. In August, 1871, by imperial edict, $1,500,000 were appropriated to send 120 students to the United States for 15 years. Yung Wing and an assistant were appointed commissioners in charge of them for that period. Four yearly installments of 30 students each, the youngest to be not less than 12 and the oldest not more than 15 years of age. They were selected from respectable homes, required to pass a medical examination, also an examination in Chinese, and in Eng- lish in case they had studied it. All candidates had to attend a preparatory school in Shanghai for at least one year before leaving for the United States. The parents were required to sign papers stating their willingness for their sons to go, and consenting to their remaining in the United States for 15 j^ears, and that the Government was not to be held responsible for any accident that might happen to any of them. The Government was to pay all their expenses while absent, to give them a suitable outfit, and to provide Clnnese teachers to instruct them in the Chinese classics while in the United States. The preparatory school for preparing these four installments was established at Shanghai under the supervision of Liu Kai Sing. Nine-tenths of the students came from the south of China. In the summer of 1872 the first installment reached the United States, and were distributed in families living near Spring- field, Mass. Before this, in 1871, Tseng Kuo Fan died and Li Hung Chang succeeded him on the educational commission. In 1874 Vice- roy Li recommended the building of a substantial headquarters for the Chinese educational commission in the United States, and the next year the new building was erected at Hartford and occupied. In 1876 Yung Wing, contrary to the advice of some of his friends, accepted the appointment of associate minister to the United States, Peru, and Spain. His last act in comiection with the educational commission was to make application to the United States Govern- ment to permit some of the Chinese students to enter the Government military and naval academies. He received the following reply: " There is no room provided for Chinese students." ^ For reasons, which it is not necessary to relate, the Chinese Govern- ment recalled these students in 1881. At that time the majority of them were either in scientific schools or in colleges, and all but two were undergraduates. In 1882 Dr. Yung Wing returned to China to try to persuade the Government to permit the older students to return to the United States and complete their studies, but in vain. iMy Life in China and America, p. 207. GROWTH OF MODEEN EDUCATION. 15 For some time after their return to China, the students received no official recognition. Subsequently " about 1-1 were sent to each of the naval academies at Foochow and Tientsin. Over 20 were ap- pointed to the service of the imperial telegraph administration. Eight were placed in the viceroy's (Li Hung Chang) medical school at Tientsin, under the care of Dr. Mackenzie. About the same num- ber were sent to Kaiping, and also to the torpedo service at Taku. Of the remaining 28, 6 went back to the United States, about 10 were left in Shanghai, and the rest scattered here and there." ^ The tsung-li-yamen, unwilling to establish a medical college in connection with the Tung Wen College, appointed Dr. Dudgeon, of the London mission, Peking, professor of anatomy and physiology in the college. It was left for the viceroy, Li Hung Chang, to open the first Government medical college in China. In November, 1893, the military medical college was established in Tientsin, too late to be of any i^ractical help in the war that followed. In 1887 Li Hung Chang, through a suggestion of Mr. Detring, commissioner of customs, formulated the idea of establishing a uni- versit}^ in Tientsin. With funds contributed by both Chinese officials and Europeans a large building was constructed on the river bank below in the European settlement. Dr. Charles D. Tenney was called to the presidency, but for some reason Viceroy Li did not proceed further, and the building remained empty for eight years. It was not until 1895, after the war with Japan, and upon the promise of the customs taotai at Tientsin to finance the institution with funds from the telegraph administration, the China Merchants' Stean^ship Navigation Co., and the customs taotai's yamen, that imperial sanc- tion was given for the organization of the Tientsin University. Dr. Tenney, who during these years of waiting had been conducting a j)rivate school at Tientsin, now entered upon his duties as president, and Mr. Tsai Shao Chi, formerly a Yale student, became the first Chinese director. The Government at that time having no secondary schools, a preparatory department with a four-years' course in Eng- lish and elementary mathematics was organized in connection with the university to prepare students to enter the collegiate department. A four-years' course was arranged in the four schools of civil engi- neering, mechanical engineering, mining, and law. In order to organize classes without delay in these special departments, students who had made preparation in the private schools of Tientsin, Shang- hai, and the British Government schools of Hongkong were entered in the lower classes. The first class graduated in the early spring of 1900. With the Boxer outbreak the students were sent to their homes. Later came the seizure and occupation of the university buildings by ^ Educational number, East of Asia Magazine, p. 112. 16 THE EDUCATIONAL. SYSTEM OF CHINA. the German military forces, and the life of the first Tientsin uni- versity "U'as thus ended. The next important educational institution to be established was the Nan Yang College at Shanghai in 1897. The plan originated by Sheng Hsuan Huai was to found a college where students, having already received the elements of a Chinese education, could take a thorough course in English and western science, and at the same time prepare for the Government competitive examinations. An annual grant of 100,000 taels was subscribed by the Chinese Mer- chants' Steamship Navigation Co. and the Imperial Chinese Tele- graph Co., each giving 50,000 taels. These pledges having been confirmed in a memorial to the Throne, an imperial decree was issued authorizing the establishment of the college. Dr. John C. Ferguson, president of the Nanking University, became the first president, and was authorized to purchase a site and erect the necessary buildings; these were completed in 1899. The institution had three depart- ments, a primary, preparatory, and a commercial school, each with a three years' course of study. Mr. Lattimer, a former instructor in the college, has written : '"■ No graduate of the commercial school would find much difficulty in gaining admission to the freshman class of an American college after a year's study in the United States." ^ Since the resignation of Dr. Ferguson in the autumn of 1901, the administration of ^he school has been entirely in the hands of the Chinese officials, though American teachers have formed a part, of the teaching staff. In 1905 the college was made a school of technology and commerce and placed under the control of the min- istry of commerce, and in April, 1907, it became an imperial poly- technic college under the administration of the ministry of posts and communication. During this period Chang Chih Tung attempted to institute some reforms hj introducing western education at Wuchang, the capital. Colleges of agriculture, language, mechanics, mining, and military science were organized. Professors were invited from America, Belgium, England, France, Germany, and Russia. Many of them were enthusiastic, expecting to organize modern colleges and teach according to modern methods. But the two Cornell University graduates who were called to conduct the agricultural college found that no provisions had been made for the college, and when, after long delays, the work was begun, it was hedged in on all sides by conservatism. The American instructors, though receiving good sal- aries, chafed under the restraints and, unwilling to fritter away their time, resigned. The disastrous defeat in the China-Japanese war convinced China that she must make some reforms in education or never regain her 1 The South China Collegian. July 1, 1905, p. 123. GROWTH OP MODEEN EDUCATION. 17 place as the first power in the east. Many of her literati, scholars having the highest degrees, sought instruction in western learning by attending missionary schools and colleges, by employing private teachers, by forming clubs, and through the private reading of all the translations of western books available. Even the Emperor, Kuang Hsu, who for years had been studying English, now became so interested in western science and learning that he had his eunuchs searching out and bringing to him all the translations of books on western learning that could be found, among them being the Bible, portions of which he is known to have read. Never before had there been such a demand in China for the new education. By 1896 all schools where western science and language were taught were over- crowded with pupils. Even young and inexperienced students found it easy to obtain lucrative positions as private teachers. At this time many Peking officials, some quite advanced in age, matriculated in the preparatory department of the Peking University for the pur- pose of beginning the study of the English language. Special classes were formed to accommodate them. The older men, thoagh famous for their Chinese learning, had passed the age when men can easily learn a foreign tongue. It was often not only amusing, but pathetic as well, to witness their vain efforts to speak the language distinctly. The great majority of these older men, finding the lan- guage so much more difficult to acquire than they had anticipated, after a few months of hard work, became discouraged and retired. Some persisted, and though never becoming fluent speakers, were able to make good Chinese translations from English. Excellent results were obtained by a number of the younger men, all of whom were Government graduates, some having the second degree (" chu jen," or master of arts) , and two were Hanlins (LL. D.) , members of the imperial academy. So anxious were these brilliant scholars to acquire a knowledge of western learning from an ^\merican teacher that they thought it no disgrace to sit side by side with boys their pigmies in classical learning ; a marked contrast to the Hanlins, who, in the sixties, had refused to study foreign languages in the Tung Wen College, There were, however, men of vision among the literati and officials. They saw that reforms alone could save their nation and the}'' sought to bring them about. In a short time a Chinese reform club, having at first a membership of about 30, was organized in Peking. Its main object was the translation of newspapers and books into Chinese. The newspapers were circulated among the Chinese officials that they might become acquainted with western methods and conditions. The books were the best that could be found on science, literature, and law, and were to be at the disposal of any who might desire to read them. It being contrary to Chinese law for any company of Chinese 9561°— 11 2 18 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHUSTA. to meet to discuss Government matters, in less than a month after the establishment of the club the Emperor was memorialized on the subject, and he caused the place of meeting to be sealed ; later on, re- ceiving another memorial in favor of the club, he restored it, but made it a Government institution, nominating his teacher. Sun Chia Nai, president, and retaining the former board of managers. The Emperor and many of the officials promised to give liberally toward its support, Reform clubs then sprang up all over China. Their membership consisted largely of the younger members of the literati; scholars who had been trained abroad or in the modern schools of China, and a few of the members had been in consular or diplomatic service abroad. The " Cassini convention," ^ the territorial advance of Germany, Russia, England, and France, the articles that filled the foreign news- papers and periodicals on the break-up of China, the partition of China among the European powers, and like questions of the day, aroused the Chinese as nothing had done before. They saw their helpless condition and realized that something must be done, and that soon. It was known throughout the Empire that the Emperor had been devoting all the time he could get to the study of those works that would both qualify him to rule wisely his people and to make prepa- ration to enter upon reforms that would place his country alongside the leading powers of the world. To show the influence of this study upon his people, we quote from Prof. Headland : " I doubt if any Chinese monarch has ever had a more far-reaching influence over the minds of the young men of the Empire than Kuang Hsu had from 1895 till 1898. * * * The fever for reading the same books that Kuang Hsu had read was so great as to tax to the utmost the presses of the port cities to supply the demand, and the leaders of some of the publication societies feared that a condition had arisen for which they were unprepared. Books written by such men as Drs. Allen, Mateer, Martin, Williams, and Legge were brought out in pirated photo- graphic reproductions by the book shops of Shanghai and sold for one-tenth of the cost of the original work. Authors, to protect them- selves, compelled the pirates to deliver over the stereotype plates they had made, on penalty of being brought before the officials in litiga- tion if they refused. But during the three years the Emperor had been studying these foreign books, hundreds of thousands of these young scholars had been doing the same, preparing themselves for whatever emergency the studies of the young Emperor might bring about." 2 1 In 1896, through this treaty, Russia secured from China territorial and railway con- cessions in Manchuria. - Court Life in China, pp. 132, 133. CHAPTER II. EDUCATION FROM 1898 TO 1900— REFORMS AND COUNTER REFORMS. In 1898 Emperor Kuang Hsu entered upon the greatest revolution in the history of China, by issuing his famous edicts, which em- bodied the great principles of all the reforms that have since been instituted in China. Memorials were sent in by men holding the highest rank and influence, advocating these reforms, and while Kang Yu Wei is accredited with originating the most sweeping of the reforms, yet we must remember that there were men of the type of Sun Chia Nai and Chang Chih Tung who were in full sympathy with the Emperor. In China's Only Hope, Chang Chih Tung advocates many of the radical changes that the Emperor hoped to institute. The Emperor, in replying to some of his old conservative ministers who were urging him to conform strictly to the ancient institutions and reject all suggestions of a new regime, says: "Let us ask what other country except our own is there that is laboring under such difficulties, because of being behind the times. * * * Our scholars are without solid and practical education; our artisans are without scientific instructors; when compared with other coun- tries we soon see the glaring difference between our strength and the strength of others; and when we compare the ready wealth of this Empire with that of other countries, the difference is still greater to our detriment. * * * Changes must be made to accord with the necessities of the times." ^ That he had no intention of ruthlessly casting aside all doctrines of the past, he goes on to say : " Let us, keeping in mind the morals of our sages and wise men, make them the basis on which to build new and more advantageous foundations." Then, advocating the necessity of reform, he con- tinues : " We must also select such subjects of western knowledge as shall keep us in touch with the times, and diligently study and prac- tice them in order to place our country abreast with other countries. Let us cast off from us the empty, impractical, and deceiving things which obstruct our forward progress, and strive with one-hearted- ness and energy to improve upon all things that we have learned; ^ This and the following quotations are taken from The Emperor Kuang Hsu's Reform Decrees, 1898. Reprinted from The North China Daily News. 19 20 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OE CHINA. let US eliminate the crust of neglect that has accumulated on our system, and cast away the shacldes which bind us; in a word, let us evolve useful things out of those which hitherto have been useless, and let us seek able instructors to fashion the materials in our pos- session. With these objects in view, let us strive toward advance- ment and progress." On the same day, June 11, he ordered the establishment of a great university in Peking that should be a model for the capitals of the Provinces to copy, and commanded his ministers and the princes to provide speedily for its inception. After stating that " all who de- sire will be given all the privileges and instruction the new Univer- sity of Peking can provide," the edict closes with these final declara- tions : " We earnestly hope that all will eagerly take advantage of the modern education now 'open to them, so that in time we may have many able and willing helpers in the great and arduous work before us, of putting our country on a level with the best of the western powers. Let everyone listen to and obey these, our sincere and earnest words, and let it be Imown that this edict is specially issued to all our subjects." Two days later, June 13, Hsu Chih Ching, a recorder of the Hanlin Academy, recommended to the Emperor's favorable notice Kang Yu Wei, known as " Kang, the Modem Sage and Reformer," a third-class secretary of the ministry of works, as being a man " of deep learning and exceptional ability and progres- sive ideas." Dr. Arthur Smith says of him : " He had the welfare of .China deeply at heart, and had studied its conditions and the possible methods of reform until he had clear and definite ideas of what could be done and of what ought to be done." Kang had written two books. The Eeforms of Eussia and The Re- forms of Japan, which he sent to the Emperor. These were fol- lowed later by a memorial urging the Emperor to be firm and not delay bringing about reforms. Mr. Kang's introduction to his Im- perial Majesty was largely due to Weng Tung He, the Emperor's tutor, who had been devoting considerable attention to Mr. Kang and had become deeply impressed with his ability. June 16, Kang was granted an imperial audience, which is rej)orted to have lasted two hours, and to have so deeply impressed the Emperor with the needs and methods of reforms as to inspire him to issue his famous edicts of that summer. An edict Avas issued June 23 that abolished the " Eight-Legged Essay," called the " Wen Chang," which was the standard for Government examinations. " The Wen Chang is a style of composition of ancient and arbitrary origin which stretches the elastic thought upon a cruel rack. The eight legs upon which the essay stands are as rigid as if cut out of wood with a saw. The number of characters (words) and for the most part EDUCATION FROM 1898-1900. 21 their meaning and purport in each leg must agree with those in the corresponding leg. The least slip would be fatal to success. To make these numbers correspond required the unceasing, untiring, and indefatigable labor of years, and the strain of the continued agonizing effort during the three days of incarceration in the damp, cheerless cell is something awful." ^ It was pointed out that in the time of Kang Hsi the Wen Chang had been abandoned and short essays substituted instead; that though this lasted but a short time, yet it made the reign celebrated for its number of learned and brilliant scholars who proved their worth in a practical manner; that they had the ability to search and compare ancient lore with that of their own times. It declared that learning had declined by scholars sticking to the classical style, that it had produced fraudu- lent practices in the system of examinations, that no man desired to be learned beyond the requirement for the degree for which he wished to be examined. " To this deplorable state have we now come. But to attain solid and practical education, adequate to the times we live in, we must cast away all empty and obsolete customs, nor can we advance true talent by following the old regime." In the future all the examinations for the chu jen and chin shih are to be conducted according to the new requirements. "We have been compelled to issue this decree because our examinations have de- generated to the lowest point, and we see no other way to remedy matters than by changing entirely the old methods of examinations for a new course of competition. Still scholars must not forget to study the Confucian analects and the classics as the root of their education, from whence they are to write short practical essays suitable to the times we live in. Let us all try to reject empty and useless knowledge which has no practical value in the crisis we are passing through." In commenting upon this decree, Dr. Arthur Smith writes : " By a stroke of his pen the progressive and enlightened young Emperor revolutionized the stream of Chinese thought, long since semistag- nant, and opened new channels. * * * There is a strong proba- bility that if there had been no political counteraction the new scheme might have been put into operation without serious opposi- tion and with far-reaching and beneficent effects, for there was already a large minority of thinking men throughout the Empire who profoundly felt the necessity of a change of some sort and would have gladly followed an imperial leader. •' It is true that not a few foreigners ignored or decried the reform movement as the mere effervescence of a handful of brainless enthu- siasts, whose zeal outran their knowledge — dreamers, not practical 1 The Educational Conquest of the Far East, p. 135. 22 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. men. But there are others whose occupation gave them ample oppor- tunity of obtaining incontestable evidence, who affirm that it was a national and intellectual movement that permeated the Provinces and moved the mind of the nation. * * * A renaissance had begun." ^ Immediately after the publication of this decree telegrams from the most distant Provinces of the Empire began to arrive at Peking University from students wishing to matriculate and secure accom- modation in our university dormitories. Hanlin and chu jen came to have outlined courses of study for them to pursue at the university. Private schools of foreign science and literature were opened in Pe- king and other cities. Scholars came offering me large salaries if T would take charge of their schools, and when they found they could not secure my services, begged me to engage them instructors from abroad. Never can I forget those happy, enthusiastic students, their eyes sparkling as they told me of the Emperor's edicts and revealed to me their future plans of study. How hopeful they were for the future of their country ! Surely " their ideas were changed, and their ideals were changing. This reform movement shook the Em- pire." ^ In a month's time some of these students were in hiding to escape the vengeance of the Empress Dowager. On the 26th of June a decree was issued reproving the ministers and princes for delaying to make reports of plans for the new uni- versity, and commanding " all concerned to hasten on with their consultations and report with all speed," with " no more unmeaning delays in the matter." Following this is a decree threatening pun- ishment to all who in future delayed to carry out the imperial com- mands. A bureau of agriculture was established by imperial decree on July 4, and persons able to do so were commanded to translate western books on agriculture, which were to be used as textbooks in the agricultural schools and colleges soon to be established. On September 12 a decree provided for agricultural schools to be modeled after the Kiangyin school. July 6 a memorial of Hu Ping Chih, governor of Shansi, suggested changing the military ^examinations and allowing graduates of the newly established western-learning schools to compete for the chu jen and chin shih. The ministry of war and the tsung-li-yamen were commanded to deliberate and report on the same. The day following a decree virtually established patent and copyright laws for China, and rewards were to be given those writing practical and useful books and to those inventing arti- cles of use, machinery and the like. The foreign office was com- manded to draw up the necessary rules and regulations. On July 13, the yamen's report having been made and accepted, the scheme was put into operation. On July 11 appeared an edict concerning educa- 1 China in Convulsions, vol. 1, pp. 136-137. 2 Ibid., p. 138. EDUCATION FROM 1898-1900. 23 tion of the greatest importance, which looked toward the establishing of a national system of modern schools for the joint study of Chinese and western literature and science. Provisions were to be made for establishing schools and colleges in the provincial capitals, prefec- tural cities, departmental and district cities, all to lead up to the imperial university at Peking, All the rules and regulations for governing these institutions were to be furnished by imperial uni- versity authoritieSj and the rules and regulations were conmianded to be observed. All schools which had been established by public subscriptions, such as charity schools or local public schools, were to introduce western studies into their curriculum. The educational funds were to come from the telegraph administration, the China Merchants' Steamship Navigation Co., the Wei Sing Lottery at Canton, and perquisites of local and petty officials which had recently been turned over to the Government ; also rewards were to be given persons mak- ing any public subscriptions toward the establishment or support of schools or colleges. Provision was made for translation bureaus for the translation of foreign books into Chinese, which were to be dis- tributed among the schools for the use of the pupils. To save ex- penses, all temples belonging to the people not recorded by the min- istry of rites were ordered turned into schools for the instruction and spread of western and Chinese learning. "By advocating reforms in this direction the minds of the masses will be enlightened by edu- cation, and whatever they may learn will be of the useful and practi- cal kind, and thus our ambition to nourish talent and ability for the good of our Empire shall be accomplished. Let this edict be dis- tributed far and wide for the information of all our subjects." July 16 the Emperor accused his conservative ministers, delaying the carrying out of his decree, of ingratitude for the honors conferred upon them, and warned them that if in the future he found the same laziness in aiding him in his attempts at reforms they should bear the weight of his righteous indignation. July 20 a decree proclaimed the regulations for the new examina- tions. Calligraphy was no longer to hold such importance in the examinations. "What we really aim at now is to give a practical education to our scholars, and hereafter successful candidates for literary degrees will not be selected for their fine penmanship, but for their practical knowledge of the subjects in which they shall be examined in future." The ministrj^ of rites was given the permission to recommend to the Emj^eror any subject that they deemed necessary to be incorporated in the examinations. The Emperor, July 25, com- manded copies of Chang Chih Tung's Essays on Exhortations to Study, to be distributed by the grand council to the various viceroys and governors with instructions to reproduce as many copies as 24 THE EDUCATIONAL, SYSTEM OF CHIlJA. j)Ossible for dissemination among the students and scholars of the country.^ The establishment of schools and colleges as feeders to the imperial university was ordered by a decree of July 29. August 4 five preparatory schools were ordered established in the city of Peking to prepare chu jen, chin shih, and Hanlin, living outside of the city, for their entrance examinations into the new university. On the 9th of the same month an outline of the scope of work to be done in the imperial university, with regulations and rules modeled after those of the Japanese and European universities, was presented by Sun Chia Nai, the director general of the university, and approved by the Throne. A site was selected and Dr. W. A. P. Martin was appointed president of the imperial university. " In recognition of his previous services," says the edict, "and to encouragahim to further effort, we hereby grant him the brevet button of the second rank as a special honor. The board of civil appointments is commanded to take note of this." ^ Sun Chia Nai memorialized the Throne, urging the establishment of a Government newspaper, citing that it would be " similar to the ancient custom of officials calling upon the people for i^oems and literary essays in order to find out the thoughts filling the minds of the masses at the time under them." He goes on to suggest that " it will be most important to grant liberty and license to newspapers to write freely and succinctly on all topics whether advantageous or disastrous to the country, thereby giving warning notes and assisting those in power to know how to remedy matters and the like. These newspapers, moreover, could translate the news and .editorials of foreign newspapers for the enlightenment and knowledge of officials and merchants, students and people, of what is going on in other countries. Such newspapers would then be more than valuable not only to local administration but also to enlighten all as to what is proper in regard to foreign intercourse." The me- morialist further suggested that money be set aside for the support of this newspaper in the future. The memorial was approved, and the Chinese Progress, published at Shanghai, was made the Govern- ment official organ and money set aside for its future needs. Viceroys and governors were commanded to secure subscriptions from " all civil and military officers under their several jurisdictions, various bureaus, colleges and schools, in fact all who wished to subscribe to the Chinese Progress newspaper, and send said lists to the Govern- ment book-printing bureaus." Not only was liberty granted all newspapers, but they were commanded " to write broadly and plainly and in a liberal spirit on all subjects affecting the welfare of the Empire; * * * j^^j. should they refrain from writing boldly against all frauds and misgovernment, thereby preventing us from 1 China's Only Hope. 2 This honor requires Dr. Martin to be addressed as " ta jen," or " your excellency." EDUCATION FEOM 1898-1900. 