The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-29
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.


 As to churches, these foreign settle
 ments have congregations, both Protest-
 ant and Catholic and there are missionary
 stations, as well as a live, up-to-date
 branch of the American Young Mems
 Christian association.
 Young China at School.
 The foreign concessions are only an ap-
 preciation of the great movement which
 are going on among the Chinese. The
 real progress is in the native city, and In
 the vast suburbs, which are growing up
 on the opposite side of the river. Dur
 ing the past four years there has been a
 greater education development in Tien-
 tsin than almost anywhere else in the
 world. This is a broad statement, but
 the facts justify 1t.
 Since the Boxer rebellion. millions of
 dollars have been invested in school
 buildings and schools of all kinds have
 been established. I took a drive yester-
 day, going past structure after structure
 of brick or stone and covering acres. All
 are devoted to schools and in them are
 being taught the science of our civiliza-
 tion. There are kindergartens and pri-
 mary schools, secondary and grammar
 schools, manual training schools and
 technical academies, as well as high
 schools and a large university. Tfentsin
 has now 20 night schools, attended by
 LnOSe WHO cannot go tHe uHy. It
 has a number of halliday schools and IS lecture halls where men talk night
 after night on such subjects as those of
 our university extension courses. The lec-
 lures last from half to an hour, and
 their subjects compromise geography,
 history and travel and also social and
 political economy, modern government and
 constitutional reform. There are four such halls in Tientsin where lectures are
 hal i0h ciy dau 0f ha
 and there are 1S0 other lecture halls of a
 similar nature, which are in constant use
 in other cities of this province.
 Educational Associations and Museums
 Tientsin has large number of educa-
 tional associations. In the province of Chihli there are 12o. and in addition 30 local boards of education. The city has an educatina1 museum, in which the
 methods of teaching and all school appli- ances of the various foreign countries are shown These are classified according to
 schools. as well as to subjects. When a teacher, chosen for a certain school, asks about the books and character of teach
 ing required, she is referred to the edu- cationa1 museum and she spends some
 time there in preparation. Near this there is commercial museum and also an in dustrial museum which are largely used by both teachers and pupils.
 Military Education.
 Tientsin has long had its military acad- emies; and 1t has today large schools for training soldiers. There were army
 and naval academies here before the
 Japan-China war. They were organized by u Hung Chang while he was viceroy.
 Ii had already seen the need of a reor- ganization of the Chinese army, need which he came to appreciate more and more during the China-Japan war and the Boxer rebellion. In the first he lost his yellow jacket and the strain of the second was so great that he died soon after.
 After u left the viceroyalty other pro
 gressfve officers were appointed for Chi hli, and among them was Yuan Shih Kai, who acted as such until a short time ago. Yuan Shih Kai was the author of the most progressive of the new institu-
 tions of Tientsin. and under him not only
 the military but every form of education has been pushed. Today there are medical college for the education of sur geons of the army and schools for the training of officers for the army and navy. More than this, military officials are assigned to drill the boys in all the schools and academies; and Young China now learns to handle the muszet before he has reached his teens. The boys drill in uniform they are taught modern mil itary tactics and are exercised every day.
 Girls Schools.
 I find many girls schools here in Tient- sin. Woman's education has never been encouraged by the Chinese and today almost no Chinese girls, taking the vast population into consideration. are going to school Tn the new schools Of the | province of Chihli there are S9 boys to every girl receiving instruction. Girls schools however, are being started, and the center of the movement Is here l understand that about 10 per cent of the Tientsin school children are now girls and that their schools embrace all grades from the kindergarten to the high school. 1 There are also normal schools where Chinese girls are being trained for teach ing the primary scSools, and there IS school of domestic ec>2omy, where they | learn cooking, sewing and housekeeping. A Medical College for Women. The only medical college for women in China is in Tientsin. It was estaplisheo | bv Yuan Shih Kai, and is supported out l of the salt revenue. Salt Is govern ment monopoly and one Of the chier sources from which the government funds come. This medical school IS an academy rather than a college. It Is to train women to act as teachers in med ical schools which are to be established, | to fit girls as matrons for the new hos- ! pitals and as aids in the new sanitary I work which Is to be carried on through | out the empire.
 The head of the college is Dr. Yamei { Kin. a Chinese woman Of 70 Or O years, who was educated in the United States. | She spent a part of her life in Washing | ion. and came here with strong in | dorsement from President Roosevelt. pr. | Yamei Kin is a graduate of the Medical | collage of the Now York lnfirmary Tor Women and Children. the educational part 1 of which institution has since been | merged into the Medical college of Cornell | university. She speaks English nuentiy, | and I had a most interesting talk With | her today concerning the school and It's | possibilities.
 | If was in company with MT. Williams, | our consul general to Tientsin, that l I called. We found the school in the old | Chinese city, on street so narrow that | we were crowded to the wall by the | carts and jinrilxishas as we made our | way in. Entering a low door, we came 1 into a compound filled with many one- | story buildings of Chinese architecture. | The roofs were the shape of a bow, and | they overhung brick walls, in which | were lattice-work windows. backed with | white paper. They seemed old, and, upon l inquiry, I found that they had been | used for more than 1eO years as a Chinese | orphan asylum. The asylum was founded | by an emperor who regned more than l 30 years before our Declaration of Inde- | pendence was signed, and the institution | has been kept up with money furnished | by the Chinese government until now +aI1. hot eli