HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA
China, like Italy and Greece, is frequently misjudged by persons of
culture because they regard it as a museum. The preservation of ancient
beauty is very important, but no vigorous forward-looking man is content
to be a mere curator. The result is that the best people in China tend
to be Philistines as regards all that is pleasing to the European
tourist. The European in China, quite apart from interested motives, is
apt to be ultra-conservative, because he likes everything distinctive
and non-European. But this is the attitude of an outsider, of one who
regards China as a country to be looked at rather than lived in, as a
country with a past rather than a future. Patriotic Chinese naturally do
not view their country in this way; they wish their country to acquire
what is best in the modern world, not merely to remain an interesting
survival of a by-gone age, like Oxford or the Yellowstone Park. As the
first step to this end, they do all they can to promote higher
education, and to increase the number of Chinese who can use and
appreciate Western knowledge without being the slaves of Western
follies. What is being done in this direction is very interesting, and
one of the most hopeful things happening in our not very cheerful epoch.
There is first the old traditional curriculum, the learning by rote of
the classics without explanation in early youth, followed by a more
intelligent study in later years. This is exactly like the traditional
study of the classics in this country, as it existed, for example, in
the eighteenth century. Men over thirty, even if, in the end, they have
secured a thoroughly modern education, have almost all begun by learning
reading and writing in old-fashioned schools. Such schools still form
the majority, and give most of the elementary education that is given.
Every child has to learn by heart every day some portion of the
classical text, and repeat it out loud in class. As they all repeat at
the same time, the din is deafening. (In Peking I lived next to one of
these schools, so I can speak from experience.) The number of people who
are taught to read by these methods is considerable; in the large towns
one finds that even coolies can read as often as not. But writing (which
is very difficult in Chinese) is a much rarer accomplishment. Probably
those who can both read and write form about five per cent, of the
population.
The establishment of normal schools for the training of teachers on
modern lines, which grew out of the edict of 1905 abolishing the old
examination system and proclaiming the need of educational reform, has
done much, and will do much more, to transform and extend elementary
education. The following statistics showing the increase in the number
of schools, teachers, and students in China are taken from Mr. Tyau's
_China Awakened_, p. 4:--
1910 1914 1917 1919
Number of Schools 42,444 59,796 128,048 134,000
Number of Teachers 185,566 200,000 326,417 326,000
Number of Students 1,625,534 3,849,554 4,269,197 4,500,000
Considering that the years concerned are years of revolution and civil
war, it must be admitted that the progress shown by these figures is
very remarkable.
There are schemes for universal elementary education, but so far, owing
to the disturbed condition of the country and the lack of funds, it has
been impossible to carry them out except in a few places on a small
scale. They would, however, be soon carried out if there were a stable
government.
The traditional classical education was, of course, not intended to be
only elementary. The amount of Chinese literature is enormous, and the
older texts are extremely difficult to understand. There is scope,
within the tradition, for all the industry and erudition of the finest
renaissance scholars. Learning of this sort has been respected in China
for many ages. One meets old scholars of this type, to whose opinions,
even in politics, it is customary to defer, although they have the
innocence and unworldliness of the old-fashioned don. They remind one
almost of the men whom Lamb describes in his essay on Oxford in the
Vacation--learned, lovable, and sincere, but utterly lost in the modern
world, basing their opinions of Socialism, for example, on what some
eleventh-century philosopher said about it. The arguments for and
against the type of higher education that they represent are exactly the
same as those for and against a classical education in Europe, and one
is driven to the same conclusion in both cases: that the existence of
specialists having this type of knowledge is highly desirable, but that
the ordinary curriculum for the average educated person should take more
account of modern needs, and give more instruction in science, modern
languages, and contemporary international relations. This is the view,
so far as I could discover, of all reforming educationists in China.