25 learning the exact truth and facts. Kang Yu Wei was requested to codify regulations and rules for the guidance of editors of news- papers in accordance with those governing editors in foreign coun- tries, which were to be " sent to Sun Chia Nai, who shall then present the same for our approval." The following day the Emperor issued a long decree informing his people of his "heart's desires," urging them to comprehend his re- forms and to give him their loyal support. Eealizing that there were " traitors in the camp," he warns them : " Beware how you put on a false mask, pretending on your face to be eager to embrace the practi- cal way but in your hearts determining to disobey our commands, and thereby thwarting our most earnest wishes. We can not forgive such hypocrites, who will only cause delay and embarrassment to our schemes for our country's welfare." He then points to Chen Pao Chen, governor of Hunan, as worthy of imitation. " Observe how earnestly he has worked for reform, see how by constant effort he has, as it were, hammered the advantages of practical modern reform into the minds of the gentry and literati of that Province and has brought them to join him in his efforts in that direction. You should all strive to follow that governor's practical earnestness and diligent energy." Young men of ability are needed to fill important posts, and the high ministers are commanded to search out and " recom- mend to us those who are really brilliant and practical in their talent and we will at once appoint such to posts where they may assist us in our great scheme of reform; but we shall not hesitate to punish those who recommend to us useless men. We see no other way to benefit the country unless we set earnestly to work in changing the present stagnant state of affairs, and you all must sympathize with our troubles and extreme difficulties in getting things done in the proper way." On the same day commands were given Wang Wen Shao and Chang Yin Huan to look after the establishment of efficient schools for training men in the administration of railways and mines, also schools for the education of men competent to command the navy. August 16 a Government translation bureau was authorized to be established at Shanghai, with Liang Chi Chao, M. A., ex-editor of the Chinese Progress Magazine, in charge, " for putting into Chinese western works on science, arts, literature, and textbooks for schools . and colleges," especially for supplying the needs of the imperial uni- versity. Printing machines and American textbooks were to be pur- chased, and appropriations were made to meet the expense of the bureau. August 19 a decree approved the joint memorial of the Viceroy Chang Chih Tung and Governor Chen Pao Chen, of Hunan, con- cerning the mode of procedure to be observed in Government ex- 26 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHUSTA. animations, and commanded the board of rites (li pu) to notify all provincial high authorities to make the necessary changes in the curriculum of studies in all the schools and colleges in accordance with the accepted regulations. The palace examinations for the Hanlin degree were for the time being abolished. The next day the ministry of war were commanded to make suggestions for reforms in the military examinations. August 21, as a result of sugges- tions made by Kang Yu Wei, embodied in a memorial sent to the Emperor, all viceroys and governors were commanded to establish in each of their respective Provinces a branch bureau of agriculture, arts, and commerce, and to report by telegraph the date of its establishment. On the same day it was ordered that " ministers and consuls abroad should establish schools for teaching Chinese literature to the sons of Chinese doing business in foreign countries, especially in the British Empire and Japan," and that the ministers to Great Britain and France should engage competent interpreters and put into Chinese the most important books on science of gov- ernment, textbooks for schools, and the like, for the instruction of all officials in the Empire, and great care should be taken that they retain elegance and clearness in diction, and keep to the strict mean- ing of the originals. Such books were to be from time to time presented by the tsung-li-yamen to the Emperor for perusal. August 26, through the memorial of the grand secretary. Sun Chia Nai, Liang Chi Chao, M. A., was granted permission to estab- lish a training school for translators in Shanghai. On the same day the 'Emperor severely reprimanded the two viceroys, Liu Kun Yi and Tan Chung Lin, of the Liang Kiang (including Kiangsu, An Hui, and Kiang Si), and Liang Kuang (including Kuangsi and Kuang tung) Provinces, for delay in carrying out the reforms as commanded, and hereafter they, according to edict of the 27th of August, are to reply by telegrams. He urged Jung Lu, viceroy of Chihli, to be the first to institute reforms as an example to others. September 8 a medical college, to be under the jurisdiction of the imperial university, was ordered established. September 12 provision was made for the 2,000 former directors of studies in the prefectural and district cities, who had been thrown out of employment by the abolition of the Wen Chang and the establishment of modern schools throughout the Empire ; these men were to be appointed tutors of Chinese classics in the new colleges and schools. On the same day imperial sanction was given for the establishment of a newspaper in Peking after the model of the Chinese Progress. In another edict, of the same day, the Emperor again explains the need of the reforms he is instituting. He would have his people know that his entire thought is for the good of the nation, that as western learning has brought happiness and prosperity EDUCATION FKOM 1898-1900, 27 to other lands, so he would institute reforms, that his people might enjoy the same blessings. He would have them appreciate the danger of their situation. " The nations around us are gathering about us ; they have come to take away what we can not keep ; we are trying to prevent this; * * * we are fighting hard to conquer in order to bestow the highest blessings upon our beloved children." He com- manded that all the reform edicts since June 11 should be printed and read by the officials to all the people, believing that when once the whole people understood the benefits accruing from these reforms that they themselves would work to carry them out. " Then will we have a strong China and a happy and contented people." On September 19 provision was made for a compendium of the treaties to be printed for future distribution among all subordinate officers in the Provinces, so that they might study them thoroughly and so not display ignorance when called upon in regard to inter- national matters. Provision was made for establishing middle schools in the capital to feed the imperial university. The students were all to be Government graduates selected by competitive examinations, and funds were provided for their support. Permission was also granted to establish a college of western learning in Peking " for the special education of sons of metropolitan officers from Sze Chuan and for such licentiates from Sze Chuan as may be staying in the capital." The college was to be supported by private funds already subscribed. On September 21 occurred the coup d' etat. The Emperor became a prisoner, never again to sit on the throne. The Empress Dowager seized the regency, which she held until the day of her death, and reactionary influences for a time gained full sway. Some of the reformers were executed, degraded, or banished, while others sought safety in flight or concealment. Of all the reforms of that summer the imperial university alone withstood the storm of reaction. It had a capital of 5,000,000 taels, but the president had scarcely had time to organize the institution, secure a competent faculty, and collect 200 or 300 students, before all were dispersed by the Boxer uprising. Later on all were relieved of their offices by the Chinese chancellor. On September 21 the Chinese Progress and other official news- papers were suppressed, " because," as expressed by the edict, " they offer no advantages * * * and will only be instruments to stir up discontent and restlessness. * * * The Peking Imperial Uni- versity is allowed to remain, but those schools intended to be estab- lished in prefectural, subprefectural, and district cities are com- manded to be held in abeyance." The edict authorizing the use of temples, monasteries, and nunneries for school purposes " is hereby revoked and the present inmates allowed to remain there as usual." 28 THE EDUCATIOaSTAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. On the 9th of October, by edict, the Empress restored the composi- tion of Wen Chang at the literary examinations and returned " to the usual methods instituted by our ancestors," which were to be ob- served in future. " The system of special recommendation of men of learning and talent recently inaugurated is also prohibited from this day. * * * As newspapers serve only to excite the masses to subvert the present order of things, and the editors thereof are composed mainly of the dregs of the literati, no good can be served by the continuance of these dangerous instruments against the public peace. We hereby command our viceroys and governors of Provinces to suppress and confiscate all newspaper offices within their juris- diction, to arrest the editors concerned, and to have them punished to the utmost extent of the laws. * * * The labors of the head bureau of agriculture, commerce, and the arts at Peking, having been so far abortive, there appears to be no necessity for its existence any further in the capital, and we, therefore, hereby abolish that institution." October 11, feeling secure on the Dragon Throne, she began her edicts by using the first person singular, as " I, the Empress Dowager, hereby issue the following decree." On this date was issued a pro- scription against all reform clubs and similar associations, claiming their object was not to exhort men to be good and virtuous, but primarily to disturb the peace, and she commanded the viceroys and governors of the Provinces " to search diligently for members of these associations and punish them according to their respective respbnsibilities as chiefs or followers." The sentence against chiefs and principal members of secret societies (which the above were not) was immediate decapitation, while the less responsible were usually banished. Their property was to be confiscated to the Gov- ernment. No leniency was to be shown, and "traitors will then learn to fear and tremble when they see their companions thus punished." At the same time Jung Lu was made the supreme head of all the military forces guarding Peking, and the power of life and death over them was conferred upon him by edict of the Empress Dowager. November 1 she proclaimed her love for things medieval by restor- ing the old order of affairs in the military examinations. " I, the Empress Dowager, am of the opinion that, as the military examina- tions of students for degrees by the lifting of heavy stone weights, manipulations of the great sword, and archery on horseback and on foot, are merely a form to go through in order to obtain the three degrees — chin shih, licentiate, and chu jen — and have nothing to do with service in the army ; this form should be still retained in mili- tary examinations, and I hereby command that viceroys and gov- EDUCATTON FROM 1898-1900. 29 eriiors and other officers follow the old order of things hitherto existing." On the 13th of November the orthodox way of conducting the literary examinations was restored, as indicated by the following quotations from the edict : " I, the Empress Dowager, Tze Hsi Tuan Yu * * * to set at rest, once for all, the present uncer- tainty that has been caused by the Emperor's recent reform meas- ures in the above direction,'^ now as the Empire has always pros- pered and flourished under the old regime * * * there is in- deed no necessity for making any changes in the curriculum of literary examinations that has hitherto always obtained." The edict commands all literary examiners and literary chancellors and in- tendent graduates to " keep to the orthodox way." This retrograde policy culminated in the Boxer outbreak, which nearly wrecked the nation and made the Empress a fugitive. After her return to power she cast her lot with the progressives, she reenacted and enlarged upon many of Kuang Hsu's edicts, and started the country again on a great work of educational reform. ^ Concerning the abolishing of the Wen Chang (" Eight-legged Composition "). CHAPTER III. DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN EDUCATION FROM 1900 TO 1906. A decree of June 5, 1901, granted the memorial of Sun Chia Nai, president of the Hanlin Academy, who complained that the members of the academy, instead of studying such subjects as would prepare them for appointments abroad and other Government offices, spent their time in trivial matters, such as composing poetry and other things which to-day are perfectly useless, and suggested that they devote themselves to the study of the principles of government, mathematics, chemistry, and other technical subjects; and also that each member should be allowed to select any such subject as he might desire, and furthermore that he be permitted, if he desired, to enter the Pei Yang Ta Hsueh Tang, Tientsin University,^ or the Nan Yang College. The memorial being granted, Sun Chia Nai was ordered to draw up a list of subjects to be studied. July 8 of that year the Empress Dowager issued a decree com- manding all Chinese diplomatic ministers to keep a lookout for young Chinese, sons of merchants, who had shown special ability and talent while studying in schools and colleges in foreign countries and had graduated with honor, and possessed diplomas in their various professions. These young men were to be sent to China to undergo an official examination, and one of the three Chinese degrees is to be conferred upon each according to the extent of knowledge shown by the examination. Strictest impartiality in selecting these men was to be observed. The following month, August 29, she reissued the substance of Kuang Hsu's edict abolishing the wen chang in the examinations for literary degrees. She also abolished the old examination for military degrees, and September 11 com- manded that military schools on a modern basis be established throughout the Empire, and as there are military schools in Tientsin, Nanking, Wuchang, and Chinan, the Viceroys Li Hung Chang, Liu Kun Yi, Chang Chih Tung, and Yuan Shih Kai were ordered to lose no time and draw up regulations for the new military schools. September 14 she issued the great edict, which commanded all the provincial shu yuan or examination agencies in the capital cities to 1 The Tientsin University was not reopened until April, 1903. 30 DEVELOPMENT OP MODEEN EDUCATION. 31 be turned into ta hsueh tang or universities modeled after the im- perial university at Peking; in every fu and chou there was to be established chung hsueh tang, or middle schools, and in every hsien or district hsiao hsueh tang, or elementary schools, while many yang hsueh tang, or primary schools, were to be established in larger num- bers. The course of study was to include the Chinese classics (four books and five classics), Chinese history and principles of govern- ment, and foreign science. Three days later was published the edict regulating the sending of students to be educated abroad, " Commanding the viceroys and governors of other Provinces of the Empire to follow the example of Viceroys Liu Kun Yi of the Liang Kiang, Chang Chih Tung of the Hu Kuang, and Kuei Chum of Szo Chuan, in sending young men of scholastic promise and ability abroad to study any branch of western science or art best suited to their abilities and tastes, so that they may return in time to China and place the fruits of their knowledge at the service of the Empire. Upon the return of a stu- dent from abroad with his diploma, proving the completion of his studies, he may present himself before the viceroy or governor and literary chancellor of his native Province for examination, and, if approved of, may then be recommended to the ministry of foreign affairs for employment, and subsequently memorialized to the Throne for promotion by said ministry. The various expenses of the educa- tion abroad of said students shall be paid by the viceroys or gov- ernors of the young men's native Provinces, on account of the imperial exchequer. Any student desiring to go abroad to study at his own expense may obtain an official dispatch from his viceroy or governor introducing the said student to the Chinese minister accredited to the country where the said student wishes to obtain his education, requesting said minister to take charge of the young men and render any needful help required. These private students may, if they so desire, be treated on the same privileged terms as are to be accorded those who have been sent abroad at Government expense, and may also be granted literary degrees of chu jen (M. A.) or chin shih (Ph. D.), like the others, should they prove their knowl- edge of Chinese literature equal to the attainment of such high degree." Yuan Shih Kai in 1901 secured the services of Dr. W. M. Hayes as president of the provincial college to be established at Chi Nan Fu, the capital of Shantung Province. Dr. Hayes drew up a system of rules and regulations for the college and the preparatory schools of the Province, which were to be under the control of the authorities of the college. His Excellency Yuan memorialized the Throne suggesting that a provincial college should be located at Chinanfu, a preparatory school for the university also should be located at the 32 THE EDUCATIOaSTAL, SYSTEM OF CHINA. capital, and as soon as possible other preparatory schools should be located in the fu and hsien cities. Annexed to the memorial was a copy of the rules and regulations. An edict of November 25 ap- proved Yuan Shih Kai's scheme and ordered the cheng wu chu to make copies of Viceroy Juan's memorial and his regulations for col- leges and schools and send to each viceroy, governor, and literary chancellor for their information, expecting them to model after the colleges and schools of Shantung. The cheng wu chu was also com- manded to consult with the board of rites as to rewards and promo- tions to be bestowed upon successful students in the future. A report with regard to new methods of education and the bestowal of liter- ary degrees upon graduates was soon made to the Throne, and on December 5 the following decree appeared : " (graduates of the lower schools, of promise and ability, are to be sent to the middle schools to complete a course of higher study ; and graduates from the latter, selected for their talents and ability, are to be sent to the colleges of their native Provinces to go through another course of study. After these have graduated from their respective colleges they are to be styled " students of the superior class," and are then to be thor- oughly examined by their own viceroys or governors and literary chancellors, and the most promising are to be granted passports to go to Peking for reexamination at the Peking University, after which they are to await an imperial decree bestowing upon them the literary degrees of chu jen, or M. A., and kung sheng, or senior licen- tiate. The latter are then to remain and again compete at the next examinations for the chu jen degree. Those who have obtained their chu jen degree are to again undergo another strict examination at the Peking University, and the most promising are to be sent by the said university authorities to the board of rites. The said board will memorialize the Throne, asking that some high ministers of the court be appointed to hold a special examination of these chu jen candi- dates, and a recommendation will then be presented to the Throne asking for the granting of the doctor's degree (chin shih) to the successful students. An examination of the latter will then be held in one of the throne halls, after which the successful candidates are to be introduced to the Throne, when either the grade of Hanlin bachelor or secretaries of the six boards or secretaries of the grand secretariat will be bestowed upon them." This edict again commands that Yuan Shih Kai's recommendation for schools and colleges is to be followed, first, in the provincial college at the capital; second, in middle schools ; and, third, in lower schools. January 10, 1902, a decree was issued commanding members of the Hanlin Academy to diligently study ancient and modern history and politics, also western learning, in order that they may be of future use to the Government. The chancellor of the academy is com- I DEVELOPMENT OF MODEEN EDUCATION, 33 manded to examine them every five months in their studies and report the results to the Throne. On December 1, 1902, a decree states that though the " won chang " has been abolished, the examinations and the short essays on cur- rent topics used at the recent examinations for the chu jen degree does not qualify them for Government service ; and it is decreed that not only the chu jen, but the Hanlin also, must hereafter attend the imperial imiversity, and each person must pursue a certain course of modem studies, and those who successfully complete such course of sudy at the university shall obtain diplomas allowing them to ent^r the ranks of expectant officials in the Province. Those who have joined the public service shall be periodically examined in what they are supposed to know by the viceroys or governors. The chan- cellor of the university is commanded to draw up suggestions for a course of study to be pursued by the new graduates in question. The Boxer troubles closed the schools in Peking and Tientsin, and in the north and west of China all the schools were temporarily abandoned for some months; some were completely destroyed. No doubt most of the schools outside of Shanghai were seriously affected. Soon after the Empress Dowager began to issue her edicts of reform ; her viceroys and governors, owing their appointments to Her Majesty, were most willing to aid her in carrying out these measures. The orders were first to establish provincial colleges and so work down to the lower grades, a method that later, as we shall see, had to be reversed. In 1901-2 new colleges were opened in the following Provinces with the accompanying appropriations for their annual support: Chekiang, 50,000 taels; Honan, 30,000 taels; Fookien $50,000 Mexi- can ; Kweichow, 20,000 taels ; Shantung, 50,000 taels ; Shansi, 50,000 taels; Kiangsi, $60,000 Mexican; Kuangtung, 100,000 taels. Col- leges were also opened in Soochow and Chihli. A memorial signed by Chang Chih Tung, Chang Pai Hsi, and Jung Ching states that the sending of young inexperienced students to foreign countries has not been altogether a success, and recom- mends that older and more learned men be sent so that the Empire may receive more help from their experiences and study abroad. The memorial recommends that Hanlin and princes of high rank be permitted to travel abroad, and that they be rewarded by the Gov- ernment according to the length of time spent abroad — first class, those that have spent at least three years in foreign countries; second class, those who have spent two years in Europe and America ; third class, those who have traveled in Japan over one year. Those who stay in a foreign country less than a year are to receive no reward from the Government. The object of sending these men is that they may examine the methods of foreign governments, especially their 9561°— 11 3 34 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. diplomatic policies; examine their military and naval regulations; and study into their educational systems. Men of the highest de- grees are to meet foreign men of distinction and try to understand their customs and ideas. The men of lower rank are to take notes of what has especially interested them, and their notebooks upon return to China are to be handed to an imperial inspector and re- wards to be given only to those who make out worthy notes. Those who remained in universities and pursued regular courses of study would accomplish greater results, and if upon their return they passed successful examinations they should be most liberally re- warded. Those standing first should be granted the Hanlin degree and given some important office ; those who simply traveled were not to receive as high reward as those who studied while abroad; all officials traveling abroad would receive their regular salaries as an encouragement to such travel. Chang Chill Tung recommended that an educational board should be established, located at Peking, to have control over the entire system of education in the Empire; that the imperial university should be under the management of one man, to be called " tsung chien tu " in order to make its management more effective. August 21, 1903, Chang Chih Tung, Chang Pai Hsi, and Jung Ching made a report on the enforcement of the normal-school sys- tem and what should be the policy of the Government toward the chin shihs. It was recommended that the normal schools in Peking should be raised to the grade of a normal college, and that foreign langaiages were not to be taught in schools below the middle school. It had been planned in order that all Hanlins, chin shihs, and chung shus might understand some western learning that they study in a school called the " chin shih kuan." It was found not practicable to require all of them to enter the school, as some were disqualified on account of age. So it was agreed that all these scholars under 35 years of age should enter the chin shih kuan, and while studying to be paid salaries ; but that those above the age of 35, who wished, were to be given the official rank of " chih hsien," district magistrate, and were then to be given offices in the Provinces ; but should any of these older students wish to study in the " chin shih kuan " they might do so. This recommendation received the imperial sanction. Although the Pa Ku Wen Chang (Eight-Legged Essay) had been abolished and the short essay instituted in its place, still the old competitive examinations were in existence. These examinations were the very bone and sinew of the Chinese constitution. China without her examinations was unthinkable; they possessed the key to official life; they required a thorough knowledge of Chinese liter- ature, and what the literary chancellor had been obliged to know to secure his degree was still required of his undergraduates. To be DEVELOPME]SrT OF MODEEN EDUCATION. 35 successful students they must still follow the old beaten tracks, and there was little or no time to give to modern learning. The goal of all Chinese education had been for over 1,200 years, and still was, Government official recognition. The modern educational system had been in force two years and few modern schools had been established. The people still clung to the old system, and as long as it was in existence it would be next to impossible to get the wealthy to give toward the establishment of modern schools, and without their volun- tary contributions the schools could not exist. The leaders of reform saw that in order to develop the modern educational system the old examinations must be abolished. There were about 1,839 degree- giving halls in the Empire, with as many as 960,000 competing scholars, and there were at least another million of students pre- paring to enter the lists. It certainly would be a drastic measure, resulting in a great revolution, that would abolish the examination system and destroy the hoj)es of 2,000,000 men. In the eleventh month of the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Kuang Hsii, Chang Chih Tung, Chang Pai Hsi, Jung Ching, and Yuan Shih Kai presented a memorial to the Throne advocating the gradual abolishment of the old examination system. They believed that unless it was fully known that the old system was to be abol- ished the modern schools would not prosper. They pointed out that if the modem system of schools, as had been outlined, were fostered and supervised by the viceroys and governors, in 10 years the colleges would be able to furnish numbers of young men capable of doing efficient service for the Empire. They offered the following suggestions in order to abolish the system : 1. For the degrees of Hanlin, chin shih, and chu jen, there would be held but three more examinations, the number of degrees granted to be decreased one-third at each examination, and so no more im- perial or provincial examinations would be held after the third. 2. For the hsiu tsai {A. B. degree) there were to be held four examinations in the next six years. The number of degrees granted to be decreased one- fourth at each examination, abolishing the exami- nation for A. B. after the fourth examination. 3. Thereafter the imperial examinations were to be restricted to graduates of the imperial university. The chu jen degree was to be conferred upon graduates of the provincial colleges, and the hsiu tsai to be given by examination only to graduates of the middle schools. 4. The educational officers of the old system were to be retained in the new educational system. 