UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN CHINA 441 



UNIVEESITY EDUCATION IN" CHINA 



By THOMAS T. READ 



SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. ; FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF METALLURGY, 

 IMPERIAL PEI YANG UNIVERSITY, TIENTSIN, CHINA 



ANY account of modern university education in China must neces- 

 sarily be prefaced by a brief outline of that ancient system of 

 education which has exerted perhaps the most powerful single influence 

 of any that have made themselves felt in the development of a civiliza- 

 tion more ancient than any other that now survives. For the forces 

 which are shaping the new educational ideals have roots that strike 

 down into the old, therefore, some consideration must be devoted to 

 the past if we hope to regard the present with clear eyes. 



The year 1902 makes an epoch in the educational history of China, 

 for it was signalized by the promulgation of edicts by the Emperor 

 Kuang Hsii which did away with the ancient educational system and 

 created a modern one in its stead. It need scarcely be added that so 

 radical a change was preceded by a period of preparation and followed 

 by a period of adjustment ; this latter indeed can scarcely be said to have 

 yet been outgrown. Eor it is no light task to recast an educational 

 system so vast that it applied to the students of a nation of 350 million 

 people, and so ancient that the academy which stood at its head has an 

 unbroken history of twelve hundred years. 



The ancient educational system of China has been described at 

 length by many well-known writers and it will not be profitable to do 

 more here than -draw attention to some of its salient features and briefly 

 allude to some popular misconceptions regarding it. Lucidity requires 

 brevity of statement, and the latter precludes the conveying of an accu- 

 rate idea of any phase of oriental life, which is infinitely varied and 

 complex. I shall attempt to adhere to brevity, in the hope that thereby 

 the reader may not be led too far astray. The old official system was not 

 one of education, but of examination ; a modern analogue is perhaps 

 seen in the University of the State of New York. The representatives 

 of the official system were not concerned with the means by which the 

 student obtained his education, their duty being to keep the examination 

 standards so high that the number of successful candidates should not 

 be excessive. Successful candidates were eligible for appointment to 

 official positions, which were limited in number. So, emphasis was laid 

 upon the wrong phase, the making difficult of successful achievement, 

 rather than the easy attainment of an adequate education. 



