NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM I9I 



An important influence in the changing China during the first half 

 of the 20th century was her pubHc schools. In 1905 the government 

 of China decreed that the old educational system should be abolished, 

 and in its stead a new system established based on Western education. 

 The number of these modern schools, from the kindergarten to the 

 university, increased steadily and sometimes rapidly until 1949, when 

 the iron curtain went down. Natural science and many other modern 

 subjects were taught, and through the pupils and their teachers West- 

 ern culture reached the Chinese of all ages. In these schools many 

 of the former beliefs and theories were neglected and gradually 

 forgotten. 



One night I was in company with several Chinese men and women 

 who were university graduates. The discussion turned to the ques- 

 tion whether men and women are equal. The writer pretended to 

 support the idea that women are inferior because they are yin and 

 men are yang. Then a woman who was a university graduate re- 

 plied, 'T do not understand the yin-yang theory at all, but I believe 

 that men and women are equal." Like this woman, many of the edu- 

 cated Chinese were simply neglecting and forgetting many of the old 

 beliefs. 



Another cause of change in modern China was the influence of 

 representatives of foreign governments and of foreign businessmen 

 and their families. There were foreign ambassadors in Peking, and 

 foreign consuls, vice consuls, and other representatives in other cities 

 of China. While one of their main purposes was to foster trade with 

 their mother countries, many of them were very influential. Among 

 other things, these men introduced into China new political ideas and 

 new ideas about the family. Mrs. Archibald Little, the wife of a Brit- 

 ish representative, waged a nationwide campaign against bound feet 

 and for a time was known as the apostle of natural feet. 



Foreign men were very prominent in the Salt Gabelle, in the Mari- 

 time Customs, and in the Chinese Post Ofiice. They introduced mod- 

 ern business methods and made these organizations more efficient. 

 Many of the captains and other officers on Chinese steamships were 

 foreigners. 



A goodly number of businessmen brought their families and lived 

 many years in the treaty ports, and some of them traveled widely in 

 China. They established modern factories, taught more efficient busi- 

 ness methods, sold many foreign objects, and exerted considerable 

 influence on the family life of the Chinese. 



Another important cause of change in modern China was com- 