5. Men under 30 years of age having the degree of chu jen, or kung sheng, were to enter schools. Men from 30 to 50 years of age might enter the traininc: classes in normal schools, and those who did not 36 THE EDUCATIONAL. SYSTEM OF CHINA. wish to enter the normals might, after the three examinations, pre- sent themselves at a general examination (grace examination), where some of the highest might be made chih hsien and distributed among the different Provinces, and those of good literary ability, in case they are not made officials, might be given positions as teachers in the schools, and after three years' successful work might be rewarded by the Government. It was an imperial decree of September 2, 1905, that gave the last blow to the old style of literary examinations. Yuan Shih Kai felt that the decree of gradually abolishing the old examinations would delay matters too much, and that the old examinations should be abolished at once in order to allow the expansion of the modern system of education, and so memorialized the Throne. Viceroy Yuan first pointed out that it would not be violating ancient custom, but rather following it, since " before the era of what is termed the Three Dynasties men of office were selected from the schools, and it must be confessed that the plan produced many talented men." The decree goes on to say : " It was indeed a most successful plan for the creation of a nursery for the disciplining of talent and the molding of character for our Empire of China. Indeed, the ex- amples before us of the wealth and power of Japan and the countries of the west have their foundation in no other than their own schools. Just now we are passing through a crisis fraught with difficulties, and the country is most urgently in want of men of talent and abili- ties of the modern sort." He asserts that unless these old-style ex- aminations be abolished at once the people of this Empire will con- tinue to show apathy and hesitate to join the modern schools of learning. " Hence, if we desire to see the spread of modern educa- tion by the establishment of a number of schools we must first abolish the old style of studying for the examinations. The said memorial- ist's arguinents on the subject show the result of experience and knowledge, and we therefore hereby command, beginning from the Ping Wu Cycle (1906), all competitive examinations for the literary degrees of chu jen (M. A.) and chin shih (Ph. D.) after the old style shall be henceforth abolished, while the annual competitions in the cities of the various Provinces for the hsiu tsai (B. A.) or licentiate degree are also abolished at once. Those possessing literary grades of the old style chu jen and hsiu tsai who obtained their degrees prior to the issuance of this decree shall be given opportunities to take up official rank according to their respective grades and abilities." It states that the methods of rewards in rank and degree are to be the same as those formerly given in the examinations. "' We are certain that the official classes and gentry throughout the Empire, on learn- ing of this, will enthusiastically set abou'^ to start as many schools DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN EDUCATION, 37 as possible and to give the blessing of modern education to every individual subject of the Throne. * * * ^J\TQ command our min- isters of educations, on receiving this our imperial decree, to lose no time in at once distributing to the various Provinces the textbooks that have been prepared for schools, so that we may have a uniform system in teaching in all our schools." It further urges that pri- mary schools shall be established at once in all the towns, hamlets, and villages, and that the utmost care be exercised in the selection of teachers for these schools. The next day was issued an edict commanding that all the literary chancellors in the various Provinces should be given the duty of holding examinations and inspecting the schools of the Province to which each of them had been appointed under the previous regime, and that each should work in conjunction with the viceroy or gov- ernor of the Province in which he held oiRce. The same day another edict commanded that for the sake of uniformity the literary chan- cellors of the Provinces, instead of remaining under the board of rites, were in future to be under the control of the chief commis- sioners of education (hsueh wu ta chen). The chief commissioners of education, Chang Pai Hsi, Jung Ching, and the Viceroy Chang Chih Tung, presented an elaborate outline for the educational sys- tem in China, and rules and regulations for the governing of the same. They had carefully studied the educational systems of foreign countries before preparing their report. The rapid development of Japan and her successes in the war with Russia called forth the ad- miration of China, and Viceroy Chang was especially pro-Japanese. Hence it is not strange that the Japanese educational system was to these commissioners the most attractive, and that they should have developed an educational system by grafting the Japanese system upon the old Chinese educational system devoted to the study of the Chinese classics. They were not trained in western learning, and it is not surprising that they did so poorly, but that they should have succeeded so well in outlining a cofnplete sj^stem of education, which included kindergarten and orphan schools, lower and higher primary schools, middle schools, provincial colleges (higher schools), and a national university, with its colleges and graduate school. They also outlined courses for normal schools and colleges, colleges of languages, the Chin Shih College, agricultural schools and colleges, and techni- cal schools and colleges. An edict of the eleventh month of Kuang Hsii, twenty-ninth year, approved this memorial. On the 5th of September, 1905, an edict was issued in regard to Chinese students studying abroad. It states that the viceroys and governors have obeyed the command to send a number of selected students to study in foreign countries; that as there is a very large 38 THE EDUCATIOlSrAL SYSTEM OF CHIlSrA. number of students already in Japan, a large number should also be sent to study in Europe and America, and " to those who are willing- to cross the wide oceans in order to gain substantial knowl- edge to be of use to their country when they return home we shall certainly show our deepest pleasure and commendations." The min- isters abroad were to have charge of the students in the country where they were accredited, and they were commanded to " treat the students like their own children and relatives." They must also at times examine the students as to their studies and see that they lived orderly lives and were diligent in their work. " Should any of them be in want of money to prosecute their studies or any be ill, our ministers are expected to give what pecuniary or other aid the case may demand. * * * Let not our officials look slightingly on these students, but assist the Throne in every way to obtain men of ability and use for the betteiTaent of the Empire." The students were reminded that they should study with profit to themselves and their country, so that upon their return they might be of service to their Emperor. They were urged to make careful selections of studies, not choosing smiple ones, nor shirking difficult ones, but choosing those subjects which they were best fitted to pursue and which would give them knowledge and ability so that they might upon their return show by examination that they were qualified to take places of responsibility. It was after receiving a joint report from the ministers of the department of state affairs (cheng wu chu) and the commissioners of educational affairs (hsueh wu ta chen) that the Government created the ministry of education (hsueh pu), December 6, 1905. The following is a translation of a part of the edict : "At the present moment schools and colleges are being established in every Province of our Empire, and it has therefore become neces- sary to create a department in the Government which shall be at their head for the better purpose of perfect control. We therefore hereby command that a ministry of education (hsueh pu) be created forthwith, and that Jung Ching, assistant grand secretary and chan- cellor of the Hanlin Academ}^, be appointed president of the new ministr}^ We further appoint Hsi Ying to be senior vice president, with the rank of an expectant metropolitan officer of the third grade. We further command that the duty and administration work of the imperial academy (kuo tse chien) be amalgamated with the new ministr5^ The newly appointed president of the ministry of educa- tion is also commanded to confer with his colleagues as to whatever shall be further needed for the completion of the rights and duties of the ministry that have not been touched upon in this decree and to report the same to us. With the inauguration of this new depart- DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN EDUCATION. 39 ment of the Government the members thereof have the very impor- tant and serious duty of specially seeing to the encouragement and nurture of education throughout the Empire, and we would there- fore enjoin upon each and all of them to put forth their best effort to do their duty in furthering the earnest wishes of the Throne in this matter, which shall lead to the enlightenment and civilization of the people and the establishment of a universal education through- out the country." The Chinese Government, realizing the necessity of coming into closer relations with foreign nations and of securing a better under- standing of their various political institutions, manufactures, com- merce, agriculture, navies, armies, and educational institutions, have since 1901 sent many delegations of commissioners abroad to study. In 1904 Prince Pu Lun was appointed commissioner and Wang Kai Hah vice commissioner to go on a mission abroad to visit the St. Louis Exposition. Prince Pu Lun was the fifth prince of the im- perial blood who had ever visited Shanghai during the past two cen- turies. The first was Prince Chun, the present regent, who in July, 1901, passed through Shanghai on his way to Germany to apologize for the murder of Baron Von Ketteler, German minister, in June, 1900- The second was Prince Tsai Chen, son and heir of Prince Ching, who in May, 1902, was on his way to England as special am- bassador to congratulate King Edward on His Majesty's coronation. The third and fourth princes were the sons of Prince Su, who in the summer of 1902 were on a trip to the Straits Settlements and the Osaka Exhibition in company with the Mongol prince Kharachin. Again, in the fall of 1905, " the five high commissioners," composed of Duke Tsai Tse, Hsu Shih Chang, Tai Hung Tze, Tuan Fang, and Li Sheng Te, were commissioned to visit Japan, the United States, Eng- land, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, and Belgium. China had for so long shut herself up in her complacency against the whole world that these commissions, composed of some of China's greatest men, should be sent abroad to study western education, agri- culture, and jurisprudence, with the hope of finding something that would revolutionize and build up China into one of the world's great powers took the Occident by surprise. The results have more than justified the expenditure and truly demonstrated to the world that China is in earnest in her effort to reform her educational, industrial, economic, and constitutional systems. During the period of reor- ganization of education from June 1, 1901, to the time of the abolish- ing of the old system of examinations, September 2, 1905, as is in- dicated by the contents of the edict of that date, modern schools were not being established as rapidly as the Government desired. In some Provinces little if any attention had been given the subject, and in 40 THE EDUCATIONAL, SYSTEM OF CHINA. some others where half-hearted attempts had been made the schools were of necessity poorly organized, the management was in the hands of unqualified men, and the teachers had little or no knowledge of pedagogy and western learning. There were three or four Provinces that had made a more earnest attempt. Chili Province at this time took the lead in educational matters. In a measure this was due to her location, being the metropolitan Province, although the schools of Peking are not under the jurisdiction of the Province, having an independent educational board, but the rapid development of the schools was A^ery largely due to the energetic measures and good administration of the viceroy, Yuan Shih Kai. He had a clear con- ception of what was needed, understood how to organize, and was wise enough to employ Dr. Tenney to supervise the schools of the Province during the first period of reconstruction. In May, 1902, Viceroy Yuan established a provincial board of education at Pao- tingfu, with the object of having it supervise all the schools in the Province. Hu Yueh Fan was appointed tu pan (director). At the same time there were eight other officers connected with the board. The administration was divided into three departments, special science, general educational, and translation and publication. March, 1903, a printing press was added to the board's outfit, and a few months later the department of translation and publication added six more officers to its staff, superintendent of map drawing, proof reader, accountant, publisher, translator, and copyist. By May, 1904, lecture halls were opened, where lectures were given under the supervision of the board of education. The lectures were given with the hope of educating the public along the lines of reform and progress in the new system of government, industry, and edu- cation. These halls are open every night, Sundays excepted, when four half-hour lectures are given by able men. By the end of 1905, 18 lecture halls had been opened in the Province. The provincial college at Paotingfu was organized in the spring of 1902. Its work was quite elementary, similar to that now required of the middle schools. In 1904 it had a teaching staff consisting of two Europeans and six Chinese, who were formerly students of the Tientsin Uni- versity and the Tientsin Naval College. In 1902 a normal school was established at Paotingfu under Japanese instructors. Its ob- ject was to train teachers to take charge of the primary schools. In 1904 the school enrolled between 400 and 500 students, who were mostly of advanced age, many if not most of whom had Chinese degrees. The Tientsin University (Pei Yang Ta Hsueh Tang) was reopened in April, 1903, having been rebuilt on the site of the ruined arsenal at Hsiku, situated about 5 miles outside of Tientsin city. The stu- DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN EDUCATION. 41 dents entering at that time were compelled to devote two years to preparatory work. In August, 1905, classes were formed in the technical departments of law, civil engineering, and mining. In 1906 members of the advanced class were sent to the United States to complete their education. It was realized that middle schools must be established throughout the Provinces as feeders to the Tientsin University and provincial college. Dr. Tenney, president of the university, began their organi- zation in some of the f u and chou cities, and by the spring of 1904 had 14 such schools organized, with an average of .about 50 students in each school. These schools were scattered over the Province from the extreme north on the borders of Mongolia to the extreme south of the Province not far from the Yellow Kiver. The Chinese examina- tion halls (shu yuan) were reconstructed for these middle schools, and as a rule are very suitable and commodious. Former students of the Tientsin University were intrusted with the teaching in these schools, and were very successful, often showing much enthusiasm in the work. All the schools had athletic grounds, and the students were required to take physical exercise daily as a part of their work. We are told by Dr. Tenney that the gentry often looked askance at the innovation, but the fear of the viceroy compelled them to tolerate it. In 1904 orders were given to establish a middle school in each fu of the Province, and in each hsien was to be established a higher primary school, and the smaller places were to organize lower pri- mary schools. At this date students were selected and sent to Japan for study in normal schools; upon their return they were expected to teach in the schools of Chihli Province. In order to save expense the three departments of the educational board were united in one department in October, 1904. In April, 1905, the board was moved from Paotingfu to Tientsin, where it is still located, having many buildings in spacious and beautiful grounds. That year the board was divided into seven departments, accounts, special sciences, gen- eral education, supervision, technical, map drawing, and one in charge of students studying in foreign countries. At this time night schools were opened giving officials an oppor- tunity to study English. The students sent the year before to study in the normal schools in Japan, having completed a short course, returned to Tientsin and were distributed among the fu cities to teach ; and more students were sent abroad to study. During this period other schools had been established in the Prov- ince. At Paotingfu an agricultural college was established in 190i2, a medical college in 1904, a political science school in 1905. A mili- tary and a Japanese language school were also established. An industrial school and an army medical school were established in 42 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Tientsin. The Educational Directory for China, 1905, gives the following report of the middle schools of Chihli Province under Dr. Tenney, superintendent: Name of schools , Tientsin Chao Chou . . Chengting.. Chi Chou... Ho Chien. . . Hsuan Hua. I Chou JeHo Kuang Ping Chinese teachers. Pupils. 6 90 3 50 4 60 3 40 4 60 4 50 2 30 4 60 4 60 Name of schools. Shen Chow ShenTe. .. Ta Ming. . . Ting Chou . Tsun Hua. Yung Ping. Total Chinese teachers. Pupils. 75« English is taught in all the middle schools. By January, 1906, there were in Chihli Province 35 lecture halls, 8 technical and special schools, 21 normal schools, 24 middle schools, and 166 boys' higher primary schools. CHAPTER IV. CONTROLLING AGENCIES OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. The educational system in China, as we have seen by studying the growth of modern education, rests upon imperial decrees. The con- trolling authority, therefore, has been intrusted to, first, the minis- try of education, with its headquarters at Peking, and, second, the provincial boards of education and other local officers. As shown in the previous chapter, the ministry of education (hsueh pu) , created December 6, 1905, by imperial decree, has at its head a president and two vice presidents. These are assisted by five depart- ments, three of which are subdivided into three bureaus, and the other two into two bureaus each. Each department has a senior secretary in charge, and each bureau a second-class secretary and one or two second-class assistant secretaries. The first department is the department of general supervision (tsung wu szu), and is composed of the following bureaus: First, bureau of secret and important documents (chi yao ke), and, as its name indicates, it has charge of all secret and important documents, prepares memorials and documents for the ministry of education, has the supervision and recommendation of educational officials to be promoted or degraded. Second, bureau of records (an tu ke), which receives and files all records and reports from the educational boards of the Province. Third, bureau of textbooks (shen ting ke), which has the supervision, inspection, and approving of all textbooks, and the preparing and providing suitable ones for the schools of the Empire. The second department is the department of professional education (chuan men szu), and is composed of: First, the bureau of instruc- tion of professional education (chuan men chiao), which looks after the establishing of universities, provincial colleges, and professional schools of law, political science, and the like ; it also has charge of the examination of private professional schools as to their standard, rank, and privileges, and makes reports concerning them to the ministry of education. Second, the bureau of administration of professional education (chuan men szu), which is to protect and encourage professional education; to examine all professional asso- ciations and to reward those who are worthy ; to have charge of museums, observatories, and the weather bureau, and to have charge of all students studying in foreign countries. 43 44 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. The third department is the department of general education (pu tung szu) , and is composed of : First, the bureau of normal educa- tion (shih fan chiao yu ke), which has charge of all normal schools; deaf, dumb, and blind schools, women's normal schools, and domestic education, as to their schedules, rules, regulations, administrative officers, teaching staff, and the like. Second, the bureau of secondary education (chung teng chiao yu ke), which has charge of middle schools for boys and girls, and all other schools of the same rank, as to their studies, rules, regulations, administration, teaching staff, and the like. Third, the bureau of primary education (hsiao hsueh chiao yu ke) , which looks after the interests of all the primary schools, has charge of the halls for promoting education (chuan hsueh so) ; also of kindergartens and all elementary schools. The fourth department is the department of technical education (shih yeh szu) composed of: First, the bureau of instruction in technical education (shih yeh chiao wu ke), which has charge of the agricultural, industrial, and commercial schools; also of all technical schools, as to their rules, regulations, administra.tion, students, teaching staff, etc. Second, the bureau of administration of technical education (shih yeh shu wu ke), which is to examine into the conditions of technical education in the Provinces and to devise ways and means for promoting and supporting the same. The fifth department is the department of finance (hui chi szu) and is composed of : First, the bureau for the receiving and disburs- ing of funds (tu chih ke), which has the preparing of the budget for the ministry of education and for the Provinces and also has charge of all the finances of the ministry of education and makes reports of the same; it also has charge of all property connected with the ministry of education. Second, the bureau of buildings (chien chu ke), which looks after the buildings of all schools, libraries, and museums of schools directly under the supervision of the minister of education; also examines the architectural plans for all schools in China. Third, the bureau of miscellaneous affairs (szu wu ting), which has charge of the seal of the ministry of edu- cation and stamps all papers; superintends the buildings and grounds of the ministry of education, day and night, and is in charge of all the servants connected with the ministry of education. The ministry of education sends out inspectors to visit the schools of the various Provinces, and they are required to make personal inspection of the schools and within six months to send in reports to the ministry of education of the number of schools visited with the number of teachers and pupils. The Peking Daily News of February 28, 1908, reports that these inspectors receive a salary of 200 taels per month, but it is not customary to publish the salaries of Chinese Government officers. The North China Herald of CONTROLLIISrG AGENCIES. 45 December 18, 1909, page 642, states that " The regulations drawn up by the ministry of education for the inspection of schools have been approved by decree, and will be put into operation, next year." The Universal Gazette, December 31, 1909, states that the ministry of education, having appointed educational commissioners and provincial boards of education, is contemplating establishing dis- trict boards of education in every Province. The ministry of education is to establish a large depot in Peking from which it can supply every kind of educational requisite for the entire Empire. It has a nomenclature committee at work compiling a uniform and much-needed dictionary of technical terms. About the time of the establishment of the ministry of education the Japanese ministry of education provided Japanese professors to give a five-weeks' course of lectures before the Chinese ministry of education and the commissioners of education who had been sent to Japan to study the Japanese system of education. Later in 1906 the commissioners of education who had not been abroad were requested to visit Japan and examine the educational system of that country before beginning their official duties. In each Province there is a provincial board of education, called the hsueh wu kung so. All the officers of this board are nominated by the ministry of education and confirmed by the Throne. The provincial commissioner of education (ti hsueh shih) is to be of the same rank as the provincial treasurer, and is under the control of the viceroy or governor of the Province. His duties are, to enforce the regulations of the ministry of education; to report to the viceroy or governor any prefectural or district magistrate who is not carry- ing out the regulations of the ministry ; to make yearly reports of all the schools in the Province and to present them to the viceroy or governor who will forward the reports to the ministry of education ; to work with the provincial treasurer and see that funds are pro- vided for the schools. He is also required to make reports whenever called upon, and he can, in cases of great importance, communicate directly with the ministry of education; but he can not leave the Province without first securing the consent of the ministry of educa- tion. This provincial commissioner of education, who has a number of officers to assist him, nominates, and the viceroy or governor ap- points, six ins]Dectors (sheng shih hsueh) who are chosen from normal graduates, returned students from abroad, administrators, or teachers of schools. These inspectors are required to visit the schools and make reports. There are a senior and five junior counselors called i chang and i sheng, who are to assist the provincial commissioner in devising ways and means for carrying out the educational program, and are to be able to answer all questions asked by the viceroy or governor concerning education in the Province. There are also a 46 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. superintendent of education (kao teng chiao yu chiang shih), a private secretary (mi shu kuan), and a commissioner of investiga- tion (chi cha). There are six bureaus in the board of education, each having a president, vice president, and secretary. First, the bureau of ac- counts (huai chi ke) ; second, the bureau of technical schools (shih yeh ke) ; third, the bureau of administration (tsung wu ke) ; fourth, the bureau of general education (pu tung ke) ; fifth, the bureau of professional education (chuan men ke) ; sixth, the bureau of map drawing and engraving (tu shu ke). We have been informed that the educational board of Chili Province in 1908 contained 52 mem- bers ; that 1 was a returned student having graduated in Japan ; 1 a returned student, who had graduated from an American college; 5 had traveled in Japan; 14 were graduates of normal schools or of political science schools; 1 was a graduate of the Tientsin Naval College; 1 a graduate of an engineering school; 1 was a chin shih (Ph. D. Government graduate) ; 14 were chu jen (N. A, Government graduates) ; and all had received some Government literary degree. The expense of this educational board for the thirty-third year of Kuang Hsu (1907-08) was 41,264 taels, or $29,760. Educational commissioner's offices had been established in some of the foreign countries to liaA^e charge of Government Chinese students studjang abroad. In Japan, where there is the largest number of Chinese students, this office is located inside of the Chinese legation at Tokyo. The Chinese minister is the president and the educational commissioner is his assistant, and must be chosen from among the Chinese legation secretaries in Japan by the ministry of education and the Chinese minister of the legation in Tokyo. The educational commissioner receives instructions from the minister, but all diplomatic affairs concerning the students are entirely in the hands of the minister, but the educational commis- sioner is to rejDort such cases to the minister. It is the duty of the commissioner to keep records of the students as to their school work and character and to make reports of the same to the ministry of education in Peking. He also protects, directs, and corrects these students when occasions require, but is to act with discretion. He is also to give certificates, such as are required by the minister of education, to students graduating from Japanese schools ; to issue excuses to students, such as granting them the privilege of return- ing to China on a visit or permanently; and he has the right to send back to China such students as have a bad character or are not making progress in their studies; but he must make reports also of these matters to the ministry of education. In making choice of a course of study, the student must first secure the approval of the educational commissioner before entering upon the work. The board- CONTROLLING AGENCIES. 