The second kind of higher education in China is that initiated by the
missionaries, and now almost entirely in the hands of the Americans. As
everyone knows, America's position in Chinese education was acquired
through the Boxer indemnity. Most of the Powers, at that time, if their
own account is to be believed, demanded a sum representing only actual
loss and damage, but the Americans, according to their critics, demanded
(and obtained) a vastly larger sum, of which they generously devoted the
surplus to educating Chinese students, both in China and at American
universities. This course of action has abundantly justified itself,
both politically and commercially; a larger and larger number of posts
in China go to men who have come under American influence, and who have
come to believe that America is the one true friend of China among the
Great Powers.
One may take as typical of American work three institutions of which I
saw a certain amount: Tsing-Hua College (about ten miles from Peking),
the Peking Union Medical College (connected with the Rockefeller
Hospital), and the so-called Peking University.
Tsing-Hua College, delightfully situated at the foot of the Western
hills, with a number of fine solid buildings,[97] in a good American
style, owes its existence entirely to the Boxer indemnity money. It has
an atmosphere exactly like that of a small American university, and a
(Chinese) President who is an almost perfect reproduction of the
American College President. The teachers are partly American, partly
Chinese educated in America, and there tends to be more and more of the
latter. As one enters the gates, one becomes aware of the presence of
every virtue usually absent in China: cleanliness, punctuality,
exactitude, efficiency. I had not much opportunity to judge of the
teaching, but whatever I saw made me think that the institution was
thorough and good. One great merit, which belongs to American
institutions generally, is that the students are made to learn English.
Chinese differs so profoundly from European languages that even with the
most skilful translations a student who knows only Chinese cannot
understand European ideas; therefore the learning of some European
language is essential, and English is far the most familiar and useful
throughout the Far East.
The students at Tsing-Hua College learn mathematics and science and
philosophy, and broadly speaking, the more elementary parts of what is
commonly taught in universities. Many of the best of them go afterwards
to America, where they take a Doctor's degree. On returning to China
they become teachers or civil servants. Undoubtedly they contribute
greatly to the improvement of their country in efficiency and honesty
and technical intelligence.
The Rockefeller Hospital is a large, conspicuous building, representing
an interesting attempt to combine something of Chinese beauty with
European utilitarian requirements. The green roofs are quite Chinese,
but the walls and windows are European. The attempt is praiseworthy,
though perhaps not wholly successful. The hospital has all the most
modern scientific apparatus, but, with the monopolistic tendency of the
Standard Oil Company, it refuses to let its apparatus be of use to
anyone not connected with the hospital. The Peking Union Medical College
teaches many things besides medicine--English literature, for
example--and apparently teaches them well. They are necessary in order
to produce Chinese physicians and surgeons who will reach the European
level, because a good knowledge of some European language is necessary
for medicine as for other kinds of European learning. And a sound
knowledge of scientific medicine is, of course, of immense importance to
China, where there is no sort of sanitation and epidemics are frequent.
The so-called Peking University is an example of what the Chinese have
to suffer on account of extra-territoriality. The Chinese Government (so
at least I was told) had already established a university in Peking,
fully equipped and staffed, and known as the Peking University. But the
Methodist missionaries decided to give the name "Peking University" to
their schools, so the already existing university had to alter its name
to "Government University." The case is exactly as if a collection of
old-fashioned Chinamen had established themselves in London to teach the
doctrine of Confucius, and had been able to force London University to
abandon its name to them. However, I do not wish to raise the question
of extra-territoriality, the more so as I do not think it can be
abandoned for some years to come, in spite of the abuses to which it
sometimes gives rise.
Returned students (_i.e._ students who have been at foreign
universities) form a definite set in China.[98] There is in Peking a
"Returned Students' Club," a charming place. It is customary among
Europeans to speak ill of returned students, but for no good reason.
There are occasionally disagreements between different sections; in
particular, those who have been only to Japan are not regarded quite as
equals by those who have been to Europe or America. My impression was
that America puts a more definite stamp upon a student than any other
country; certainly those returning from England are less Anglicized than
those returning from the United States are Americanized. To the Chinaman
who wishes to be modern and up-to-date, skyscrapers and hustle seem
romantic, because they are so unlike his home. The old traditions which
conservative Europeans value are such a mushroom growth compared to
those of China (where authentic descendants of Confucius abound) that it
is useless to attempt that way of impressing the Chinese. One is
reminded of the conversation in _Eothen_ between the English country
gentleman and the Pasha, in which the Pasha praises England to the
refrain: "Buzz, buzz, all by steam; whir, whir, all on wheels," while
the Englishman keeps saying: "Tell the Pasha that the British yeoman is
still, thank God, the British yeoman."
