Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-07-16
CHINESE SCHOOL sYsrnM.

There 10 no public school system IN
the Chinese empire. Only the well-to.
do or wealthy have the advantage OF an
education, except the missionaries or
generous Chinese open schools In behalf
OF the masses. The Chinese boy starts
to school when about six years old. The
girls are practically never educated.
The Chinese recognize three great SUI
speriors, the emperor. the parents and
the teacher. SO when the boy presents
himself at the school he bears q pres
sent for the teacher ard bows his head
to the floor three times signifying that
he Is willing to obey the teachers CONF
mands. His next duty is to burn In
ceEse before tablet on which is writ
ten the name of Confucius. Then he
is ready to begin to learn his lessons.
The wallis Of the school are usually
decorated with scrolls on which are Pic
lures and writings, quotations from the
ancient sages. Each pupil has a little
tablet on which are an limestone and
the brush with which he learns to
write. There are no regular hours for
the opening and the closing OF the
school, the pupils come and go as may
be convenient, and there are therefore
no classes, each being taught separate
5ly and they are advanced as rapidly
as they can be. The pupils are taught
bread and write the Chinese language.
and this is no easy task, for there is
no alphabet in the language, which has
14root characters which enter into the
formation OF all the characters In the
written language. each of which rep
resents a word. There are about 10000
words in the language, but only a
small part of these are known to any
but the most highly educated.
The primer which Is used in the
schools is at least 1000 years old and
contains number Of proverbs which
the scholar has to learn. He 10 then
taught that there are three great pow
.ers, heaven, earth and man: and three
great lights. sun, moon and stars. He
is further taught that rice. millet,
wheat, rye and barley are the five kinds
of grain on which man subststs. This
sort Of teaching Is followed by sum-
mary OF Chinese history and the exam
pies of the sages of antiquity are COM
mended to the youthful pupil. He 10
also taught to despise foreigners and
that China Is the only great nation OF
the earth. Filial piety is taught from
the first day OF school to the last.
When the Chinese scholar has
learned these elementary things he be-
gins 10 learn the sayings and writings
of the ancient sages. Chinese education
is not drawing out OF the youthful
Intellect: 1t is cram, cram" Thousands
of young men In China can repeat for
days the sayings of Mencius and Con-
fucius. After studying for ten or ff-
teen years the students begin attending
the annual examinations held under the
auspices OF the government. The ex-
aminations are very severe. and proba-
bly, not more than one in a hundred
passes the first examination and re-
'ceives the degree OF "Siu-tsoi.' corre-
spending to our Bachelor OF Arts.
Those who have attained this degree
can continue their studies II they Will
and afterward take examinations for
the degrees of "Gu-ing' master OF
Arts, and cling doctor of PHI
losophy) Men with these degrees pos
sess official prestige and power. 1t Is
considered great honor to obtain q
degree and when the lucky holder ar
rays himself in classic robes and calls
upon his friends they give him pres
sents, make feasts for him and show
him great respect. About 10 per cent
of the male population have some edu-
cation along the lines outlined. Very
few of the females are educated at all.
Not more than per cent can read.