47 ing or lodging places of students outside of the legation are subject to the commissioner's approval, and in case of sickness he selects the hospital to which the student is to be sent. He has charge of pay- ing the monthly stipends to the students, and in cases where self- supporting students become financially embarrassed he may loan them to the amount of $50, which must be paid back inside of two months' time, or the student will forfeit the right to borrow further sums from the office. Help can be given to but one student at a time from the same Province. In the case of the death of a self- supporting student the commissioner may furnish the amount neces- sary to send the body home, but the expense must not exceed $300 Mexican. The commissioner's office has four departments: First, charge of students ; second, finances ; third, charge of official documents ; fourth, department of translation, where the regulations of Japanese schools are put into Chinese. The commissioner selects at the most 10 men for his staff of advisors, who are to aid him in solving difficult ques- tions. The salaries of these lower officers are fixed by the minister. For the students studying in Great Britain and Europe there has been but one educational commissioner's office, which has been located in London, but we are informed that the ministry of education has changed this plan and in future educational commissioners' offices will be established in each European country where Chinese Govern- ment students are pursuing their studies. In the United States there is more than one educational commissioner. Dr. Tenney was one of the first to be appointed to look after the students sent out by the Tientsin University, and later they have been placed under a com- missioner of the Chinese imperial customs. Mr. Yung Kwai, son of the venerable Yung Wing, is in charge of the Chinese students sent out under the indemnity fund returned to China by the United States. The provincial board is also aided by supervisory boards of pri- mary schools. In Chihli Province there were, in 1908, 31 such boards. In the same year there had been established in the Province 29 educational clubs (chiao yu hui). The ministry of education ordered all the Provinces to establish educational exhorting societies (chuan hsueh so), where the school officials and teachers might meet and discuss the ways and means for promoting the schools, and where some might receive help from those of experience and acknowl- edged success. In Peking, in 1908, an attempt was made especially to interest those connected with the Government, public, and private elementary schools to bring about better results and a more unified system of conducting the school and better teaching methods. They met at a place called the " Hu Feng Chiao" on the fourth Sunday in each month, in spring and winter, from 1 to 4 o'clock, and the 48 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHIN'A, remainder of the year from 8 to 11 o'clock. Any teacher of Govern- ment, public, or private schools could become a member of this club through the reconunendation of a regular member. In 1908 there were 149 of these societies in Chihli Province. Throughout the Em- pire there have been established great numbers of lecture halls (hsuan chiang so). In Chihli Province alone there were by 1908 no less than 158 lecture halls. Four lectures are given every night, except on Sundays, from 7.15 to 9.15. During the daytime the majority of the halls are used for half-day schools. It has been my privilege to attend some of these meetings in Tientsin city. The halls are large and comfortable, fitted up with tables, stools, and long benches. They are well lighted, and the guests during the evenings are often refreshed by a cup of hot tea. The attendance is usually good, aver- aging anywhere from 80 to 160, and some evenings as many as 1,000 have been known to attend. In the city there were, in 1909, 18 lec- turers, who volunteered their services, receiving but $5 to pay for their rickshaw hire. Lectures are given to educate the people along educational, governmental, industrial, commercial, and general sub- jects. The provincial board of education insists that the edicts must be explained to the people ; also that lectures shall be given on par- liamentary government, so that the people may intelligently exercise the franchise as soon as a constitutional government is established in China. In many of the Provinces much pains was taken to prepare the people for the first provincial assemblies of 1909. One evening in the east ma lu lecture hall in Tientsin I heard lectures on the f ol- lowiilg subjects: First, How Egypt Came to Lose Her Independence; second, History of Korea; third, The Russian and Japanese War; fourth. Principles of Commerce. These subjects were discussed in an intelligent and instructive manner, and commanded the close attention of the hearers. Another evening the subjects were: First, The Cultivation of the Individual ; second, Following the Customs and Manners That Have Been Handed Down to Us; third, Education; fourth. Books ^Vhich We Must Study. Every effort is being made by the educational boards to educate the people along the lines of modern education, and thus to secure their support and cooperation in advancing education. CHAPTER V. PRIMARY EDUCATION. Under the head of primary education may be placed kindergarten and home education, elementary schools, and technical schools of an elementary character. The last class is treated under technical schools. At the time of the adoption of the system of education no place outside of the kindergarten and home education was provided for the education of girls, hence this chapter otherwise treats only of schools for boys. Kindergartens are to be established for children from 2 to 6 years of age, and are to be taught by women specially trained for the work. Thus far the ministry of education has not been able to give nmch attention to the developing of this work, but it does expect first of all to have kindergartens organized in connection with the or- phanages that are being opened in the large cities, and it has pro- vided that women shall be trained as nurses for the caring for and teaching of these orphan children. Training classes are to be pro- vided for widows who may be able to devote themselves to the carry- ing on of this work. It is the plan of the Government to prepare books relating to home education, and also to have translations made of the best foreign books on kindergarten subjects. The Government hopes that through the preparation of these books many mothers will, by reading them, learn the most modern methods of training their children. It also suggests that the wealthy may be able to open such schools in their homes. I was able one day to visit the first private kindergarten school established in Tientsin, which had been opened by His Excellency Yen Hsin, a Hanlin and the vice president of the ministry of edu- cation, in his home. It was carried on very successfully, doing the work of a model kindergarten, and its founder no doubt hoped by creating an interest in this department of education to induce many of the wealthier gentry to open kindergarten schools. His excellency had also established in his home a women's kindergarten training school, in which were 27 students; the instruction was good and the students gave promise of developing into good teachers. In Japan the kindergartens have flourished and are looked upon by the people as a very essential part of the educational system, and 9561°— 11- i 49 60 THE EDUCATIOOSTAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. we may infer that they will be just as attractive to the Chinese people and in time will be established in large numbers in the Em- pire. The home life in China needs to be supplemented by just what the kindergartens can furnish. The Chinese child seems to be more amenable to early instruction and to kindergarten influences than the European child, and this should be taken advantage of, and a widespread use of the system would save much time and expense in after years when the child is passing through the primary schools. The elementary schools are divided into two grades, called lower primary (chu tong hsiao hsueh tang) and the higher primary (kao tong hsiao hsueh tang). Sometimes the two are united in one school, known as a higher-lower primary. Again, there are schools called half -day schools, where the attendance is so great that acconmioda- tion can only be given all the pupils by dividing them into two classes, one attending school in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon. Again there are night schools, where the poor children who have to work during the daytime may attend and secure an ele- mentary education. Many night schools have been opened in the towns and villages where men have attended in large numbers. The subjects taught are morals, reading, writing, and accounts. Lower primary schools, having a course of five years, have been established for boys, who may enter at the age of 6. These schools are classed as Government, public and private schools. It is expected that each village having 100 roofs will establish one of these schools, aijd the Government expects this rule to be enforced by 1915. The Government proposes to establish in each hsien at least two so-called Government lower primary schools, and in each town at least one such school. The funds for these Government schools are to be sup- plied by the local magistrate. The public lower primary schools are such as have been established and organized according to the regula- tions of the ministry of education for lower primary schools, and are being supported by contributions that formerly were used for other purposes, such as theatricals. These contributions may be turned into a permanent endowment. Any private school supported by any individual, providing it has an enrollment of over 30 boys and con- forms to the regulations made by the Government for lower primary schools, may be placed under Government control, being under the control and supervision of the local magistrate. All schools are to be established by sanction of the local magistrate, and without his sanction no school is allowed to be closed. The magistrate is ex- pected to encourage and foster such schools, and if it be found that he is negligent in his duties, he is to be reported and degraded ; and if he interferes and obstructs the establishment of schools, he is to be reported and severely punished. He is required to select some of the most respectable citizens to aid him in securing the establish- PRIMARY EDUCATION. 51 ment of schools. His future promotion depends not a little upon how he has been able to organize, establish, and finance schools. Any citizen who gives liberally toward the support of these schools may be reported to the governor of the Province for reward. The course of study extends through five years. Eight subjects are taught through the entire course, and the number of hours re- quired per week is to be uniform through the course as given below. Course of study for the louver primary schools (five years). Subjects. Ethics.... Chinese classics. . . Chinese Uterature Mathematics History Number of hours. Subjects. Geography . Science Drill Total Number of hours. The work required in mathematics is : First year, 1 to 20 ; read and write; addition and subtraction. Second year, 20 to 100; multipli- cation and division. Third year, addition, subtraction, multiplica- tion, and division. Fourth year, decimals; the use of the abacus. Fifth year, application of the four rules, using the abacus. The work required in Chinese classics: First year. Filial Piety Classic; Analects, volume 1 (Lun Yu), taking about 40 characters in advance each day, reading and explaining them. Second year. Analects, volume 2 (Lun Yu) ; Great Learning (Ta Hsueh) and Doctrine of the Mean (Chung Yung), 60 characters per day. Third year, Meng Tze, 100 characters per day. Fourth year, Meng Tze, Li Chi, 100 characters per day. Fifth year, Li Chi, 100 characters per day. The work required in Chinese literature: First year, nouns and verbs; second year, building sentences; third year, building para- graphs; fourth year, continuation of third-year work; fifth year, letter writing, common style. The pupils also have work in pen- manship, and practice recognizing characters at sight. History is one hour per week throughout the five years and- con- sists of reading short stories and biographies of famous men in Chinese histor3^ In geography they begin with the neighborhood, extending out to the hsien, fu. Province, China, and the countries bordering on China. Science work, elementary study in zoology, botany, and mineralogy. Morals are taught to develop in the boys a desire to do right in and out of school. Drill consists of physical exercises. 52 THE EDUCATIOaSTAL SYSTEM OF CHINA, Drawing and manual work may be taken as elective studies. The teacher has the right to diminish the number of hours of study during the 20 days before examination. The old system of having the boys learn to commit without any explanations is no longer desired. The best schools explain the text as a pupil proceeds in his lesson. It is not unusual to find teachers still clinging to the old methods of teaching in the primary schools. In Tientsin city, while visiting schools, I found some old-style pri- mary schools in the very vicinity where the " model primary school " is located. I had just left the model primary school and was there- fore able to compare the old with the new system. The model pri- mary school contained all the grades of the higher and lower primary schools. Here, indeed, I found all the classes conducted by able teachers, who not only understood the most modern primary methods of teaching, but were also able to apply these methods. Here I found the best primary work that I have seen in China. The pupils were in perfect order, giving the very best attention, were enthusiastic, and showed by their recitations that they had had excellent drill in the work they had been over. Never have I seen better work done in the schools of the United States than I saw in this model primary- school. The work done in most of the modern primary schools that I have visited, while being somewhat better than the old schools, still falls verj^ far short of what we would call good work in the United States. Most of the teachers are men taught in the old way and have very little knowledge of western science and less of pedagogy, and they find the old way much easier than the new. When China has young men teaching who have been well trained in normal methods, then, and not before, we may expect to find better primary schools in China. It was discovered that the lower primarj^ schools were not doing good work, and that the pupils were not able to complete all the out- lined course of study in the five years, so, on May 15, 1909, the minis- try of education sent in a memorial asking that the course of study for the lower primary schools might be altered to meet the needs of the people and with the hope of establishing a larger number of such schools. The ministry of education made the following suggestions, which were on the same day approved by an imperial edict: That each school should have at least 30 pupils, and that there should be offered two courses of study, one a complete course and the other a much easier course. The memorial says : " When we examined the lower primary schools last year, scarcely could be found one school conforming strictly to the regulations as outlined by the ministry of education. To be sure, most of the officials had a few schools to show off', but these were so few as not to be worthy of mention, but there were schools where the officials could show that a large PEIMAEY EDUCATIOlSr, 53 amount of money had been spent with very little work done. Wlien asked the causes for the poor work that had been done, the following were some of the complaints offered : ' The course of study contained too many subjects; the funds for the school were not sufficient to employ well-qualified teachers; and the number of hours of study too limited.' We believe these complaints are true." In the old course there were eight subjects; in the new, history, geography, and natural science are not to be studied as subjects, but some knowledge of them to be obtained from the subject matter in their new readers. In their place music is added and drawing is made optional. In place of 30 recitation hours per week, as in the old course, the new is to have 36 hours. Sunday forenoon is to be used for reviewing the week's work, and the afternoon is for rest. In the easy course the pupils will study reading, Chinese literature, and mathematics. If a school is located in a city the students should have physical drill, but if in the country ihej may do without it, especially if they have no teacher to do the work. Drawing is made optional in this easy course. The people living in a place may decide which course shall be taught in the school, and if they wish both courses in the same school, two departments may be formed. In case a pupil who has completed a short course wishes to enter the higher primary, he must make up all the work required in the complete course before he enters. The number of years may also be cut down from five to three in the easy course. The Chinese language has no phonetic system, but is made up of an unknown number of complicated idiographs, called characters. Each of these characters must be separately learned by the child through an effort of memory. He must recognize by the form of a character its name and meaning, and he also must know how to write the character from memory. All this places a heavy burden upon the child and prevents his making as rapid progress in his studies as could be made using a phonetic language. Wang Chao, the secretar}^ who figured so conspicuousl}^ at the time of Kuang Hsu's reforms, has invented a phonetic system that has some good points, but as a whole is not generally considered satisfactory. The new era is looking for an inventor to bring this blessing to China. After completing the lower primary course of study students may enter the higher primary. The course is limited to 4 years of 36 hours' recitations per week. These schools may be established in any city, town, or village. In every hsien there must be one so-called Government higher primary school. In any city or town, if there have been any self-supporting schools, they may be classed as higher primary schools by conforming to the rules of the ministry of edu- cation, and where these schools have been supported by contribu- tions and collections, such as have been used for theatrical i)urposes, these collections may be regarded as endowments, and the schools 54 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. SO established are known as public higher primary schools. Several villages may join together and establish a higher primary school after jfirst securing the consent of the magistrate. When anyone establishes and pays all the expenses of a higher primary school, the school is classed as a private higher primary school, and must con- form to the same rules as govern higher primary schools. The local magistrate is to see that higher primary schools are established and regulated according to law, and any violation on his part will subject" him to censure and possibly to punishment. He may select respect- able citizens to assist him in establishing these schools. The finances are left in the hands of the cities, towns, and villages to manage. The pupils are not required to pay tuition in the lower, but in the higher primary schools a moderate fee is required. The nine sub- jects taught during the four years embrace the following : Morals, 2 hours; Chinese literature, 8 hours; Chinese classics, 12 hours; math- ematics, 3 hours ; science, 2 hours ; Chinese history, 2 hours ; geogra- phy, 2 hours; drawing, 2 hours; and physical drill, 2 hours. As was the case in the lower primary, so we find in the higher primary that the Chinese classics occupied the most important place, as 6 out of the 12 hours given are devoted to the reading of the Shih Ching, or Book of Poetrj^ ; the Shu Ching, or Book of History ; the I Ching, or Book of Changes ; and the Section on " Mourning," in the Li Chi, or Book of Kites. The remaining 6 hours are devoted to the expla- nation of the texts, and the 96,856 characters in the texts read.^ The work in Chinese literature is devoted to the study of the ku "^on, or ancient literature, and the translation of it into mandarin, the official language ; the writing of essays and the study of mandarin. In mathematics the larger portion of a grammar-school arithmetic is completed and drill is given in the use of the abacus. The work in Chinese history begins with the ancient period and attention is paid only to the most important events and changes made in the life of the nation. The work in geography includes the study of China and foreign nations. In science the first, second, and fourth years are devoted to the study of biology, and the third year to elementary chemistry. The object in teaching morals is to develop character, and this is done by bringing out prominently the characteristics of great men and their sayings or teachings. Use is made first of the four books, and then selections are made from the Book of Poetry. The work in physical drill is not alone for the exercising of the body, but also to teach the student prompt obedience. The principal may permit the students to take manual training, agriculture, or commerce, in place of work in biology, and two hours' work may also be dropped from other subjects, and if the three subjects, manual training, agri- -The Book of Poetry has 40,848 words in the text ; the Book of History, 27,134 words ; the Boob of Changes, 24,437 words ; and the Section on Mourning, 4,437 words. PRIMAEY EDUCATION. 55 culture, and commerce, are desired, the scheduled number of hours may be increased by two. There should be eight classes and no more in the school, so that students may enter at either of the two terms of the year. No class is to have more than 60 pupils. Quali- fied pupils up to the age of 15 may enter the beginning classes in the school. The principal may diminish the number of hours of recita- tion 20 days before the close of each term. When the pupils are examined the principal should invite the local magistrate to be present and help look over the papers and grant the certificates. At the end of the second term of each jesiv every pupil who has completed all the subjects required in the course is to receive a cer- tificate showing that he is a graduate of that school, and this cer- tificate will be his passport into the middle schools. The rules forbid using corporal punishment on a boy above the age of 13, and when administered should not be too harsh. This rule had no place in the schools of the old regime, where a stupid pupil was often severely flogged to aid his memory or to pacify the anger of the master. Punishments of a milder form may be administered. The teachers are not to insist upon pupils repeating their lessons word by word, as was the case in the old schools, and which the old-fashioned teacher still likes even in the modem schools ; in fact, they fall back into that rut unless constantly watched by the principal of the school. More attention is being given to the explanation of all subjects read. The excellent new Chinese readers that have lately been prepared for the primary schools by western-trained Chinese men, and that are now widely used in the schools, are doing the most to overcome the faulty methods of the past; but even in the teaching of these books the old Government degree man needs to be watched or he will lapse into the old method and the pupils will be repeating word by word without comprehending the text read. The schools are now required to use textbooks authorized by the ministry of education. The regulations for schools recommend that the principal of primary schools should be a normal graduate, but laiowing that there is not a sufficient number of such graduates to man the schools, permit anyone reputed to be a good manager to be emploj'^ed tem- porarily 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 permission of the local magistrate. Reports of the primary schools are to be made at the end of the second term, stating the number of teachers, assistants, students, and graduates, and given the local magistrate who will forward the same to the viceroy or governor of the Province, and he in turn will for- ward them to the ministry of education. 56 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. Public buildings, private temples, and nunneries may be taken for the use of primary schools. These buildings may be repaired or changed to meet the needs of the schools. Large numbers of these buildings have been turned into schoolhouses, and, in some cases, the rents of the temple lands have been used to support the schools. The school buildings are to consist of one story and must contain recitation rooms, session 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 accommo- date 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. The primary schools in some Provinces have not been established as rapidly as the Government had hoped. This has been due to various causes, but largely to the lack of funds. For the same reason many public and private schools have been closed, and again many of the schools have suffered for want of qualified teachers, especially for those who could teach the modern sciences. We must remember that the time since beginning the establishment of these schools has not been long — only about five or six years — and the normal schools have not yet had time to prepare anything like an adequate number of teachers for the millions of children that should be in the primary schools. But that so much should have been done in such places as Chihli Province holds out great hope that the time will come to China when as large a per cent of her children will be attending the primary schools as now attend the Japanese schools. In the year 1907-8 there were in Chihli Province 8,675 lower primary schools having an attendance of 148,399; graduates for the year numbered 537; the number of teachers, 8,969, with an average of 16+ pupils per teacher. The cost per pupil during the year was 2.63 taels, or $1.88. The amount received during the year for the schools was 381,998 taels, or $272,855.71.^ The following report gives ( 1 ) the attendance in the lower primary schools in Chihli Province from 1902-3 to 1907-8, and (2) the ratio or per cent of attendance to the number of children of school age. Year. Attend- ance. Per cent of attendance to children of school age. Year. Attend- ance. Per cent of attendance to children of school age. 1902-3 1,000 6,000 36,344 0. 0173 .1043 .632 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 68,000 109, 467 148,399 1. 1826 1903-4 1. 9037 1904-5 2. 5808 1 Allowing exchange of 1.40 taels for PRIMARY EDUCATION. 57 In the same year there were in the Province 121 half -day schools ; number of pupils, 2,9Tl; graduates, 133; number of teachers, 133; number of pupils per teacher, 22.3 ; cost per pupil for the year, 0.178 taels, or $0,127. Amount received from the half -day schools during the year, 514 taels, or $367.14. The half-day public schools were sup- ported by (1) rent from temple lands, (2) subscriptions, and (3) taxes on wine, tobacco and cigarettes, and taxation on estates. The highest number of teachers in any of the half-day schools was 12, and 400 pupils the largest attendance. The lowest number of pupils in any school was 5. For the higher primary schools of that year we find the following : Total number of schools, 220 ; total number of students, 10,599 ; num- ber of graduates, 521 ; average number of pupils per teacher, 20.4 ; cost per pupil for the year, 39.53 taels, or about $28.23. The amount of funds raised that year for higher primary schools was 419,048 taels, or $299,320. The largest attendance in any one school was 244, and the largest number to graduate from any school was 54. Gradu- ates of higher primary schools are recommended for admission to the normal schools and middle technical schools, as well as to the middle schools. The following rewards are given the students at the time of graduation : To the first grade is granted " ling sheng," to the second grade " tseng sheng," to the third grade " fu sheng." To the fourth and fifth grades there are no rewards. CHAPTER VI. MIDDLE SCHOOLS, PROVINCIAL COLLEGES, AND UNIVER- SITIES. MIDDLE SCHOOLS. The Government proposes to have a middle school (chung hsueh tang) established in each fu, but if any choii or hsien can provide for such a school and desires to do so, it is allowable ; but in the begin- ning it was thought wiser to establish these schools only in the fu cities. According to the Chihli provincial regulations for middle schools, as published in the Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, Volume XLI, De- partment IV, page 441, on December 1, 1907, there must be at least one Government middle school established in each chou of the Province, and more than one where the population is large enough to warrant doing so. We do not understand that this rule is binding on other Provinces. Each fu is responsible for the financing of its own school. When the finances of any middle school are managed by the magistrate and some of the wealthier citizens of that fu and conforms to the regulations of the middle schools, it is classed as a public middle school. Any school established and supported by individuals or by a corporation conforming to all the regulations of the middle schools is entitled to the same recognition, privileges, and j)rotection as are given to the Government schools and will be known as a private middle school. Public buildings, nunneries, and temples may be rented for the use of these private schools. Not only are graduates of the higher primary schools entitled to enter these middle schools, but also all others who are able to pass by examina- tions the requirements for admission. The students are expected to pay tuition, but that is left for the provincials to settle. At the time of the opening of the middle schools there were few pupils qualified to enter, and so provision was made to admit, for the first five years, boys between the ages of 15 and 18 who had a good knowledge of Chinese classics and some knowledge of science. The Peking Daily News of May 31, 1908, states that the ministry of education has noti- fied the commissioners of education in the Provinces that hereafter only graduates of the higher primary schools are to be admitted into the middle schools. Reports are required of the middle schools the same as of the primary schools. The course of study as fiirst outlined extended through five years of 36 hours' recitations per week. The 58 MIDDLE SCHOOLS. 