Although the educational work of the Americans in China is on the whole
admirable, nothing directed by foreigners can adequately satisfy the
needs of the country. The Chinese have a civilization and a national
temperament in many ways superior to those of white men. A few Europeans
ultimately discover this, but Americans never do. They remain always
missionaries--not of Christianity, though they often think that is what
they are preaching, but of Americanism. What is Americanism? "Clean
living, clean thinking, and pep," I think an American would reply. This
means, in practice, the substitution of tidiness for art, cleanliness
for beauty, moralizing for philosophy, prostitutes for concubines (as
being easier to conceal), and a general air of being fearfully busy for
the leisurely calm of the traditional Chinese. Voltaire--that hardened
old cynic--laid it down that the true ends of life are "_aimer et
penser_." Both are common in China, but neither is compatible with
"pep." The American influence, therefore, inevitably tends to eliminate
both. If it prevailed it would, no doubt, by means of hygiene, save the
lives of many Chinamen, but would at the same time make them not worth
saving. It cannot therefore be regarded as wholly and altogether
satisfactory.
The best Chinese educationists are aware of this, and have established
schools and universities which are modern but under Chinese direction.
In these, a certain proportion of the teachers are European or
American, but the spirit of the teaching is not that of the Y.M.C.A. One
can never rid oneself of the feeling that the education controlled by
white men is not disinterested; it seems always designed, unconsciously
in the main, to produce convenient tools for the capitalist penetration
of China by the merchants and manufacturers of the nation concerned.
Modern Chinese schools and universities are singularly different: they
are not hotbeds of rabid nationalism as they would be in any other
country, but institutions where the student is taught to think freely,
and his thoughts are judged by their intelligence, not by their utility
to exploiters. The outcome, among the best young men, is a really
beautiful intellectual disinterestedness. The discussions which I used
to have in my seminar (consisting of students belonging to the Peking
Government University) could not have been surpassed anywhere for
keenness, candour, and fearlessness. I had the same impression of the
Science Society of Nanking, and of all similar bodies wherever I came
across them. There is, among the young, a passionate desire to acquire
Western knowledge, together with a vivid realization of Western vices.
They wish to be scientific but not mechanical, industrial but not
capitalistic. To a man they are Socialists, as are most of the best
among their Chinese teachers. They respect the knowledge of Europeans,
but quietly put aside their arrogance. For the present, the purely
Chinese modern educational institutions, such as the Peking Government
University, leave much to be desired from the point of view of
instruction; there are no adequate libraries, the teaching of English is
not sufficiently thorough, and there is not enough mental discipline.
But these are the faults of youth, and are unimportant compared with the
profoundly humanistic attitude to life which is formed in the students.
Most of the faults may be traced to the lack of funds, because the
Government--loved by the Powers on account of its weakness--has to part
with all its funds to the military chieftains who fight each other and
plunder the country, as in Europe--for China must be compared with
Europe, not with any one of the petty States into which Europe is
unhappily divided.
The students are not only full of public spirit themselves, but are a
powerful force in arousing it throughout the nation. What they did in
1919, when Versailles awarded Shangtung to Japan, is well told by Mr.
Tyau in his chapter on "The Student Movement." And what they did was not
merely political. To quote Mr. Tyau (p. 146):--
Having aroused the nation, prevented the signature of the
Versailles Treaty and assisted the merchants to enforce the
Japanese boycott, the students then directed their energies to
the enlightenment of their less educated brothers and sisters.
