UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN CHINA 443 



complex to be discussed here, tlie intellectual life of China remained 

 upon nearly a dead level, while the western world was advancing from 

 medieval ignorance to twentieth-century enlightenment. 



The beginning of modern education in China must be ascribed to 

 missionary influence. As soon as the first missionaries had learned 

 something of the Chinese language and civilization they set about 

 teaching those whom they were able to reach something of western 

 knowledge as a necessary preliminary to evangelical work. Thus mis- 

 sionary bodies were sending out educational pseudopodia throughout 

 the nation which could not be without effect in its mental life. The 

 more astute statesmen engaged for their children foreign tutors, some of 

 whom were later prominent in influencing progress, and many young 

 men were sent abroad to study. 



But perhaps the most powerful factor in encouraging the introduc- 

 tion of modern education into China was the Chino-Japanese war of 

 1895. The lesson of that conflict was a plain one, and the meaning 

 was brought home to his countrymen bv Chang Chih-tung in his 

 " Chiien Hioli Pien," which, translated into English as " China's Only 

 Hope," is widely knoAvn. This epoch-making treatise received the 

 sanction of the emperor and was ordered to be published and circulated 

 throughout the empire. In 1898 the emperor, influenced by Kang 

 Yu-AVei and others, among other radical reforms, ordered the establish- 

 ment of modern schools in all unused temples. The Empress Dowager's 

 ■coup d'etat followed, and soon after the volcanic upheaval of 1900. The 

 lesson of this, added to that of 1895, was painful but convincing. In 

 1902 the present educational system was established by imperial decree, 

 ^nd in 1905 the old system was similarly abolished. 



Chang Chih-tung had strongly urged the advisability of making use 

 of all that the Japanese had done to adapt western culture to oriental 

 needs, and it naturally followed that the scheme for a national system 

 of education was largely modeled after that of Japan, of which a full 

 discussion by H. Foster Bain may be found in an earlier number of this 

 journal. The system now in force may be briefly summarized as follows : 



Primary schools (a five-3'ear course) are to be opened everywhere 

 throughout the empire. Higher primary schools (four-year course) are 

 to be established in the district towns the graduates of these receive the 

 lisiu-ts'ai degree. Middle schools (five-year course) are to be estab- 

 lished in prefectural cities. High schools (often called provincial col- 

 leges) (a three-year course) are to be opened in every provincial capital, 

 their graduates receive the degree of Chii-jen. A university at Peking 

 completes this scheme, awarding the degree of Chin-sMli. Advanced 

 technical schools are apparently not to be included in the university, but 

 are separately established. The courses of study to be followed are 

 largely modeled upon Japanese practise, Chang Chih-tung having been 