59 following subjects were required : Morals, 1 hour through the course ; drawing, 1 hour; physical drill, 2 hours; Chinese classics, 9 hours; mathematics — algebra, geometry, and plane trigonometry — i hours; Chinese and foreign history, 2 hours; a foreign language, the first three years 8 Jiours, and the last two years 6 hours ; Chinese litera- ture, the first two years 4 hours, the third year 5 hours, and the last two years 3 hours ; geography, the first two years 3 hours, the third and fourth years 2 hours ; natural science, the first and second years, botany and zoology, 2 hours; the third and fourth years, physiology and mineralogy, 2 hours; the fifth year, geology, 2 hours; physical science, the fourth year, physics, 4 hours; and the fifth year, chem- istry, 4 hours ; political science and political economy, the fifth year, 3 hours. It was soon discovered that the course of study was too difficult and needed to be modified. The ministry in a memorial acknowledged that only three or four students in a school were able to complete the work well in five years; that they had observed that there were too many subjects for the average student to get well, and recommended that the work in the middle schools should follow more closely the methods of the German schools ; and that both a technical course and a literary course should be offered in the middle schools. The memorial was granted April 20, 1909. 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 langTiage, which may be English, German, French, Eussian^ or Japanese, but English and Japanese are recommended by the ministry of education as the more important languages, and Chihli Province requires English; history, which includes Chinese, Asiatic^ European, and American ; and geog- raphy. 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 teaching of physics and chemistry. Charts of all kinds are to be supplied for the work in botany, zoology, physiology, and also good maps for teaching geography. Each school is expected to be able to accommodate from 300 to 400 pupils, and if the funds of the school will permit there should be accommodation for 600. Every school should seek to have no less than 30 pupils in each of the five classes, but in the beginning of many schools classes had to be formed with fewer pupils. In Chihli Province the rules permit the authorities to admit pupils from adjacent chous in order 60 THE EDUCATIOaSTAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. to make up the number required in each class, but on no condition to- accept unqualified pupils. A student from one middle school may be admitted into another, provided he presents the proper certificate; but should a pupil secretly change from one school to another he i& subject to expulsion. Dormitories and dining rooms, also reading roomS;, are to be provided for the students in the compound. The principal and some of the teachers are expected to live in the com- pound, where they may have personal supervision of the students. The pupils can not leave the school premises except at stated times or by special permission. An athletic ground is provided for the pupils where they have military drill and various athletic sports. The teaching staff is composed of the principal, who has supervision of the school and complete control of his subordinates, teachers and assistant teachers, librarian, secretary, a proctor who looks after the general affairs of the school, and two proctors who have charge of the pupils' domitories. The instructors of the middle schools are to be graduates of the Chinese nomial colleges, who have obtained high rank in their classes, or graduates of normal colleges in foreign countries. The pupils pay tuition and board according to regula- tions, and should any change be found necessary in regard to the charges it must be reported to the educational commissioner and local magistrate. Pupils in Chihli are expected to furnish their clothing,, uniforms, and stationery. The pupils are required to take the fol- lowing examinations: (1) Monthly; (2) term examinations; (3) year examinations; (4) graduate examinations; (5) entrance ex- amin-ations for provincial colleges. The examination for promotion to the middle schools is held in the presence of the commissioner of education, and for promotion from the middle schools to the provin- cial college is held in the presence of the viceroy or governor and the commissioner of education. Any two of the three following parties may constitute an examining committee: (1) The district magistrate; (2) the board of education; (3) the educational club. After each of the examinations the standings must be published. This is usually done by posting all the names of the students^ with their standings, on the outside of the compound wall, near the main entrance to the school. The student whose name comes last, indicating that he is the poorest of his class, is said to " sit in the red chair." The magis- trate fixes the dates of the examinations, and after each yearly or graduating examination the officer in charge of the school sends to the educational com.missioner all the examination papers and books recording all the standings. The awarding of certificates belongs to the officer in charge of the school, but the conferring of rewards belongs to the educational commissioner, who in turn makes his report to the viceroy or governor of the Province. The following are the rewards granted to the graduates of the five-year course of the middle MIDDLE SCHOOLS. 61 schools: To the first-grade students is given the "pa kung," to the second grade " you kung," to the third grade " sui kung." These three grades are recommended for admission to the provincial, normal, and technical colleges. To the fourth-grade student is granted the " ling sheng," and those below are given no reward. Up to 1909 there seems to have been many middle schools where little attention was paid to the requirements, and their students were permitted to graduate in four years or, in many cases, in even less. So great was this evil that an edict was issued January 19, 1909, for- bidding these violations and declaring that thereafter only graduates of the five-year course should receive rewards. In February, 1909, I visited the Paotingfu middle school, which is recognized as one of the best of the Government middle schools. I found the buildings poor and cheap looking, especially the two main buildings, which were two-story buildings with bedrooms below and four session rooms above. The furniture was poor and cheap, the blackboards were small and provided only for the teacher's use. The bedrooms would each accommodate about 40 students, each boy having a small stall separated from his neighbors by thin board par- titions. In front of each narrow stall was a table, at which the stu- dents could write and study. The floors were paved with bricks, mak- ing the room damp and insanitary. I judge this plan for the dormi- tories for the middle schools is not uncommon, as I had previously found similar ones in some of the Tientsin Government schools, but these had been fitted up out of temple buildings, while at Paotingfu the buildings had been newly built. There were about 200 students in the school. The laboratories were poor and had but little apparatus. The teaching that I saw was not of as high grade as I had hoped to see. As a whole, the school was a disappointment to me. Only a few days before I had visited some of the leading schools in Tientsin and had seen the excellent work that was being done in the private middle school of which Mr. Chang Pai Lin was principal. Mr. Chang is an exceptional man, and is recognized as one of the ablest educators in north China. The school buildings were new and the best planned of any middle school that I have seen in China. Many of the teachers were Mr. Chang's former pupils, who had imbibed their master's enthusiasm and were, in the absence of the principal- Mr. Chang at that time was abroad, having been sent by the Govern- ment on a commission — carrying on the school in an able manner. To be sure they labored under many disadvantages, trying to follow the prescribed course of 3G recitation periods per week, which left but little time outside of the class hours for jDreparation. This was not the fault of the teachers, but of the system which they were com- pelled to follow. The teacher of the Chinese classics is still the old Government graduate who teaches in the old orthodox way, explain- 62 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. ing every bit of the text himself according to the accepted com- mentaries. The pupil is not expected to do any reasoning and little thinking. All that is essential on his part, according to Dr. Arthur Smith, is that " he should have a memory like that of a phonograph." Perhaps the framers of the modem educational system in China ex- pected that much of the teaching of modern science would be taught in this manner. If not, why have they imposed so many recitations upon the modern school boy? Surely not until a more rational course of study is outlined for the Chinese student can we expect to find excellent results in the schools of the middle Kingdom. By January, 1908, there were 32 middle schools in Chihli Province, enrolling 2,125 pupils, and 101 pupils had been graduated. There were 157 teachers in these schools, with an average of 13,5 pupils per teacher. The amount received for the schools from all sources was 207,097 taels, or $149,355. The examination for promotion to the middle schools is held in the presence of the commissioner of educa- tion. The examination of students of the middle schools for pro- motion to the provincial college is held in the presence of the viceroy or governor and the president of the board of education. PROVINCIAL COLLEGES. In each provincial capital there has been established a higher school (kao teng hsueh tang), more commonly called the provincial college. During the first five years after these colleges were estab- lished they could receive students who had a thorough laiowledge of the Chinese classics and had had one year's preparation in history, geography, mathematics, science, drawing, Japanese language, and English. In the beginning most of the work was necessarily pre- paratory for the college, and even in 1909 there was a middle school connected with the provincial college at Paotingfu. To-day only graduates of middle schools are received in these colleges. The curriculum requires three years of 36 hours per week. The gradu- ates are prepared to enter the colleges of the imperial university at Peking. The national system of education permits the establishing of but one such college in a Province, and requires that accommoda- tion should be made for at least 500 students, but any college may open with 200 students. Each Province must attend to the finances of its own college. At the end of the second semester of each year reports of the college must be sent to the provincial board of educa- tion, who in turn makes 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 pre- pares for the colleges of science, agriculture, and engineering. Course C prepares for the college of medicine. PEOVINCIAL, COLLEGES. COURSE A. 63 Subject. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. Ethics Chinese classics Chinese literature Foreign languages: EngUsh German or French History.... Geography Oratory Law PoUtical economy Military science Military drill and gymnastics. Total 36 In place of oratory in the second year a student may elect mathe- matics or physics. Students wishing to study law may elect 2 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. Those who wish to specialize in German law or French law in the imperial university may change their hours in foreign languages as follows: English 4 hours during each of the three years, and German or French 14 hours during the first and second years and 12 hours the third year. COURSE B. Subjects. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. Ethics Chinese classics Chinese literature English language German or French Mathematics Physics Chemistry Geology and mining Drawing Military science Military drill and gymnastics. Total 64 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Those who wish to specialize in botany, zoology, or geology^ in the scientific college, or agriculture, may drop mathematics in the third year and substitute 4 hours' work in their special line of work. Those who wish to specialize in architecture, electrical engineering, naval construction, mathematics, physics, or astronomy, may drop 2 hours in chemical experiments in the third year and substitute in its place a 3-hour course in surveying. A 2-hour course in Latin in the third year may be elected by any who wish to specialize in zoology, botany, geology, agriculture, and veterinary science. COURSE C. Number of hours. Subjects. First year. Second year. Third year. Ethics 1 2 4 2 3 4 4 13 3 1 2 2 1 3 2 3 13 3 3 3 1 Chinese classics 2 Chinese literature 2 2 Military drill 3 Mathematics Biology German 9 English or French 3 Physics 6 Chemistry 6 Latin 2 Total 36 36 36 Those students who before entering the college had made a study of German might have their work in foreign languages as follows : Number of hours. Subjects. First year. Second year. Third year. German 9 7 9 7 7 EngUsh or French 5 Students can not enter the imperial university until they com- plete one of the above courses, but there is little doubt but that these courses of study will be changed, as the number of hours required is too many to secure good results. Special stress is placed upon the acquiring of modern languages, so that in the university the students may be able to read with ease textbooks and reference books written in a foreign language. The English language has first place in the colleges. In the North China Herald of November 7, 1908, page 313, is the following interesting item : "As a sign of the times we notice PROVINCIAL COLLEGES. 65 that the educational board has cut out the teaching of Japanese in the imperial provincial college at Kaifeng and that only English and French are now taught, together with Chinese. Whether this is the case in other provincial colleges or not, it seems to be one of the many indications that China is turning away from the leadership of Japan, and is determined to drink for herself from the fountains of learning from which Japan drank, and not be content any longer with pre- digested diet." In an editorial of the same paper of December 11, 1909, we read : " Not the least interesting feature of the curriculum of the Taian f u college ^ is the emphasis laid upon instruction in Eng- lish. It is * * * the predominant western language in the edu- cation of the Chinese, and there can be no doubt that they are wise to adhere to one foreign langaiage as the lingua franca of the Far East. To what an extent this position is already occupied by English is shown by the number of publications in our language connected with Chinese student life at home and abroad. Of these magazines we need only mention, by way of illustration. The World's Chinese Students' Journal, Shanghai." The regulations for the colleges re- quire dormitories with studies and bedrooms provided for the stu- dents, and residences are to be provided for the president and pro- fessors. Laboratories, apparatus, museums, and libraries are also to be provided. An athletic field is required, but this may be located outside of the compound. A director is at the head of the college looking after all the finances and general organization and super- vision. He is usually a man who has little or no knowledge of west- ern sciences and is wholly lacking in pedagogical training. He has no knowledge of how a college should be supervised and seldom holds the office for more than a year. This position is used as one of the rounds of the official ladder where he may imburse himself while waiting for some more desirable position. Below the director is the president, who is usually a man of wider learning. He superintends the work done by the teachers, and makes recommendations to the director of ways and means of bettering the work. It is necessary at the present to employ foreign teachers to conduct many of the classes, as the number of qualified teachers is not equal to the demand. The regulations require that the instructors in the provincial col- lege shall be such graduates of the university as have received high rank or graduates of a college or university in a foreign country. In the beginning of the establishing of these colleges, provision was made for the employing of any Chinese scholar thought qualified to teach in these colleges, and if it were not possible to secure a sufficient number of qualified Chinese instructors, to invite foreigners well qualified for the work. 1 Provincial college of Shantung. 9561°— 11 5 66 THE EDUCATIONAL. SYSTEM OF CHINA. When I visited the provincial college of Chihli, at Paotingfii, in February, 1909, I found the college housed in good one-story Chinese buildings that had been used as the official palace of the viceroy before the removal of his office to Tientsin. I was entertained by my friend the president, Mr. Fei Chi Hao, a graduate of Oberlin Col- lege, with a master's degree from Yale University, He is well quali- fied for the position, which he had then held but a few months, but his hands are often tied because of the ignorance of the director. Were he at liberty to carry out his many excellent plans for im- provement, the good results might easily be doubled without any increase in expenditure. I was told that the annual expenses of the college were about $42,825. The director is supposed to receive 300 taels, or about $215, per month, and each of the three foreign pro- fessors a like amount for the first three years and, if the contract is renewed, an increase of 50 taels per month. The president's salary is doubtless not less than that of the director. At the time of our visit the college enrolled 260 students, but this number included one class from the middle school. The middle-school students were re- quired to pay 3 taels per month for board, but the college students were not required to pay for anything, even their books being fur- nished them. Some of the native teachers were graduates of the Tientsin Naval College and were doing good work. Classes were formed in both the literary and scientific courses. English is the principal foreign language, and the classes were doing good work. Some French was being talked, but no German, though it was hoped later to secure an instructor who could teach it. Some of the work in drawing was excellent. I found some of the classes in mathe- matics taught by lectures, the instructor working the problems on the blackboard and the students copying with a Chinese brush pen. One class in geometry had over 50 pupils. The laboratories were not well equipped. Apparatus of very inferior quality had been pur- chased of the Japanese at about one-half the price it would cost in Germany. I understand that Japan has been catering for the Chi- nese trade in school supplies, but as the Chinese appreciate and are not unwilling to pay for good quality, I believe Japan can not long keep this trade. The college had no library, but the reading room Avas supplied with 10 newspapers and magazines. The students studied in rooms having from 4 to 6 tables, with room for 8 students at a table. The dormitories accommodate 8 boys in a room. In the school year of 1907-8 there were in the college 207 students ; 37 had graduated from the college. There were 9 teachers, 7 Chinese, 1 American, and 1 Englishman. The average number of students per teacher was 23. The cost per student for the year was 243.59 taels, or about $174. UNIVEKSITIES. 67 In December, 1909, in the provincial college at Chinanf u, Shantung, there were 268 students in attendance, 107 taking the literary course, 69 the scientific course, while 92 were in the preparatory course. All were taking English, and in addition German or French, mostly the former. The Peking Daily News reported July 17, 1908, that many provincial college students failed to secure their diplomas because they were unable to meet the requirements of the course. The examinations of the graduate students of the provincial college are held in the presence of the viceroy or governor of the Province, a commissioner of education (hsueh cheng) , and a chief examiner ap- pointed by the Throne (ta chu kao). The following rewards are bestowed upon the graduates: (1) Those who are in the first grade are given the chu jen degree and may enter the imperial university if they choose ; otherwise they are given the official title of chih chou and are candidates for positions in the different Provinces. (2) The second grade are granted the same honors as the first grade, except they are given the official title of chih hsien or district magistrate. (3) The third grade are given the same as the second grade. (4) The fourth grade are required to stay another year in the college for study, and if in another year's examination they fall below the third grade, or should they refuse to remain another year in the college, they are granted a certificate, but no degree or official title. (5) To the fifth grade no reward is granted. UNIVERSITIES. The educational code of China provides for an imperial university composed of eight departments or colleges: (1) 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 departments as outlined for the imperial university. So far there have been established, besides the imperial university, the Tientsin University, and the Shansi University, located at Taiyuenfu. The imperial university up to 1910 has been confined to the work in its two preparatory departments, preparatory college (ta hsueh yu ke), and the preparatory technical college (ta hsueh shih ke). In the spring of 1909 about 100 students were graduated from these preparatory departments, but the colleges of the university were not prepared to admit students before 1910. On the 6th of March, 1910, examinations were held for admission to the university, but only a very few candMates presented themselves. This no doubt was largely due to so many of the advanced students having gone abroad for study, also that the provincial colleges have not been able to gradu- ate many students, and again there are so many lucrative positions 68 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. now open to men who have the qualifications for entrance to the university that manj^ are induced to forego a university training. The university is being built outside of Peking city, southwest of the Tartar city, near the fu Cheng Men. Two million taels, or about $1,425,000, have been set aside by the board of finance for the con- struction of the buildings, and are to be paid in four yearly install- ments. The campus contains over 30 acres. The Government ex- pects to allow about 200,000 taels for the annual budget. The presi- dent is under the control of the ministry of education, and has gen- eral charge of the university and its different colleges. Each college has at its head a dean, who exercises a general supervision over all matters connected with the college; a director of studies, whose du- ties are to superintend the instruction given in the college; a super- visor of the dormitories; and a superintendent to look after minor affairs. All these officers are responsible to the president. The pro- fessors and assistant professors of the university are to be graduates of the graduate school of the imperial university, or graduates of universities in foreign countries. At the opening of the university any Chinese student qualified to teach any special required line of work may be employed. Foreigners may also be employed. The university council is to be composed of the president, the deans of all the colleges, the professors, and assistant professors. The president of the university convokes the university council and presides at its meetings. Matters to be submitted to a meeting of the university council for its deliberation are as follows: (1) The institution or abo- lition of a course of study in any college; (2) the questions concern- ing the chairs in the university; (3) regulations for the internal gov- ernment in the university; (4) granting of degrees of the graduate school ; (5) questions put by the ministry of education or by the presi- dent of the university. Faculty meetings shall be held in each col- lege, composed of all the professors and assistant professors. The dean of the college shall call the meetings and preside over them. The matters to be submitted to the faculty meeting of each college for its deliberation are as follows: (1) Curriculum of studies; (2) ex- amination of students; (3) qualifications of candidates for degrees; (4) questions put by the ministry of education or by the president of the university. In case of a disagreement between the president and the university council in regard to matters concerning higher edu- cation, the question may be submitted to the ministry of education for settlement. 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 (tung ju yuan) requires five years' work. The present outlined courses are supposed to remain unchanged until after the first classes of the college have graduated, when the presi- UNIVERSITIES. 69 dent of the university and the deans of the colleges may be able to make intelligent changes to meet the future special needs to prepare men for the greatest service to the Empire. The College of Chinese Classics offers 11 courses, each requiring 24 hours per week. These courses are so unique that we give an out- line of the course in the Book of Changes (I Ching). The first course of study offered in the College of Chinese Classics, with the major subject in the Book of Changes (I Ching), is as follows: Subjects. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. Book of changes . Minor odes Chinese etymology Selections from the classics, sanctioned by the Throne Complete Chinese history, sanctioned by the Throne Comparative study of political institutions and laws of all the Chinese dynasties History of education, China and foreign nations History of foreign sciences - Geography of China and foreign countries General history One foreign language— English, French, Russian, German, or Japa- Total. The other 10 courses in the Chinese classics are the same with the exception of a major subject. The following majors are substituted for the Book of Changes, and each course bears the name of the classic taken as the major: (2) Book of History (Shu Ching) ; (3) Book of Odes (Shih Ching) ; (4) Spring and Autumn Annals (Tso Chuan) ; (5) Rites of Chou (Chou Li) ; (6) Three Annals (San Chuan) ; (7) Manners and Rites (I Li) ; (8) Book of Rites (Li Chi); (9) Analects (Lun Yu) ; (10) Morals; (11) Mencius. The object of these courses is to make a very careful study of all commentaries on the major subjects. On the Book of Changes (I Ching) there are 500 different conmientaries ; on the Book of His- tory (Shu Ching), 150; on the Book of Odes (Shih Ching), 150; and the Spring and Autumn Annals (Tso Chuan) has 250 commentaries. The college of law has two courses, political science and law. Each course requires 24 hours' recitations per week. The course is planned for four recitations per day. Sundays are now used for holidays in all the higher grade schools and colleges. Below we give the course in law : 70 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. The course m law. Subjects. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. Fourth year. Elementary law Laws of the present dynasty Chinese history of criminal law Chinese history of political institutions Comparisonof political institutions of foreign countries. Constitutions of foreign countries Foreign civil law Foreign criminal law Commercial law of foreign countries Diplomacy International law SUPPLEMENTS. Administrative law of foreign countries . Domestic economy Political economy Total. The college of literature offers the following nine courses: (1) Chinese history; (2) foreign history ; (3) Chinese and foreign geog- raphy; (4) Chinese literature; (5) English literature; (6) French literature; (7) German literature; (8) Russian literature; (9) Japa- nese literature. The number of hours per week in all courses is 24. The following is the outline for the course in English : Subjects. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. English language and literature History of modern English literature English history Latin Philology Education Chinese literature Total 24 The courses in French, German, Russian, and Japanese are the same in substance except substituting the special language of the course for English. In the other courses offered 6 hours per week of some one foreign language are required throughout the course. Besides the subjects named in the course of English literature are the following subjects offered in addition as electives : Chinese his- UNIVERSITIES. 71 tory, foreign ancient history, elocution, psychology, sociology, an- thropology, Greek, Italian, Dutch, German, French, Russian, and Japanese. Surely enough is offered to satisfy the most ambitious scholar. Another proof of how little the framers of the educational system knew about western learning. In the medical college two courses are offered, the course for physicians and the course in pharmacy. In the course for physicians courses in Chinese medicines are taught, but because of Chinese customs and ceremonies it is not possible to teach anatomy and osteology as is done in foreign countries, so these subjects are to be taught by use of charts and models. Stress is laid upon using the best Chinese medical books for reference. In one Government medi- cal college in Peking courses were given in the use of both Chinese and foreign medicine — one by a quack Chinese doctor, the other by a Chinese who was a graduate of an American medical college. The remaining colleges and their courses of study are modeled after those of the Japanese universities, with some very slight changes to meet the demands of Chinese conditions. Below are arranged the colleges and courses of study under each, with a statement of the number of recitation hours required each week in the entire course. The credit for laboratory work is not given in the schedule. Under the physics and chemistry courses the statement is made that the lecture and recitation hours are few, but the hours for laboratory work are unlimited until the subject is thoroughly understood. In the college of agriculture the laboratory work is considered the more important. The Japanese universities have no college of commerce as have the Chinese. In Japan commercial law is included in the political science course. COLLEGE OF SCIENCES. Courses of study. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. Mathematics. Astronomy . . , Physics Chemistry Zoology and botany. Geology COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE. Agriculture Agricultural chemistry. Forestry Veterinary medicine 22 22 18 14 22 22 20 32 72 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. COLLEGE OP ENGINEERING. (bourses of study. Number of hours. First year. Second year. Third year. Architecture Mechanical engineering. . . Naval architecture Technology of arms Electrical engineering Civil engineering Chemical engineering Technology of explosives. Mining and metallurgy. . . COLLEGE OF COMMERCE. Banking and ins^rancp . 24 24 24 2i 24 24 24 Trade and traffic 24 Taxes and customs 24 Each student upon entering the university must present a bond signed by an official living in Peking, but who is a resident of the same Province as that from which the student comes. Dormitories are to be provided for all the students. The officers and members of the faculty are about the same as those in the Japanese universities. The graduate school admits graduates of the colleges and appli- cants who are not graduates of colleges, who can pass the examina- tion for admission given by a committee appointed at a faculty meet- ing of the college to which his chosen subject belongs. A graduate student is placed under the supervision of the dean of the college chosen, and the dean may appoint a professor or professors to super- intend the student's investigations. The student at the end of each college year must make a report of the results of his investigations to the dean of the college, and the dean presents it to the faculty for inspection. If the work of the student is not satisfactory, he may be dismissed by a vote of the faculty. After a residence of two years in the graduate school the student may secure permission to live outside of the city, providing it does not retard his graduate work. At the end of five years the student may present a thesis, and if approved by the faculty it shall be presented to the president of the ministry of education, who will memorialize the Throne, rec- ommending the conferring upon the student suitable rewards. The Tientsin University in January, 1908, enrolled 89 students, 39 having graduated. Its faculty numbered 14, of whom 5 were Americans, 2 Japanese, and 7 Chinese, making an average of 6.3 students per teacher. The cost per student for the year was 764 UNIVERSITIES. 73 taels, or about $545. There were that year 5 classes, 1 in the law college, 2 in the civil enginering, and 2 in the mining course. In the summer of 1908 modified curricula were submitted through Viceroy Yang to the ministry of education and received their sanction. Grad- uates of the provincial college at Paotingfu are sent to this univer- sity, but up to 1909 these students were required to take some pre- paratory work before entering the university courses. President Wang has studied in England and is a most able administrator, and is much respected by the faculty and students. There is little doubt but that the highest grade of all Government college work is being done in the Tientsin University. Up to 1909 all of its work was being carried on in one-story Chinese buildings, but these will soon give way to more convenient buildings of foreign architecture. Its outlook is most promising. The Shansi University has a unique history. In the settlement of the Boxer troubles of 1900 the Chinese plenipotentiaries asked Dr. Timothy Richards to aid them in coming to an agreement with the foreign powers as to the reparation to be made for the massacres in the Province of Shansi. After consultation with various mission- aries in Shansi, Dr. Richards proposed that instead of indemnities for the lives of those missionaries who had been murdered in the outbreak the Government should pay annually for 10 years the sum of 50,000 taels as a fine toward the founding of a university for Shansi Province, and by its teachings end the ignorance which had been the chief cause of those outrages. The Government accepted the proposal and placed the administration of the university and its funds in the hands of Dr. Richards for a period of 10 years, when the institution was to revert to the provincial government. In 1902, when Dr. Richards reached Taiyuenfu, he found that a college had been started in the city by the provincial authorities in response to the edict commanding the establishment of colleges in each provin- cial capital. A compromise or understanding was agreed to by which the Government consented to the two institutions being united to form a university. The college to be established by Dr. Richards was to form the western department, which should have the super- vision and control of all western subjects of study, and the college already started was to be the Chinese department of the university, and to confine its work to the teaching of Chinese studies. The finances and management of the western department are under the control of foreigners, while those of the Chinese department are un- der the supervision of the Chinese. The work has of necessity been confined to the grade of teaching found in the provincial colleges. The college has an excellent foreign faculty, and their work has been of a high grade. Suitable college buildings of Chinese architecture were early constructed. The western department has a preparatory 74 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. school of three years and college courses in law, medicine, science, literature, and engineering. In 1905 there were 400 students in attendance in both departments. The annual expenses of the uni- versity were 92,000 taels. The hsiu tsai (A. B.) degree was required of all students for entrance. In 1906, 300 students competed for 5 vacancies in the western department. In 1908 there were 200 students in this department. The graduation examinations of the imperial university are to be held in the presence of the president of the ministry of education (Hsueh Wu Ta Chen), together with a com- missioner appointed by the throne (Tsung Tsai). The graduates are divided into the usual five grades: (1) The first grade is hon- ored with the Hanlin degree (LL. D.), and may enter the graduate school; (2) the second grade also receives the Hanlin degree, but of a little lower rank than that given to the graduates of the first grade ; these graduates may also enter the graduate school should they de- sire to do so; (3) the third grade receives the chin shih (Ph. D.) degree, and is given an official rank of the sixth order and assigned to some one of the different boards; (4) the fourth grade is given the chin shih degree, but is required to take another year's work at the university and another examination, but should any prefer not to remain for study, or in the following examination fail to raise their grade, they are given the official rank of a district magistrate and appointed to some position in the provinces; (5) the fifth grade receives no reward. No rewards have yet been determined upon for the graduates of the graduate school. These men, having completed the "entire 25-year outlined course of study for the national schools, should be granted higher honors than the Hanlin degree, and when there are candidates for these honors the ministry of education promises that suitable rewards shall be bestowed upon all successful candidates. CHAPTER VII. NORMAL, TECHNICAL, AND MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. NORMAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. When the modern educational system was established in China the Government realized that the various schools to be successful must have qualified teachers. Accordingly it at once adopted the two possible methods of securing them — ^the one, that of preparing teachers itself, and the other, that of sending students to foreign countries for training. Normal schools were opened in the pro- vincial capitals and later in the larger centers. A school was estab- lished under the general supervision of the imperial university, which later developed into a normal college and is no longer under the control of the university. Owing to the urgent need of teachers of the English language for the middle schools of Chihli Province, the Tientsin University in 1906 added a normal department, which was supplied with students taken from the various classes in the university. At the end of a year 25 graduates had completed the course laid down and were distributed among the middle schools of the Province. A second class was formed in 1907, composed of students sent to the university from the provincial college. Thirty- six students received their diplomas in 1908, after which the normal work in the university was discontinued. Students were selected and sent to study in the normal schools of Japan, and upon com- pleting their courses of study in Japan they returned, in many cases in less than a year, and were assigned positions in the schools of the Province. Most of the Provinces sent students to the normal schools of Japan, until at one time they were numbered by the thousands. Meanwhile China lost no time in establishing normal schools by the hundreds throughout the Empire. By 1908 in Chihli Province alone, outside of Peking city, there were 98 normal schools, having 165 in- structors, 3,448 students, 5,608 graduates, with annual receipts of 270,672 taels, or $193,337, while the two normal colleges reported 46 instructors, 935 students, 533 gTaduates, and annual receipts of 156,228 taels, or $111,591. The average annual expense that year for each student in the normal school was 48.21 taels, or $34.43, and in the normal colleges 170.33 taels, or $121.66. The normal schools were established to train teachers for the lower and higher primary schools. Graduates of the higher primary 75 76 THE EDUCATIOaSTAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. four-year course are admitted to the normal schools. At first there being no graduates of higher primary schools, students were selected from the literati, who were especially good in Chinese composition. It is expected that each prefecture and district will provide and maintain a normal school that will accommodate at least 150 students. The pupils were not to be required to pay tuition, but those who wished could be self-supporting. The subjects taught in these schools are 12 in number — ethics and morals, Chinese classics, Chinese liter- ature, pedagogy, history, geography, mathematics, natural sciences, physical sciences, penmanship, drawing, and drill. Two courses of study were outlined — a long course and a short course. The long course covers 5 years of 45 weeks, having 36 hours' recitations per week. Special pains are taken to train pupils to be patriotic, to be faithful to the Emperor, and filial to parents. The students are instructed to restrain their words as well as their actions, and to observe such laws of health as will develop in them strong constitu- tions. They are also taught to form habits of study and to do inde- pendent work. The pupils entering the five-year course of study are to be between the ages of 18 and 25. Those entering the short course between 25 and 30 years of age. During the first four months of a student's residence he is put upon probation, and only worthy stu- dents are retained. Necessity compelled the normals at first to offer short courses of study in order to secure temporarily teachers for the primary schools. Many schools offered one year and a few schools at first offered six months' courses. The Government re- quires the following service of graduates of normal schools: Gov- ermnent students graduating from the long course are required to give six years' service teaching in the schools to which they may be assigned; self-supporting students are required to give three years. Government graduates of the short course give three years, while the self-supporting students give but two. Should a graduate refuse to render this service, he must pay to the school the full amount it has cost to educate him. After giving the required time of service, the student may, if he wishes, enter the normal college. In the normal schools the teachers and assistants are chosen from graduates of the normal colleges and from foreign normal colleges. Most of the foreign teachers are Japanese. In the beginning it was neces- sary to employ some Chinese teachers who had received no normal training. Graduates of the five-year course receive the following degrees and rewards : To the first grade, " pa kung ; " second grade, " yu kung ; " third grade, " lin kung." The first and second grades are made instructors in the higher primary schools, and the third grade are made assistant instructors. The regulations required that a normal college should be estab- lished at Peking and at each provincial capital, which would accom- NX>EMAL, SCHOOLS. 77 modate at least 240 students. Graduates of the normal and middle schools were to be admitted. These colleges have three departments, (1) common school studies or a general course; (2) special studies; and (3) graduate studies. The general course requires 1 year of 36 hours, and gives instruction in 8 subjects: Ethics, Chinese classics, Chinese literature, Japanese language, English language, logic, mathematics, and military tactics. The department of special studies offers 4 courses of 3 years each of 36 hours recitations per week. These courses are intended to prepare teachers as specialists in certain subjects. In the A class 13 subjects are required : Ethics, Chinese classics, Chinese literature, history, pedagogy, psychology, authors of Chou an Chin dynasties, English language, German or French language, logic, zoology, physical sciences, and military tac- tics. The following is the outline of course B : Subjects. Number of hotirs. First year. Second year. Third year. Ethics 2 6 1 2 5 1 4 1 6 6 5 2 Chinese classics 4 Chinese literature 1 Pedagogy 8 Psychology 1 6 5 4 3 2 3 3 Mathematics 6 Physics 7 Chemistry 5 English language Drawing Mechanics 3 3 Military tactics 3 Total 36 36 36 Course C has 12 subjects offered : Ethics, Chinese classics, Chinese literature, pedagogy, psychology, geography, history, political sci- ence, finance, English language, zoology, and military tactics. Ger- man is elective. Course D offers 14 subjects: Ethics, Chinese classics, Chinese lit- erature, pedagogy, psychology, botany, zoology, physical science, mining, geology, agriculture, English language, drawing, and mili- tary tactics. German and chemistry are offered as electives. In the graduate department the following 10 subjects are offered, of which the student must elect at least 5 : Ethics, pedagogj^, school administration, school supervision, aesthetics, experimental psychol- ogy, school hygiene, professional education, child study, and practice teaching. After completing his subjects the student is required to write a thesis upon his work. The course is one year in length, and 78 • THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA, the number of hours is left to the discretion of the faculty. Students who wish to enter the general course must be recommended by their home prefect or magistrate. Each student must furnish two guar- antors, acceptable to the school, that he will faithfully discharge his duties. He must also declare his intention to make teaching a pro- fession and promise to render the service required by the Government after his graduation ; namely, to serve for a period of six years, the first two years to be at the disposal of the president of the ministry of education and the viceroy or governor of his Province, and to ac- cept any position to which he is appointed. Any graduate refusing such service shall be required, as a fine, to pay back the full amount of the cost of his education. After performing the full period of service, the student may, if he so desires, enter the university. Con- nected with the college is to be a model primary school and also a middle school. The professors of the normal college are to be gradu- ates of high standing of special colleges of the imperial university, or graduates of normal colleges or universities of a foreign country. It was allowable when the colleges were first opened to employ any Chinese teacher thought to be qualified. Graduates of the normal college are divided into five grades : The first three grades receive the degree of chu jen (M. A.) and the honorary title of the "Fifth Order," and are appointed professors in the middle and normal schools. The other two grades are treated as in other schools. The normal college at Paotingfu is located about three quarters of a mile outside of the city wall, and was one of the first normal col- leges in China. Most of the teaching was done, at the time of my visit, by the teacher lecturing and the pupils taking notes. In one class of Chinese history the teacher had his lecture printed, and each pupil was furnished a copy to consult during the lecture. The classes were very large, too large, in fact, to obtain the best results. The laboratories were fairly well equipped. Courses were at that time being offered of one-half year, one year, two years, three years, and four years. Only one four-year class had graduated. Doubt- less this four-year course contains some work that belongs to the nor- mal school. Courses were offered in vocal and instrumental music, also in manual training and kindergarten work. The North China Normal College is located at Tientsin, and has an excellent equipment. In February, 1909, I was told that it en- rolled 330 students, and that there were 270 students in its graduating class. This college is said to be the largest and best in the Empire. Its faculty was composed of 8 Japanese and 4 Chinese professors. Sixty-six students were pursuing courses in both the Japanese and English languages. The students ranged from 20 to 35 years of age. The laboratories are well fitted for all kinds of normal-college work It also has a library and reading room. TECHNICALi SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES, 79 "While good work is being done in other schools, it is expected that in the near future the National Normal College, just built in the southern city in Peking, will be the model for all other normal colleges in the Empire. TECHNICAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. The fundamental object in establishing technical schools is to en- courage Chinese agriculture, commerce, architecture, and engineering. The Government hopes as soon as possible to establish outside of the university colleges the following technical schools: (1) Teachers' technical training schools of the same grade as those of normal col- leges; (2) polytechnical colleges of the rank of provincial colleges; (3) middle technical schools of the same rank as the middle schools; (4) primary technical schools of as high rank as the higher primary schools; (5) fishery schools of the same grade as the middle school; and (6) industrial schools having courses equivalent to the courses of primary and middle schools. The main difficulties in the estab- lishment of these schools have been lack of qualified teachers and funds to support such schools. The Government has sent students abroad to prepare for teaching in these schools and has urged the wealthy to contribute for the establishment of such schools. We have already referred to the technical departments of the universities. In the Imperial Polytechnic Institute of Shanghai courses are offered in civil, mechanical, electrical, and marine engineering.^ The Tang- shan Engineering and Mining College is located at Tangshan, in Chihli Province. It is supported by the Imperial Railways of North China and the Chinese Engineering & Mining Co. It has excellent buildings, a fair equipment, and its location, being near to the rail- way shops and the mines, gives its students in engineering and min- ing special advantages. It is expected to graduate its first class in 1911. In the report for Chihli Province for the year ending February, 1908, we find reported 5 technical schools above middle schools with an attendance of 433 students and having graduated 182 students. The number of teachers employed was 44; the amount received for the annual expenses was 272,319 taels, or about $123,000 ; the annual cost per student was 177.41 taels, or $126.72. There were that year in Chihli 17 technical and special primary schools, enrolling 446 pupils, having graduated 38. The number of teachers employed in these schools was 40 and the cost per pupil for the year 41.66 taels, or $29.74. Agricultural schools and colleges were among the first schools to be established in the Provinces. Nearly every Province has its 1 North China Herald, Aug. 21, 1909, p. 449. 80 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. agricultural college, many of the larger towns have their agricul- tural schools, and many of the smaller towns have half-day agricul- tural schools, until to-day there are many of these schools scattered over the Empire. In many of these larger institutions the instruc- tion has been given by Japanese professors. Provincial agricultural boards have been organized, also branch boards in many of the fus, chous, and hsiens. Some of the Government students studying abroad are making a specialty of agriculture. Mr. M. H. Tang, who grad- uated in 1908 from Cornell University with a master's degree, is now the director of the agricultural college at Shanghai. Often the directors have been men who had no knowledge of agriculture or of college management. The day is not far distant when China will be able to have her own staff and faculty of trained men for each of her agricultural colleges. The Kuang Si Provincial Agricultural College, located outside of Kueilin was opened in May, 1909, with accommodation for 140 students. Its director, a capable, enlightened officer, hoped to engage German specialists as instructors for the college. It has been stated that agricultural commissioners were to be appointed for each Province to supervise all agricultural schools.^ A few schools of commerce are being established outside of the im- perial university, and are under the control of the board of commerce. A large commercial college with commodious buildings has just been established in Peking to accommodate several hundred students. Many industrial schools of various grades have been established. One of the first was a private industrial school established soon after the Boxer troubles by Huang Sze En, a Hanlin,^ in the Southern City of Peking, for the benefit of those without employment, and several trades were taught. This school, although still in existence, has been surpassed by a number of Government schools that have lately been established. There are in Peking at least 7 schools of this gTade, and outside of the city there are several being established for the Manchu people. These schools have a twofold purpose, namely, to educate boys and men to do skilled work in many indus- tries and also to train men who may teach them to others. The board of commerce has established in Peking one of these training schools at a cost of 100,000 taels, or over $70,000. It is well equipped and teaches spinning, weaving, glass blowing, carpentry, dyeing, leather work, well digging, rattan work, embroidery, drawing, and lacquer- 1 Pekin Daily News, December 9, 1908. 2 This capable man, because of his proforeign tendencies, was imprisoned under sen- tence of death in the summer of 1900. After the relief of Peking he was rescued from the imperial prison through the foreign legations. Since the establishment of this indus- trial school his former rank has been restored and additional honors conferred upon him by the Imperial Government. MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. 81 ing. It enrolls about 500 students, who come from all parts of the Empire. There is another school in the city under the control of the same board, which gives a more general education in addition to teaching the above industries. It has about 30 Japanese instructors and 300 students. Connected with this industrial school is a higher technical school, with about 200 students who are being prepared in engineering. In 1909 there must have been at least 2,000 students in the industrial schools of Peking. Tientsin and other large cities have established industrial schools similar to those in Peking. The North China Industrial College is located at Tientsin, and has good buildings and equipment. In February, 1909, it had about 100 students. Its faculty was composed of 1 European, 1 American, 2 Japanese, and 7 Chinese. I was informed that a student, after com- pleting the course of study in chemistry, would be able to enter the junior class in chemical engineering at Cornell University. Many small schools teaching one or two trades have been estab- lished in the smaller cities and towns from a business or philanthropic motive, and are doing a good work by training penniless persons, making them self-supporting. MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. The Boxer outbreak closed the Tung Wen College, and the Col- lege of Languages (I Hsueh Kuan) was organized to take its place and carry on practically the same work, preparing students to fill the same positions as did the Tung Wen College. The College of Languages is located in the Tartar City of Peking, and offers a course of 5 years of 36 hours per week to 120 students, who are given free tuition, board, and books, and also to special students, who pay tuition and other expenses connected with the college. Tuition was $1.50, and board from $1.40 to $2.50 per month ; dormitory privileges were $5 per year, and $10 had to be deposited for uniforms. Eng- lish, French, German, Russian, and Japanese languages are taught, and each student is required to specialize in one of these languages. Graduates of the middle schools, after taking an entrance examina- tion, may be admitted to the College of Languages. At the time of the opening of the college, students who had some knowledge of a foreign language were admitted after an examination. Students of the Chin Shih Kuan, who understood a foreign language, could be admitted. In May, 1907, there being so few graduates of the middle schools, the ministry of education granted permission for students who had completed two years' work in the middle schools to be accepted as students of the College of Languages. 9561°— 11 6 82 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Course of study for the College of Ltmguages. Number of hours. Subjects. First year. Second year. Third year. Fourth year. Fifth year. Ethics 1 3 2 2 16 4 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 2 16 4 1 2 2 2 18 3 1 2 2 2 18 3 1 Chinese literature, classics, and composition , . History — Chinese, Asiatic, and western 2 2 Geography — Chinese, Asiatic, and western One foreign language, English, French, Russian, German, or Japanese 18 Mathematics Physiology and mineralogy Physics Drawing 2 2 2 2 Military drill 2 2 2 Botany and zoology Diplomacy 3 3 3 3 3 PoUtical economy 3 Education 3 Geology 2 Total 36 36 36 36 36 1 Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 38, Dept. 3, p. 188. In February, 1909, when visiting the college, I was told that the enrollment was 360 ; that the English department registered 130 stu- dents; the German, 50; the French, 110; and the Eussian, 60. There was at that time no Japanese department, but all students were re- quired to devote one or two hours per week to the study of that language. The English classes were taught by two foreign profess- ors, one being a doctor of philosophy from Yale, and three Chinese assistants; the French was taught by two foreign professors and one Chinese assistant; the German, by a foreign professor and a Chinese assistant ; and the Russian by a Chinese professor. The salary of the foreign professors was from $400 to $645 Mexican per month. The Chinese instructors received from 50 to 150 taels per month. The old Tung Wen College was supported by the imperial maritime customs, but the College of Languages is supported and superintended by the ministry of education. The monthly expenses were reported to be about 7,600 taels, or $5,429. The director of the college was a member of the ministry of education. He was sup- posed to visit the college three or four times a week, and he receives no salary for his services to the college, but his traveling expenses are allowed. I learned the following facts in regard to the second class in English, which contained 40 students : They represented 15 prov- inces ; the oldest was 33 years of age, the youngest 19, the average age Avas 23 years ; 27 were married, some having as many as 4 children ; 14 had Chinese degrees and 2 had Chinese official titles. In the spring of 1909, 39 students were graduated and granted the degree MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. 83 of chu jen (A. M.). Some of these graduates were assigned to the ministry of education, and the others were divided by lots among the following ministries: Foreign affairs, agriculture, and commerce; but in case any Chinese minister abroad wished additional help in his legation he had a right to ask the ministry of foreign affairs to select him one of these graduates.^ In November, 1907, Viceroy Tuan Fang established a provincial college of languages at Nanking. He is reported as having given 6,000 taels toward its establishment. It admitted 120 students. French and German are the languages emphasized, Eussian was not taught. Colleges of languages have also been established in Tientsin, Hu Peh, and Manchuria. Ministers accredited to foreign countries are expected to select their interpreters from the graduates of the College of Languages or the provincial colleges of languages. The professorships of languages in the various schools in the Em- pire are to be filled by graduates of the highest grade of these col- leges of languages. The Chin Shih College was established in Peking to give the chin shih (Ph. D.) and Hanlin (LL. D.) graduates of the old system of Government examinations an opportunity to study western learn- ing for a period of three years, believing that a general education was necessary to prepare them for their future official duties. Men over 35 years of age had the right to petition to be excused from attending the college, in which case they were given the title of a district magistrate and distributed among the Provinces for official duty. Those below 35 years of age were compelled to attend the college. Each student was granted an annual stipend of 240 taels if he were a Hanlin or a chung shu, and 160 taels was granted to those of lower degree. Course of study for the Chin Shih Kuan. Subjects. History Geography Physics Pedagogy Law Political economy , Chemistry Diplomacy Commerce Military science... Architecture Agriculture Total. Number of hours. First year. ^^°^f ^ Third year. 24 24 24 1 Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 84, dept. 1, pp. 3-6. 