Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-08-10
EDUCATION IN CHINA.
Education not GeneraI-SchOoIs and
Modes OF Teaching.

Education not GeneraI-SchOoIs and
Modes OF Teaching.
Mr. M. J. Knowlton writes as follows to
| The Boston Journal: 1t is often asserted
in the newspapers and by public speakers
that the Chinese ''can all read and write.
Even Mitchells new School Geography
has the following remarkable paragraph
Education lin China) is general, and
learning is greatly respected. All classes
can read and write. Newspapers and books
are printed in great numbers" A resi-
dence OF 16 years III China and constant
intercourse with the people during that
period, enables me, from personal obser-
Vation, to deny positively the truthfulness
of these assertions. The narration of a few
facts, will, [ trust, place this matter of ed
ucation IN China in It's true light before the
public.
There are no schools in China for girls,
and with very rare exceptions no female
can read or write. Thus we at once find at
least half the population utterly destitute
of education. Of the males, the tillels of
the soil, the mechanics, the boatmen, the
fishermen, the coolies or burden-bearers-
all these classes, embracing the working
population, with very few exceptions, can
neither read nor write. The Buddhist
priests should also, as general thing, be
classed among the non-readers. The mer-
chants, the petty tradesmen, the doctors,
the fortune -tellers and mountebanks, and
the official runners or hctors, can, for
the most part, just read and write
sufficiently to keep accounts and con-
duct business correspondence. Very
few among these classes can read and un-
derstand any Chinese book written in the
usual classical or literary style. We some
tin1pc Saa in THAR hands HbinoCa yovolc
which are written in more diffuse, collo-
quial style. The reason why so few can
understand the book language is the fault,
In part, of the bad system OF teaching in
the schools. Three or four years are spent
by the pupils (Which is as much time as
most boys can spend at school in commit
ting to memory the names and forms of
characters, and in learning to write them,
before any explanation is given Of their
meaning.
The classic or book-language of China is
a dead lar guage It is about as unlike the
colloquial dialects-of which there are
over 800 in the empire-as Latin is unlike
the English, French and italian dialects.
The only class in China which can read
and write it is the literary men, who devote
their whole lives to literary pursuits. The
exact proportion of the literary class to
the rest of the population it is difficult to
determine, but the following estimate is
approximately correct; In the Ningpo fu
or department., where | am best acquainted,
there are probably about 100000 inhabi-
tants, and deducting one-half for females,
we have about $50, 600 males. Of these,
10000 would be large estimate for literary
men. Thus we have one literary man to
every rs of the male population. Ningpo
is distinguished for its high literary stand
ing. Hence, one in rs, or one and one
third per cent on an average, OF the males
[ should Judge to be fair estimate of the
comparative number of literary men or ia
telligent readers in the empire. So much
for the assertion that call classes can read
and write"
Then it is said, education is general,
and learning is greatly respected" There
are no public or common schools In China,
nor does the Government have anything to
do with schools. Many of the literary men
get their living by teaching private or Sc
lect schools, and these are the only schools
in China. The so-called colleges in China
are buildings where students can go and
find retirement, free OF charge, for reading
and practicing the writing of essays and
poetry. He alone, or in company with
other advanced students, may employ
to instruct them. In the select schools
nothing but reading and writing is taught
no science of any kind, not even geog-
raphy and arithmetic. AS for grammar they
have none, and the abacus, the only mode
OF reckoning, is seldom taught in school
In the more advanced schools the students
are taught to write prose and poetic essays,
preparatory to the competitive examinations
for literary degree. These examinations
are conducted by literary chancellors ap-
the other civil officers. The examination
for the first degree, answering to our A. B.,
Is A. NJ, at the provincial capital; and for
the third and fourth, or highest degree, at
Pekin. In all these examinations nothing
but ethical and historical essays and poetry
are written. There is no examination in
science or law, or in the history and laws
of other nations. This, in brief, is the
education" and learning" of China
AS for newspapers" there is not one
printed in all China. There is a daily Off
cial bulletin issued from the Imperial pal
ace, called by foreigners the Pekin Gaz-
cite, but it is strictly official and very
brief and is not at all a newspaper in the
usual sense. Two or three newspapers in
the Chinese language have been started by
foreigners residing at the open ports
AS to 'books, it is seldom that new
book appears. There are number of IL
braries of old books on various subjects
but they are chiefly historical annals of
the empire. Book stores are found IN all
the cities, containing school books, novels,
histories and works on few other SUBJ
jects.