There are very few purely Chinese educational institutes of the highest
grade. The most important of any is without doubt the National University
of Peking, founded twenty-three years ago. Under the influence of the
present Chancellor, Tsai Yuanpei, it has become an efficient school and
centre of the new educational movement. He has collected a staff of men
trained in Western thought to replace the former inefficient elderly
staff. The present Minister of Education, Fan Yuen Zien, made a trip to
Europe and America in 1918, and as a result of it has initiated a scheme
for having special scholars from the West to become annual lecturers at
the university. The first appointment was John Dewey, from Columbia,
U.S.A., then Bertrand Russell, from Cambridge, England, and now it
seems likely that Bergson will be invited from France and Einstein from
Germany. This suggests the spirit of the new learning. Such a Minister
of Education has much influence, and is promoting a liberal educational
policy. The university has departments of Law, Literature and Science.
Its influence is felt not only in Peking, but throughout the country.
The Hong Kong University is of considerable importance, but as the
teaching is entirely in English, that is still a bar to many students.
It was started by Sir Frederick Lugard, and with the generous help of
many Chinese and a wealthy Parsee merchant, not to mention the grant of
a magnificent site by the Government of Hong Kong, the university was
launched in 1912. It was established mainly for the use of the Chinese,
but open to “students of all races, nationalities and creeds,” and was
to promote the “maintenance of good understanding with the neighbouring
Republic of China”—so runs the Hong Kong Government ordinance of 1911.
The first three chairs established were Medicine, Applied Science, and
Arts. In order to meet the needs of men adopting an official career in
China, the requisite Chinese subjects are included.
A new university has been already planned by a Chinese merchant at Amoy,
Mr. Dan, and I visited the site on which it is to be built. The donor is
a man of humble birth. He has already founded boys’ and girls’ schools
near Amoy on most generous and modern lines, of which further details are
given in the following chapter. Although not a member of any Christian
body, he is most generous in lending the buildings for Christian
conferences and allowing absolute liberty to Christian teachers in his
schools to give religious teaching to the scholars out of school hours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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