84 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Students who successfully complete the course of study are exam- ined by an imperial commissioner and the president of the ministry of education, and those who pass the examination are introduced to the regent and later receive official appointments. Many of these students have been sent abroad to study and upon their return are examined. On March 15 and 17, 1909, four of these students were examined not only on the special studies but also in Chinese history and literature. ' A number of law schools have been established in the Empire. The two most prominent ones are the law school in Peking, which had in the beginning of 1909 about 740 students training for the board of law, and the North China Law School, in Tientsin, which now occupies fine buildings that were constructed in 1907. This law school was established in 1906 for the purpose of giving a three- year course in the study of foreign law and treaties, preparing the students for diplomatic service. After the graduating of the first class changes were made by imperial sanction, and the school became a provincial law school and receives not only Government students, but hopes also, by enlarging its faculty, to receive many self-support- ing students. In 1909 there were 4 Japanese and 16 Chinese profes- sors. All the students were required to study the Japanese language. It has a very fair library of Chinese and Japanese books. The pros- pect of soon having a constitutional government for China will stimulate many young men to study law, and doubtless the time is not far distant when every Province in China will have its provincial law school, modeled after that of North China. " Chinese medicine, which began so well, has made no progress during the last 2,000 years. It has, on the other hand, greatly de- generated both in dignity and influence, until at the present time there abounds all over the Empire an enormous number of illiterate and unscrupulous quacks, who * * * trade entirely upon the superstitions and fears of their numerous clients."^ To show the strong hold that the old system of medicine has on the people, we quote the following from the North China Herald, May 1, 1909, page 246 : " Chenchow can now boast of a new medical school with two teachers and five medical students. The school is opened in a new temple just completed. The teachers are both Chenchow men and know nothing of medicine except what they have learned from reading their own Chinese books and practice. The official in speak- ing of the medical profession here said there were no good doctors, and the new school was provided to enable all those who wanted to 1 Hsueli Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 82, dept. 1, p. 1. 2 " The position of medical science in China as compared with that of the West." We Lien Te, M. A., M. D. (Cambridge.) The World's Chinese Students' Journal, vol. 2, No. 1, p. 7. MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. 85 practice to get a certificate, and thus give the profession a legal standing. The money, something over $1,000, was raised by sub- scription." And again from the same paper, May 29, 1909 : "Accord- ing to a Chinese local contemporary the members of the above-named institution, ' The College of Imperial Physicians,' are too conserva- tive in their education and training, and some of them are even unacquainted with modern hygiene and its principles. Owing to this, a grand councilor is said to have recently advised Prince Ching of the necessity of making some improvements toward better training of the members of the college in view of the importance which should be attached to human life." One of the greatest needs in China is more medical schools. It is strange that the Government, having displayed so much activity in opening schools for science, language, engineering, the army and navy, should have been so backward in establishing a national sys- tem of medical education. It has the North China Medical College and the Army Medical College at Tientsin, where surgeons are pre- pared for army and navy service. The North China Medical School has a three-year course of study, and in March, 1908, graduated 35 students in the first grade; these received the degree of lin sheng; 21 made second gTade and received the tseng sheng degree. Doubtless the best medical college in all China is the Union Medical College of Peking, formed by the union of the two missionary med- ical colleges of the North China Educational Union and the Peking University. It has a large faculty, composed of graduates of the medical colleges of the leading American and British universities. All instruction is given in Chinese and covers a five-year course of studj^ The late Empress Dowager contributed 10,000 taels toward its establishment and the Chinese Government has promised to make annual contributions toward its support. It is the only missionary medical college in China which has received the sanction of the Throne and whose graduates are entitled to enter the Government examinations and receive Government degrees and rank. Its first class will graduate in 1912. The Nobles' School in Peking was opened June 15, 1906, for the sons of nobles and the sons of the first and second class officials. The school provided for 160 students, to be divided into four classes, according to scholarship. The course of study at first was planned for five years, but this was changed to three years. The first class, of 96 students, graduated in 1909, the ministry of the army conferring first grade upon 70 and the second grade upon 26. It is expected that ]nany of those young men will go abroad to study in military or naval academies and later enter the Chinese Army and Navy. Prof. Sharp, in The Educational System of Japan (p. 330), writes: " It was hoped that the young peers would take to the army and navy, but com- 86 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP CHINA. paratively few succeeded in entering them, as the examinations are stiJff and they enjoy no privilege." Let us hope that the sons of the nobles of China may prove themselves more capable than their Japa- nese neighbors. Military schools have been established in several of the Provinces. In 1909 there were 18 military schools (lu chin hsiao hsueh tang) in the Empire. In Peking, on the Mei Chang Street, is located the school to be the model for all others. It has a three-year course of study, and in February, 1909, enrolled 387 students. Its first class of 180 students was expected to enter the newly established military school (Lu Chin Cheng Hsueh Tang) for two years' study. There are three other large schools or academies at Nanking, Wu Chang, and Hsi An Fu. In 1900 the military school at Paotingfu graduated 400 students.^ The ministry of war is now contemplating the estab- lishment of a regulated system of national and provincial military schools. A military commission is now visiting foreign countries examining their military systems and schools. A naval commission has just returned from a tour of inspection of the naval systems and schools of foreign countries, and the ministry of admiralty are now considering the reorganization of their naval schools and are plan- ning to establish a national system of naval academies and schools. At present there are naval schools at Fu Chou, Tientsin, Chefoo, and Nanking. We have noted that military drill and tactics are receiv- ing much attention in the curricula of the Government schools of China. This drill has developed a military spirit in all the schools, as well as a spirit of patriotism. It has also created more respect for military officers and the army. The Chinese have always been a peace-loving people, and we believe they are likely to remain such, but they see the necessity of providing for self-preservation, and we may expect in time that China will have at her command one of the best organized and best disciplined, and the largest army in the world, which will place the balance of power in her hands, and may we not hope to secure through her arbitration universal peace? The Government in 1908 sanctioned the memorial recommending the establishment of a customs training college in Peking, to be under the control of the imperial customs, for training Chinese young men for positions in the imperial maritime customs and postal system. The entrance requirements are English and Chinese. Stu- dents between 16 and 22 years of age are admitted by competitive examinations. The course comprises four years of study, after which the successful students are to be drafted into the indoor staff of the customs. It is expected that in time these graduates will replace the foreign staff. Mr. Brewitt-Taylor, a member of the customs staff, 1 North China Herald, May 29, 1909, p. 487. MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. 87 noted for his scholarship and ability, has been appointed the director of the college. The ministry of finance, having secured the sanction of the Govern- ment, are expecting to open a school of finance in Peking in 1910 which will accommodate 130 students. The course will be given in Chinese and English. A preparatory school will be connected with it. The Chinese Students' Monthly, volume 3, Nos. 7-8, page 279, con- tains the following item concerning a railway school in Peking : His Excellency Hai-huan, director general of the Tientsin-Pukou Railway, has obtained the sanction of the ministry of posts and communication to establish a railway school in Peking, having for its object the train- ing of men for service on that road. The school will be divided into two departments^ namely, traffic and telegraph. Taotai Yuan Chang Kun has been appointed director general of the school. The site of the school is in the vicinity of Chungmen Gate, and the estimate for the maintenance of the school is 50,000 taels per annum. Taotai Yuan is a returned student from the United States and a member of the Chinese educational mission which was sent over in the middle of the seventies." A school for the training of diplomats, known as the " Hautsai Kuan," is reported as having been established in Peking, from which recruits will doubtless be drawn for the foreign service.^ On February 20, 1909, the board of the interior (min cheng pu), having memorialized the Throne, it was decided to establish a police high school in each provincial capital, and police training schools in all the fus and hsiens.- The North China police high school was es- tablished in Tientsin in 1902. Men who are able to read and write are taken as students. The number of students in the two-year course is limited to 100, and in the one-year course to 160. It had up to 1909 received 766 students, 676 having graduated. The provincial police school for Chihli was established at Paotingfu in 1906 by Viceroy Yuan Shih Kai. In this school a course of six months and another of a year are offered. It is able to accommodate about 500 students. In 1906 there were over 300 attending. These schools have provided well-trained police for the smaller as well as for the larger cities of the Province, a very marked contrast to the incompetent police seen before 1900. The very best order is now maintained upon the streets of Peking and Tientsin. In the Tai Yuenfu police school, as early as 1904, 17,000 taels were spent to educate 112 students. Its teaching staff was made up of three Japanese and two Chinese teach- ers. Similar schools have been established in other Provinces. ^The World's Chinese Students' Journal, vol. 4, No. 1, p. 18. 2 Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 83, dept. 3, p. 3. 88 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF GHHSTA. The president of the ministry of the interior has decided to estab- lish a detective school at Peking for training men for espionage serv- ice in the ministry. The pupils are to be chosen from the first-grade graduates of the police schools.^ In Tientsin I visited in February, 1909, an institution Imown as a reformatory school. The following five classes of persons were ad- mitted: (1) Men having no means nor money; (2) orphans above 10 years of age without home or friends; (3) incorrigible children sent by their parents to the school for discipline; (4) people who have become stranded in Tientsin; and (5) petty thieves, both old and young. Those between 10 and 20 years of age were taught arith- metic, writing, reading, and athletics. Suitable lectures were pro- vided for all the inmates, and they were taught a number of trades, such as are being taught in the industrial schools. At that time I was told there were about 500 in this school. We understand that similar schools are being established in other large cities of the Empire. During the last decade great changes have been inaugurated in prison life. " Model prisons," with schools connected with them, are now being erected in most of the Provinces. Instead of keeping the prisoners, as was the custom before 1900, chained in filthy, in- sanitary buildings, they are now placed in modern buildings similar to those of Japan, and are required to work and live a more whole- some and natural life. The spirit in the prisons is reformatory and the prisoners are placed in the prison schools, where they are taught trades. Yuan Shih Kai, when viceroy of Chihli, was the first to institute these changes. The Government has shown great wisdom in establishing a pre- paratory school in Peking for students preparing for the "American indemnity scholarships." The course of study will include all those subjects required for entrance to the colleges of the best universities of the United States. His Excellency Tang Kai San, a former Yale student, a man of the highest character and attainments, has been ap- pointed the director of the school, and we are informed that a corps of 18 American teachers, composed of an equal number of men and women, will constitute the faculty. From this school will be sent to the United States well- prepared, earnest, enthusiastic students, who will be sure to rank high and win honors in the American universities. Let us hope that the training they will receive in the United States will fit them to become great national leaders upon their return to China. His Excellency Chang Chih Tung, when viceroy of Hu Kuang, es- tablished " colleges for the preservation of the old learning " (Tsun Ku 1 The Chinese Students' Monthly, vol. 4, No. 4, p. 227. MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. 89 Hsueh Tang) . Their object is to encourage students to specialize in the Chinese classical learning, much as was done in former days. It is reported that other Provinces have followed his excellency's ex- ample and founded similar institutions. Did the ghost of the past arise to disturb Chang Chih Tung's dreams of modern education in China — the one who was the author of " China's Only Hope," the founder of some of her early modern schools, one of the framers of her present educational system, and the general controller of the ministry of education? One of the most important features of the revolution in Chinese education is the provision now made by the Government for female education. Under the old regime no provision was made for the education of women. In rare cases an indulgent father taught a brilliant daughter; but, as a whole, the women of China were alto- gether uneducated. To-day the most enlightened Chinese realize that the future greatness of their Empire depends largely upon the education of their girls as well as of their boys. They have dis- covered that no country is great where the women are ignorant, and the educational commissioners have learned that the greatest civili- zation and material progress are in those countries where women are the most highly educated. They have also discovered that the educated woman makes the best wife and mother. There have been some strong women in China, like the sisters of Prince Su, who, hav- ing been endowed with good intellects and with not a little inde- pendence, have started private girls' schools of their own and have used every means to encourage the establishment of other schools. These and other strong women have worked until they have secured Government recognition for girls' schools. Tuan Fang, before and after his going abroad, urged the establishment of female education in China. When the commissioners were in the United States they were greatly impressed by the advantages in education offered Ameri- can women, and made most favorable reports to the Throne. The late Empress Dowager was greatly interested in female education, and lost no opportunity of learning all she could of western methods from American women concerning female education in the United States. As a result to-day there are Government, public, and pri- vate girls' schools established in almost every Province. Govern- ment provision has been made for primary and middle schools, normal schools, and colleges for women. By the beginning of 1908 there were outside of Peking 121 girls' schools in Chihli Province. Of this number, 43 were Government schools, 39 public schools, and the remaining 39 were private schools. The schools enrolled 2,523 pupils, and were taught by 168 teachers, having graduated 95 students. The total annual income from all sources was 71,612 taels, the expenditure 68,668 taels, or a little over 90 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. 27 taels per student. At this time the North China Provincial College for Women (Pei Yang Kao Teng Nu Hsueh Tang), located in Tien- tsin, had 7 teachers and 74 students. The subjects taught were Chinese classics, history, wenli composition, geography, domestic science, mathematics, English, painting, sewing, Chinese penmanship, music, and calisthenics. The annual income for the college was 9,831 taels and the annual expenditure 9,586 taels. The North China Broad Knowledge Woman's School (Pei Yang Hung Wen Nu Hsueh Tang) had 10 teachers and 82 pupils. In addition to the subjects taught in the above-mentioned college were physics and the use of the sewing machine. Its income was 2,158 taels and its expenses were 8,640 taels for the year. The North China Woman's Normal School, with a four-year course of study, is also located in Tientsin, and had, in 1908, 9 teachers and 84 students, having graduated 78. The Japanese language was taught in place of English. The annual expense for the year had been 24,203 taels, and its income but 23,387 taels. In 1909, when I visited this normal college, there were 13 teachers, 6 men and 5 women and 2 student teachers. The enroll- ment was 98. I was told that more than half of these students were good Chinese scholars. I visited classes in botany, drawing, music, and algebra, all of which were well conducted. The students were dignified, making a good impression and giving every promise of developing into good teachers. At that time I also visited the Woman's Nurses' Training School in Tientsin. Dr. Yamei Kin, an exceedingly well-informed Chinese lady, and a graduate of the Wo- man's Medical College of New York, is the director of the school. Dr. Kin had personally superintended the remodeling of the build- ings used for the school, and had shown excellent judgment in all the arrangements. A class of 23 pupils was pursuing a two-year course of study. Later on Dr. Kin hopes to open a woman's medical col- lege in connection with the nurses' school. Most of the remaining schools in Chihli Province were primary, enrolling from 7 to 156 students. The subjects taught were similar to those given above, only of a more elementary character. Provision was made in July, 1908, for a woman's normal college to be opened in Peking in two temples outside of the Hsi An gate. Appropriations for 50,000 taels for repairs and 30,000 taels for an- nual expenses were provided by the Government. Women between the ages of 20 and 30 are to be admitted after passing the required entrance examinations. All the teachers are to be women, with the exception of the director and the teachers of Chinese subjects, who must be over 50 years of age. The future success of girls' schools is assured, for the Regent is known to take much interest in the estab- lishing of schools for girls, and has several times urged upon the ministry of education the importance of seeing that these schools MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOLS. 91 were rapidly established in the Provinces. He desires that all the regulations concerning girls' schools should be carried out, except the one in regard to the employing of men above 50 years of age as teach- ers in girls' schools. Since there is an insufficient number of qualified men of that age to man the schools, the Eegent feels that there should be no delay in the establishment of these schools, and that the need of good teachers justifies the employing of younger men. In 1908 there were reported to be 771 girls attending the primary schools in Peking, Doubtless by to-day the attendance has been more than doubled. The establishment of girls' schools is sure to revolutionize the home and social life of the people. The Government has refused to admit girls with bound feet into the schools, and this will be the most effect- ive weapon that can be used to blot out that pernicious custom. It is sure to open the way for women to be self-supporting. Tuan Fang, in advocating female education, pointed out that in time the women would be able to teach the primary schools. The graduates of the mission girls' high schools have proved themselves excellent instruc- tors, and the educated women will be preferred to men as teachers of the young children. The Chinese western-educated young men have a desire to see their sisters educated, and all Chinese educated women are the recipients of their chivalrous attention, as was demonstrated last summer when the Chinese young men studying in the United States invited all the Chinese women students to be their guests at their summer conference held at Hamilton, N. Y. The young ladies accepted their invitation and, properly chaperoned, attended. The courtesy of the young men extended even to the payment of their traveling expenses. The western-educated young man wants an educated wife, a companion, not a slave, and those who are married to uneducated, superstitious women feel that their lot is " bitter," but must be endured. A graduate of a Christian college, in speaking of his uneducated heathen wife, said : " She is like a carbuncle on my neck." She was largely what the old educational and social system had made her. The fault was not hers, but that of the system. In time the education of women is sure to destroy the present system of early marriage. It will liberate women and do away with concubin- age. It will give the educated woman a different position in the home of her mother-in-law, and will be the greatest means that can be employed to do away with superstitions. The future educated mother in China will be to her husband, home, and children all that we find in her educated sisters of other countries. CHAPTER VIII. CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD. Never in the history of the world has any other country sent so many students to study abroad as has China since entering upon her educational reforms. In the very beginning of the movement the .Government was forced to recognize the fact that China was wholly unprepared to meet the demand, for she lacked men prepared to take up the work of the construction and execution of a policy to be built on the ruins of the old educational system. She recog- nized that her vast army of scholars, who had been trained in the old and were ignorant of the new learning, would prove a menace to reform unless they could be trained in western learning and in- duced to serve in the organization of a work that they themselves would be unable to carry out to completion. It was a master stroke on the part of China that she held out such great inducements to her literati to foreign study and travel. That Japan was chosen for a field of study, and especially for short courses in training, was due to her proximity as well as to her similarity in customs and the written language — an economy in both time and expense. The ex- periment has not been entirely satisfactory, although her main object has been accomplished, and to-day the new educational system, though imperfect as yet in detail, is firmly established. In September, 1901, the Government, as we have seen, commanded the viceroys and governors to send students abroad for study, and required that their expenses should be met by their native Provinces. Each Government student now receives 120 taels for traveling ex- penses, and 400 taels aid per year while in Japan studying. The Imperial Government, following the advice of Yuan Shih Kai, sent many Hanlin and chin shihs abroad for study or travel, and in this way these men also were brought in line with the new system. Special competitive examinations were held for those wha held rank above the first but had not obtained the second degree, and the best of these men were made expectant officials. Those having failed realized that they had been given a chance and had lost, and now they were content to fall in line and enter such positions as were open to them. Thus was a great revolution in education brought about with little or no opposition. " Early in 1902 there were 271 Chinese students, from 15 Provinces, studying in the Sunrise King- 92 CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABKOAD. 93 dom."* In 1903 there were 591, and during the year 1904 they increased at the rate of 100 per month, until in January, 1905, there were 2,406, and by November of that year the number had increased to 8,620.^ In the autumn of 1906 the Japan Mail gave the number as not less than 13,000, and in the spring of 1907 the Chinese am- bassador estimated that there were 15,000 students in Tokyo,^ while later according to His Excellency Wu Ting Fang, there were at one time studying in Tokyo as many as 17,000 Chinese students.* Although the experiment was not entirely satisfactory, the fault was not all on the part of Japan. A great majority of the students sent by the Provinces and others, supported by city or village guilds, or by friends or parents, were in no sense prepared for study in the Japanese schools. Most of them had no knowledge of the Japanese language, and had first to devote months to the study of it before being able to enter the public schools. Many were there for short- term courses of a year or less, while others came because it was popular to do so. Some came for political reasons, while others, too old to learn a language, on finding the work difficult, became dis- couraged and returned home. Again the Japanese Government schools were M-holly unjDrepared to accommodate such an invasion of students. Private schools were opened especially for Chinese stu- dents, and often by incompetent and unscrupulous Japanese, who, caring only for the Chinese silver, offered " short-cut courses," and sold diplomas to dishonest students. These, on their return to China, were able for a short time to impose upon the ignorance of their countrymen, and so brought Japanese education into general dis- repute. Too much veneer and too much political agitation soon brought the movement into disfavor. The Peking Government ap- plied a restraining hand by requiring all Government students who wished to go abroad for study to pass an examination upon all the subjects required in the middle schools^ before leaving China, and in August, 1908, required that students should have a sufficient knowl- edge of the language of the country where they intended to study to be able to attend and understand the lectures ; and, as students still disregarded this action, an edict of December, 1908, gave warning that any returned students whose examination papers had not been filed with the ministry of education before going abroad for study would not be admitted to the imperial examinations for returned students.*^ In September, 1908, the Government announced that all returned students from Japan, before being admitted to the im- 1 The Educational Conquest in the Far East, p. 184. 2 North China Herald, Mar. 16, 1906, p. 569. 3 The Chinese Students' Migration to Tokyo, p. 4. ^The World's Chinese Students' Journal, vol. 3, No. 1, p. 11. 5 Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 4, dept. 2, p. 59. ^IMd.j vol. 78, dept. 3, p. 2. 94 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. perial examinations, must first pass an examination before the min- istry of education on general subjects, including Japanese classics and language. The reason given was that many students had secured diplomas from Japanese scientific schools very easily.^ Many returned students from Japan have miserably failed in the imperial examinations at Peking. In the report of the examination held October, 1908, appears this statement: "Twenty were rejected as failures; youths who had studied in Japan." Not only is rigid oversight of the students inaugurated at Peking, but the strictest of measures are being enforced by Chinese officials in Tokyo. The result is that unprepared pupils are not going to Japan as formerly, and all the short-term schools have been discontinued. The Govern- ment schools and the large private schools, like Waseda University, now refuse to admit students unless they enroll for a specified number of years. All this has resulted in reducing the number of Chinese students. In 1909 there were in Tokyo 1,992 Chinese Government students in the collegiate schools and 395 in the military schools, making a total of 2,387 Government students in that city. There were also at least 2,500 private students. It is estimated that not less than 5,000 Chinese students, 150 of whom are women, are now studying in Japan. Though their numbers have been greatly decreased, the quality and moral standing of the students have materially increased. Both the Government and private students now in Japan are there for earnest effort, and with the intention of completing prescribed courses of studj^; they are doing their work well and many in the higher courses are winning honors among the Japanese students. They represent the better element of China, having been selected by competitive examinations or because of their social standing. The revolutionary class, at one time so strong, has largely disappeared. Rev. P. J. Laird, in the Chinese Students in Japan, says : "Although drinking and drunkenness are far more prevalent among the Japa- nese than one had imagined before coming to live in Tokyo, one has not yet seen a Chinese intoxicated." ^ There is no likelihood that the Chinese Government will decrease its number of scholarship students for some years to come. The Imperial Government, beginning with 1909, proposes to send 200 new students to Japan each year for the next five years.