For instance, by issuing publications, by popular lectures
showing them the real situation, internally as well as
externally; but especially by establishing free schools and
maintaining them out of their own funds. No praise can be too
high for such self-sacrifice, for the students generally also
teach in these schools. The scheme is endorsed everywhere with
the greatest enthusiasm, and in Peking alone it is estimated that
fifty thousand children are benefited by such education.
One thing which came as a surprise to me was to find that, as regards
modern education under Chinese control, there is complete equality
between men and women. The position of women in Peking Government
University is better than at Cambridge. Women are admitted to
examinations and degrees, and there are women teachers in the
university. The Girls' Higher Normal School in Peking, where prospective
women teachers are taught, is a most excellent and progressive
institution, and the spirit of free inquiry among the girls would
horrify most British head mistresses.
There is a movement in favour of co-education, especially in elementary
education, because, owing to the inadequate supply of schools, the girls
tend to be left out altogether unless they can go to the same school as
the boys. The first time I met Professor and Mrs. Dewey was at a banquet
in Chang-sha, given by the Tuchun. When the time came for after-dinner
speeches, Mrs. Dewey told the Tuchun that his province must adopt
co-education. He made a statesmanlike reply, saying that the matter
should receive his best consideration, but he feared the time was not
ripe in Hunan. However, it was clear that the matter was within the
sphere of practical politics. At the time, being new to China and having
imagined China a somewhat backward country, I was surprised. Later on I
realized that reforms which we only talk about can be actually carried
out in China.
Education controlled by missionaries or conservative white men cannot
give what Young China needs. After throwing off the native superstitions
of centuries, it would be a dismal fiasco to take on the European
superstitions which have been discarded here by all progressive people.
It is only where progressive Chinese themselves are in control that
there is scope for the renaissance spirit of the younger students, and
for that free spirit of sceptical inquiry by which they are seeking to
build a new civilization as splendid as their old civilization in its
best days.
While I was in Peking, the Government teachers struck, not for higher
pay, but for pay, because their salaries had not been paid for many
months. Accompanied by some of the students, they went on a deputation
to the Government, but were repulsed by soldiers and policemen, who
clubbed them so severely that many had to be taken to hospital. The
incident produced such universal fury that there was nearly a
revolution, and the Government hastened to come to terms with the
teachers with all possible speed. The modern teachers have behind them
all that is virile, energetic, and public-spirited in China; the gang of
bandits which controls the Government has behind it Japanese money and
European intrigue. America occupies an intermediate position. One may
say broadly that the old traditional education, with the military
governors and the British and Japanese influence, stands for
Conservatism; America and its commerce and its educational institutions
stand for Liberalism; while the native modern education, practically
though not theoretically, stands for Socialism. Incidentally, it alone
stands for intellectual freedom.
The Chinese are a great nation, incapable of permanent suppression by
foreigners. They will not consent to adopt our vices in order to acquire
military strength; but they are willing to adopt our virtues in order to
advance in wisdom. I think they are the only people in the world who
quite genuinely believe that wisdom is more precious than rubies. That
is why the West regards them as uncivilized.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 97: It should be said that one sees just as fine buildings in
purely Chinese institutions, such as Peking Government University and
Nanking Teachers' Training College.]
[Footnote 98: Mr. Tyau (op. cit. p. 27) quotes from _Who's Who of
American Returned Students_, a classification of the occupations of 596
Chinese who have returned from American universities. The larger items
are: In education, 38 as administrators and 197 as teachers; in
Government service, 129 in executive offices (there are also three
members of Parliament and four judges); 95 engineers; 35 medical
practitioners (including dentists); 60 in business; and 21 social and
religious workers. It is estimated that the total number of Chinese
holding university degrees in America is 1,700, and in Great Britain 400
_(ib.)._ This disproportion is due to the more liberal policy of America
in the matter of the Boxer indemnity. In 1916 there were 292 Chinese
university students in Great Britain, and Mr. Tyau (p. 28) gives a
classification of them by their subjects. The larger groups are:
Medicine, 50; law and economics, 47; engineering, 42; mining, 22;
natural science (including chemistry and geology, which are classified
separately), 19.]