Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-27
i'm MODERN CHINA
VII-The "New Education"
By Frederic il Haskin :

IEEETz=Fz1 EK1NG-when Chang Chih-
lS 8 Nll tung, now the leader of the
ID 81 al conservative forces in China
liz egNsSll and one of the most influen-
IN asSI tial men in the empire, wrote
lESzAAsll book which he wished to
stir his people as they had
not been stirred in generations, he gave
1t the significant title Learn" The
book was translated into English, and
the translator amplified the meaning
of the author by rendering the
title as "China's Only Hope" 1t is
the one question upon which all Chi
nese are agreed, whether they be con-
servative seclusionists or republican
revolutionists--they believe in acquir-
ing learning, the learning of the west
ern world.
In no other country is scholarship so
highly esteemed as in China. 1t is
the basis of aristocracy, the measure
of social worthiness, the most to-be-
desired possession. The system of eX-
amnations for degrees, which obtained
for so many centuries, was cruelty eX-
acting but men were not deferred and
1t was not uncommon to find a young
man seeking his first degree at the
same examination where his father
and his grandfather were also penned
TIP in little examination stalls compet-
ing for higher and still higher honors.
To learn the written language of China
is of itself an undertaking requiring
years of hard study. The Chinese
scholar, hampered by Inadequate sys-
TENS of instructions, has worked much
harder for his honors than has the
possessor of many degrees in occidental
colleges and universities.
Now the passion of the people IS
turned toward "the new education.
and the Chinese student must learn not
only the things his father knew, but
also the languages, the sciences and
the literature of western nations. 1t Is
great undertaking and it will require
a long time to extend the new system
until ii will reach all of China's -four
hundred million people The progress
being made now however, would be
considered rapid even in a less con-
serVative country than China.
The tourist who visited Canton or
Peking, the great southern and north
ern centers, a half dozen years ago,
found nothing more interesting than
the examination grounds. Here were
thousands and thousands Of tiny stalls
in which the students were closeted for
their examinations. That was the old
education. The tourist today will look
in vain for those CURIOUS and interest
tenn.
In Canton the site OF the old stalls
is occupied by the new government
college, an enormous building erecteo
by an American architect along lines
| favored by American educational in
stitutions. The college is equipped
with facilities for instructing the pupils
in sciences as we know them in the
west, and the old fashioned study OF
the classics and nothing but the
classics has been amplifed by courses
in English and other European Ian
guages, in western literature and his
tory, In applied mathematics and In
physics and other sciences. In Pekire
the site of the old examination stalls
is cleared away to make room for the
new college of sciences soon to be
erected.
This great change had it's beginnings
| In the schools maintained by the mis-
| sionaries in various parts of China
The vast majority of the Chinese wnc
today possess a knowledge of Englisf
and of western learning owe their ac-
! cnmplishments to the mission schools
| Most of the missionaries are Ameri-
cans, and consequently the educationa
propaganda is American in character
| lust as 1t was in Japan when that ma
ton undertook its educational reforma-
ton The mission schools are still hard
at work, now under the smiling ap'
proval of the authorities, but the time
will come when the government insti'
tutions probably will take their place
This greatest change Of all the many
changes in China was brought about
by an imperial edict issued in Septem'
| ber, 1905 when the japanese victory
over Russia was fresh in the AsiatiC
mind. That edict abolished forever
the old style of examinations, inrro'
duced western learning and established
Colleges" by the gross Perhaps nc
single governmental decree ever upset
so many precedents of such honorable
age as did that edict. 1t was the def
mite beginning of what will be, wher
the change is actually accomplished
| the greatest educational revolution II
! the history of the world.
At first the Chinese, still possessed
of the notion that western learning
was clever but not deep, believed thai
Japan had absorbed all the Occidental
| knowledge worth having, and that they
could get 1t from the Japanese in less
than no time. That the Japanese had
defeated a European nation in great
war was proof sufficient that the Asi-
attic could master the cleverness OF the
| 5a ,r.;u 10 driyap of pnneseitv r.