^ By imperial decree of January 3, 1909, Government aid was to be granted in future, especially to students who were actually taking technical or medical courses in the higher institutions of Japan, as the Government is in need of their services.* The students in Japan are able to advance in Chinese learning, which 1 Hsueli Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 65, dept. 1, p. 3. 2 The Chinese Recorder, January, 1907, p. 61. s North China Herald, July 31, 1909, p. 281. * Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 77, dept. 2, p. 4. CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABEOAD. 95 gives them some advantages in the imperial competitive examinations at Peking over students having studied in other countries. In the examination of returned military students in 1908, of the 68 compet- ing students 12 had studied in Germany and 56 in Japan. The examination resulted in 27 being graded " first class," 26 from Japan and 1 from Germany ; the remaining 41 candidates were graded " second class." The failure of the students from Germany to make " first class " was due to their poor preparation in Chinese. There is a general feeling among the Chinese students that to study in Japan is to receive a knowledge of the western sciences and literature second- hand, and that it is far better to obtain it first-hand in America or Europe. Many of the students now studying in Japan hope later to take graduate work in some western country. The tendency of the Chinese Government has been each year to send more and more students to the Occident. The rigid enforcement of the Chinese exclusion laws prevented, in the beginning, many Chinese students coming to America, and sent them to Japan or Europe. This was due not so much to the existence of the law, as that in some cases it was unjustly interpreted by the United States Government officials at San Francisco; but more often it was due to carelessness or ignorance in making out credentials. Chinese officials often signed passports who, according to the treaty, were authorized to do so — ^His Excellency Li Hung Chang being no exception — and students were at times held up or sent back because passports were not legally made out. We have never heard that a Chinese student who presented a properly made-out and witnessed passport had been denied admission to the United States. But there are connected with it most humiliating conditions that can not but offend a Chinese student, and this lack of courtesy and justice cre- ates resentment against the United States. The fixed allowance given by the Chinese Government to students studying in universities and schools in western countries is as fol- lows: England, £192 per year; France, 4,800 francs; Germany, 3,840 marks; Kussia, 1,620 rubles; Belgium, 4,800 francs; United States, $960. Those pursuing studies in preparatory schools receive one-fifth less than that given above.^ Traveling expenses are always allowed, and sometimes additional money for an outfit, as in the case of the Chinese indemnity students. In 1900 there were but a few Chinese students in England. Later, and especially after 1905, larger numbers began to arrive, many at their own expense, while others held provincial or Government schol- arships. Among the latter were students sent from Nan Yang Col- lege, the Imperial University, College of Languages, Hupei Iron 1 Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao, vol. 9, dept. 5, p. 10. 96 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Works, Kiang Su, Sze Chuan, and Kuang Tung educational bureaus, and Shanghai Polytechnic College, until in 1907 there were about 60 students. These students were attending the Universities of Ox- ford, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham, also some of the Scotch universities, while others were studying the iron and steel industries at Sheffield or were in attendance at the principal technical and commercial schools, Navigation Training College, and the Royal School of Mines in the United Kingdom. April 11, 1910, the following information was sent from the office of the educational commissioner of Europe: There are to-day some 140 Chinese Government scholarship students, and about an equal number of students supported by private funds in the LTnited King- dom. In Belgium there are about 70 Government students ; in France, 80 ; in Germany, 60 ; in Austria, 10 ; and in Russia, about 15. No sta- tistics could be sent regarding the private students in these countries, as they are not under the direction of the commissioner. " In all these countries the subjects that are generally studied are: (1) Engineer- ing, Avhich includes mining, civil, electrical, and mechanical; (2) law (LL. B. as well as the barrister-at-law) ; (3) science, pure and ap- plied; (4) arts; (5) economics, banking and commerce; (6) mis- cellaneous, such as agriculture, textile manufacturing, architecture and shipbuilding, military and naval subjects, gunnery, and gun- making." There are also about 30 naval students in England, 30 military students in Germany, 10 in Austria, 8 in France, and 3 in Belgium. There are many private students on the Continent, among them a son of Prince Su, who is in Belgium. The universities of no western country are attracting so many Chinese students as are those of the United States. The reasons are, first, that of all the foreign languages the English is the most famil- iar to the Chinese student; second, because of the democratic spirit of the American universities; and, third, because of the cordial re- ception now tendered Chinese students by the American Government and people. In 1905 there were 61 students in the American univer- sities and 19 graduate students.^ At that time there were enrolled in the University of California 17; in Columbia University, 6; in Cornell University, 5; in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 6; and in Yale University, 4. The next year 217 students were reported as studying in the United States ; of this number 122 were attending universities, colleges, or technical schools ; ^ 62 were in high schools and 33 were unclassified. There were 13 female students. One hundred and eighteen of the students in the universities, colleges, and technical schools were pursuing the following courses of study: Philosophy, 1 ; education, 6 ; political science, 9 ; law, 6 ; economics, 1 Admission of Chinese Students to American Colleges, p. 180. 2Mei Chou Liu Hsueb Pao Kao, p. 36. CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABEOAD. 9*7 including public finance, commerce and commercial law, 14; arts and sciences, 3 ; physics and mathematics, 2 ; chemistry, 4 ; medicine, 3; railway and sanitary engineering, 21; mechanical engineering, 5 ; electrical engineering, 8 ; mining engineering, 13 ; agriculture, 10 ; forestry, 1; textile manufacture, 10; and military science (West Point), 2.^ The universities having the largest attendance were: Cornell, 17; Harvard, 16; California, 14; Yale, 10; Columbia, 6; Brown, Chicago, and Pennsylvania, 5 each.^ In the summer of 1907 Viceroy Tuan Fang, desiring to send some students to the United States, held at Nanking the first Government competitive examination for the selection of students to go abroad. The examination was unique, as it was the first to be opened to women. Out of 600 students who made application only 72 young men and 10 young women were deemed qualified to enter the examination. After a three-days' test, 10 male and 3 female students were chosen, all of whom were well qualified to do university work. One was admitted to the junior class in Cornell University. The following year a simi- lar examination was held at Che Kiang. Of the 200 candidates, about 25 were disqualified physically. The examination was based upon the system of entrance examinations of Yale and Harvard. The examiners were Mr. Chao Sze Bok, M. A., LL. M. (Yale) ; Mr. Leo, a returned student from Belgium, who conducted the examina- tion in French; Mr. T. H. Lee, B. A. (Yale) ; and Mr. Pu, B. Sc. (California). Of the 20 students chosen, 3 were from St. John's University, 10 from the Imperial Polytechnic, 3 from Ching Tan Col- lege (Shanghai), 1 from Tientsin University, and 3 from other insti- tutions Out of gratitude for the return to China on the part of the United States of over $10,000,000 gold of the Boxer indemnity, China pledged herself to send to the United States 100 students each year for 4 j'^ears, and 50 students annually thereafter for 28 years, in all 1,800 students. One-half of these annual detachments are to be of advanced grade, who, upon their arrival in the United States, will be able to enter some college or technical school; the other half are to be under 15 years of age and to possess a good knowledge of Chinese and some knowledge of English and western studies. The Indemnity Scholarship Preparatory School is to admit 300 students, composed of 100 of the higher grade, all of whom are to be under 20 j^ears of age and must possess a good knowledge of the Chinese classics and litera- ture, and 200 of the lower grade. The advanced students are to be chosen by competitive examination without regard to Province, race, or religion; Chinese, Manchus, Chinese Bannermen, Mongids, and Thibetans are all equally eligible, the conditions being to pass the 1 Mei Chou Liu Hsueh Tao Kao, p. 66. -ma. pp. 1-.3G. 9561°— 11 7 98 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. examinations. The lower-grade students are to be chosen from the Provinces, each Province to be represented in the preparatory school by the number allowed according to the proportion of Boxer indem- nity it has to pay, but this does not insure each Province of its quota being sent to the United States, as the students are to be chosen from the school by competitive examination, which means that students from some Provinces may stand higher in the examination than those from other Provinces. In September, 1909, the Government selected, by competitive examinations held at Peking, the first class of indem- nity students to be sent to the United States. Out of about 600 appli- cants, 47 students were chosen, but they arrived in the United States too late to enter college classes. The students, with the exception of 2, were placed in eastern academies for the remainder of the year, when they will all enter college classes. In January, 1910, there were not less than 600 Chinese students studying in the United States. According to statistics given by the Chinese Students' Monthly, of March, 1910, there are 462 students located east of the Rockies, distributed in institutions as follows: Universities, 244 ; colleges, 28 ; professional institutions, 29 ; semi- naries, 21; academies, 63; schools, 50; grammar schools, 2; and unclassified, 28.^ The universities enrolling the largest number of students are: Cornell, 35; Harvard, 26; Columbia, 23; Wisconsin, 22 ; Yale, 22 ; Illinois, 20 ; and Pennsylvania, 19.^ According to the distribution by States, there are in Massachusetts 124 Chinese stu- dents; New York, 89; Illinois, 65; Pennsylvania, 41; Connecticut, 30; Ohio, 24; Wisconsin, 23; Indiana, 19; and Michigan, 15.^ The 4 Provinces sending the largest number of students to the United States are Kuangtung, Kiangsu, Chekiang, and Chihli. The first imperial metropolitan examination for returned students was held in Peking in 1905, under the direction of the board of rites. The examination not being well advertised, only 14 candidates ap- peared, all from Japan. Degrees were conferred upon all, 2 receiv- ing the Hanlin, 6 the chin shih, and 6 the chu jen. Since then the examinations have been conducted each year by the ministry of edu- cation. The first was held in October, 1906. Graduates of schools not below the grade of the Japanese high school were eligible, but candidates were required to present their diplomas, notebooks, and such published works as they might have. There were 42 candidates, ranging from 44 to 23 years of age; 23 were from Japan, 16 from the United States, 2 from England, and 1 from Germany. The board of examination was composed of Chinese who had studied abroad, and were representatives of the schools of England, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, and the United States. iP. 269. ^P- 268. CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABEOAD. 99 The following is a quotation from an article in the Chinese Re- corder by Prof. W. W. Yen, who ranked second in the examination : " The examination was divided into two parts, occupying two whole days, the 27th and the 29th of the eighth moon. On the first day the candidates were examined in the subjects they specialized in while at college. Each candidate was handed an envelope containing the questions, of which there were three in each subject; he was re- quired, however, to reply to two only. Permission was granted to the men to write in any language they preferred, and nearly all the returned students from Europe and America employed English as their vehicle of expression. To enable the reader to form some idea of the themes put forward by the examiners, the three proffered to the candidate in philosophy are here presented: (1) Define phi- losophy and distinguish it from science and ethics. Explain the fol- lowing systems of philosophical thought : Dualism, theism, idealism, materialism, pantheism, agnosticism. How would you classify, ac- cording to the western method, the following Chinese philosophers: Chuang Tzu, Chang Tsai, Chu Tzu, Lu Tzu, and Wang Yang-ming ? (2) Explain why philosophy developed earliest in Greece. What are the leading thoughts in the teaching of Heraclitus? Why will his system, at one time almost obsolete, again become popular? (3) Expound fully Mill's four methods of induction and mention some of the scientific discoveries and inventions which may be directly traced to them. At the examination on the second day, which was aimed at testing the general knowledge of the men, the same two subjects for an essay were given out for all the candidates, one for those desiring to compose a Chinese essay and the other for the re- turned students from western countries. The former was typically Chinese, and may be roughly transliterated as ' To respect those in authority, to love one's kin, to venerate one's elders, and to segregate the sexes ; these are principles that will abide for all generations ' ; the latter was a theme for argumentation, and was worded, ' Will it be expedient for China to adopt a system of compulsory educa- tion? ' All the candidates, since they came from so many countries and represented so many institutions, were placed on the same level and had to be graded (1) according to their foreign degrees, (2) according to their achievements since their day of graduation, and (3) according to the quality of the papers submitted to the ex- aminers. All those attaining over 80 out of a possible 100 marks were to receive the degree of chin shih; over 70, a first-class chu jen, over 60 a second-class chu jen, while those who received over 50 got only a certificate stating that the holder had attended the board examination. Ten out of the 42 men failed even to make 50 points, and were requested to try again next year." ^ ^The Recent Imperial Metropolitan Examinations, January, 1907, pp. 34—39. 100 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHUSTA. The examination resulted in conferring the chin shih degree on 9 candidates, all of whom, with the exception of 1, a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge University, were graduates of Ameri- can institutions. In the second class 5 were granted the chu jen degree; the first 3 were from America, the last 2 from Japan. In the third class 18 received the second-class chu jen degree; the gradu- ate of Berlin University ranked eighth in this class, and the 1 from London University occupied fifth place. Those who received degrees at these Metropolitan examinations must have added to the degree the special subject in which they are examined, as fa ke chin shih (doctor of law), nung ke chin shih (doctor of agriculture) , or kung ke chu jen (master of civil engineer- ing). In this first examination a graduate of an American dental college was given the chin shih degree. One candidate could scarcely write his name in Chinese, but by using a foreign language in the examination, secured his degree. The next year, 1907, the examina- tions were more rigid. Essays written in Chinese were required, and the diplomas, instead of being on the same basis, were graded as follows : Doctor of philosophy degree credited with 100 points ; mas- ter of arts, Avith 90 points; bachelor of arts, with 80 points; profes- sional and technical degrees were given fourth place and but 70 points ; while a high-school diploma from Japan was granted 60 points. This schedule has not in all cases worked satisfactorily, yet it is influencing many students to take a Ph. D. degree in connection with their professional or technical degree, who would not otherwise do so. At this second examination 7 received the chin shih degree, 17 the chu jen degree, and 14 the second-class chu jen degree. At the examination held in 1908 there were 15 graded first class, 45 second class, and 47 third class, making a total of 107 to receive degrees. At the last regular examination, 1909, 30 passed first class, 57 second class, and 15 third class, 102 securing degrees.^ At a special ex- amination for a list of officials who had studied abroad the chin shih degree was conferred upon 12 and the chu jen degree upon 7.^ Some of these successful chin shihs were members of the first board of examiners under the ministry of education. All government schol- arship students are expected to take these examinations upon their return to China and to serve the Government a limited number of years. These examinations are being carefully conducted and are becoming more rigid each year. According to the memorial pub- lished in the Hsueh Pu Kuan Pao,^ students of medicine, engineering, physics, and agriculture who are graduates of colleges and students who are graduates of high schools (Japanese) may be excused from 1 North China Herald, June 5, 1909, p. 535. 2 North China Herald, Jan. 21, 1910, p. 144. sVol. 46, pp. 62-64. CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD. 101 writing the Chinese essay at the examinations; but it further pro- vides that students who are excellent in Chinese as well as in science shall be classed as first grade ; those who are good in science and fair in Chinese shall be classed second grade; and those who are very good in science and poor in Chinese shall be classed in the third grade. It also emphasizes the fact that students shall be strictly graded according to their standing; that it is' not necessary "to squeeze " students into the first grade ; that the first or second grades may be left vacant if there are no students passing high enough for those grades; and should all deserve first grade, then they must be ranked in that grade. This, of course, is a direct innovation on the old sj^stem of examinations which allowed a certain number of de- grees at each examination. After this examination, held by the min- istry of education and the examiners appointed by the throne, these successful candidates are later received in imperial audience and undergo another examination, after which official rewards are con- ferred upon the students according to the result of the two examina- tions. The chin shihs who stand first in the palace examination are given the title of Hanlin, pien hsiu, or chien tao ; the second are re- warded with shu chi shih of the Hanlin Yuan, and three years later, upon the recommendation of the president of the Hanlin Yuan, may be rewarded with pien hsiu or chien tao; those who stand in the third class of the chin shih and the first class of the chu jen are re- warded with chu shih and given offices in the different ministries according to their special line of study. Those chu jen who stood in the first class in the examination held by the ministry of education, but fell in the third class at the palace examination, are rewarded with chih hsien and given districts to govern at once. Those in the second class of chu jen and rank second class at the palace examina- tion are rewarded with small posts of the seventh grade in Peking and are given positions in the different ministries or boards; those who stand in the third class at the palace examination are given the title of chih hsien, or district magistrate. A half century has past since China began her struggle with modern education. At first, forced upon her as it was, she regarded it with contempt, her greatest literati doing everything possible to prevent its getting a stronghold in the Empire. They not only despised the western barbarian, but placed little confidence in the Chinese who condescended to use him as their teacher, and as far as possible kept them out of official employment. But there were men of vision, like Tseng Kuo Fan, who saw that there must be read- justments in Chinese education in order to have men prepared for China's future needs. Up to 1900 the presidents of the Hanlin Yuan were bitter opponents of western education ; since that time they have been strong advocates in its favor. "We have seen how little the Tung 102 THE EDUCATIOISrAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. Wen College and its annexes were able to accomplish because of the bitter antagonism outside; how Li Hung Chang, as successor of Tseng Kuo Fan, failed in courage to brook the opposition to the first student mission to the United States, and allowed those promising students to be returned to China before completing their courses of study, and to suffer so many indignities upon their arrival home. The sight of American war vessels in Japanese ports caused Japan to appreciate the necessity of immediate reform, and she set out at once to make herself great by learning all she could of the arts and sciences of the west; but it took the artillery of the world to awaken China to the keen appreciation of her danger and the necessity of educational reforms if she were still to maintain her sovereignty. It was not until after the allied armies had relieved the besieged lega- tions in Peking that the Em^Dress Dowager, in her flight for safety, realized that the " Boy Emperor " had been in the right in attempting to make his country great by the introduction of western learning. Convinced, then, of the need of instituting reforms, that woman of indomitable will staj^ed not her hand until she had given the death blow to the wen chang and had annihilated the old competitive ex- aminations and established a system of Government schools that should be free to poor and rich, male and female, alike. This educa- tional reform was the conception of her nephew Emperor, but she it was who possessed the power to carry to completion the greatest revo- lution in education that the world has ever witnessed. She lived to see 'it firmly established and to know that the greatest of her people approved the establishment of an educational system that would make possible the carrying out of her promise that the nation should have a constitution, provincial assemblies, and a national parliament. There are many defects in the educational system. The attempt to make a combined course of study that would contain all the classical learning of the old literati, and all the arts and sciences of the west, has proved a failure, but it can and will be remedied and suitable courses will be worked out to meet the special needs of the Chinese people. The requiring of too many hours of recitation work, and the leaving of too little or no time for study, have failed to produce the desired results. Time will overcome the lack of competent administrators and trained teachers. The lack of funds to meet the future demand of the schools will be the problem that the provincial assemblies and national parliament must solve. There has developed in the new system a lack of that reverence for the teacher that characterized the old system. The goggle-eyed, stoop- shouldered, subservient student of the past is no longer to be seen. In his place has come the bright-eyed, military-trained lad, who loves athletic sports, is intensely patriotic, and is impatient for the day when he shall be prepared to aid in the regeneration of his nation. CHINESE STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD. 103 Such lads are no longer content to be taught by antiquated teachers. The new and the old are out of harmony. We must not forget that the system has been in operation only 8 years, and under the control of the ministry of education less than 5. What China has accomplished in modern education during this time is marvelous. Note the number and variety of the schools established, the aid her people have given by private gifts, their enthusiasm for the system, and the thousands of students that have migrated to foreign lands in search of western learning. Never has a country accomplished more in so short a time after the estab- lishment of a new system of education. Great opportunities await these returned students. Their country needs their services, not only in the construction of the many railways, the opening of mines, the establishment of industries, the conducting of great commercial enterprises, the providing of an adequate national defense on land and sea, the drafting of laws and the preparation of a national constitution, but to them, more than to any others, belongs the duty of solving the problems that yet confront the educational system of China. The men of the old regime, like Chang Chih Tung, Sun Chia Nai, Yuan Shih Kai, and Tuan Fang, came nobly to the front and, in the face of many difficulties, aided in the establishment of the present educational system. It now becomes the duty of the chosen men who have been given every opportunity that money and western culture can oiler to revise the courses of study and develop this national system of education, and we have faith to believe that they will accomplish the task and that the Chinese people shall yet con- tribute largely to modern thought and culture. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Historical and Descriptive. Bashford, James W. New chapters on the awakening of China. New York, The Board of foreign missions of the Methodist Episcopal church [1908], 25p. 12°. Chang Chih-tung. China's only hope . . . tr. from the Chinese ed. by S. I. Woodbridge. New York, Chicago [etc.] F. H. Revell co., 1900. 151 p. illus. 12°. Fryer, John. Admission of Chinese students to American colleges. Washing- ton, Government printing office, 1909. xiii, 221 p. 8°. (U. S. Bureau of education. Bulletin, 1909, no. 2.) " References to Chinese students in the United States." p. 217. Gee, Nathaniel G. comp. 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Th-e movement for reform in the teaching of religion in the public echools of Saxony. By Arley Barthio-w Show, Professor of Medieval History, Leland Stan- ford Junior University. pp.45. No. 2. State school systems: III. Legislation and judicial decisions relating to public education, October I, 1908, to October 1, 1909. By Edward C. Elliott, Professor of Education in the University of Wisconsin, pp. 305. No. 3. List of publications of the United States Bureau of Education, 1867-1910. pp. 55. No. 4. The biological stations of Europe. By Charles Atwood Kofoid. pp. 360. No. 5. American schoolhouses. By Fletcher B. Dresslar, Professor of Philosophy and Education in the University of Alabama, pp.133. No. 6. Statistics of State universities and other institutions of higher education partially supported by the State, 1909-10. pp. 29. 1911. No. 1. Bibliogi-aphy of science teaching, Compiled by a committee of the American Federation of Teachers of the Mathematical and the Natiiral Sciences, pp. 27. No. 2. Opportunities for graduate study in agriculture in the United States, pp. 16. No. 3. Agencies for the improvement orteachers in service. By William 0. Ruediger, Professor of Educational Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, D. C. pp. 157. No. 4. Report of the commission appointed to study the system of education in the public schools of Baltimore, pp.112. No. 5. Age and grade census of schools and colleges, a study of retardation and elimi- nation. By George Drayton Strayer, Professor of School Administration, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, pp.144. No. 6. Graduate work in mathematics in universities and in other institutions of like grade in the United States. Being report of Committee XII in the American report to the International commission on the teaching of mathematics, pp. 63. No. 7. Undergraduate work in mathematics in colleges of liberal arts and xmiversities. Being report of Committee X in the American report to the International com- mission on the teaching of mathematics, pp. 30. - No. 8. Examinations in mathematics,' other than those set by the teacher for his own classes. Being report of Committee VII in the American report to the Inter- national commission on the teaching of mathematics. No. 9. Mathematics in the technological schools of collegiate grade in the United States. Being report of Committee IX in the American report to the International commission on the teaching of mathematics. No. 10. Bibliography of education for 1909-10. pp. 166. No. 11. Bibliography of child study for the years 1908-9. By Louis N. Wilson, Librarian of Clark University, Worcester, Mass. pp.84. No. 12. Training of teachers of elementary and secondary mathematics. 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