Chapter 18 Section Three

Ancient Chinese academies, from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, through the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, lasted for more than 1,000 years. They had a great impact on the academic, cultural, thought, education and training of talents in the middle and late feudal society of China, and formed a set of fine traditions. gained valuable experience and made important contributions.However, after the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, with the invasion of Western powers, the national crisis deepened day by day.Stimulated by the spread of Western learning to the east, the wave of innovations to learn from the West, enrich the country and strengthen the army, save the nation and save the nation is rising day by day.Feudal education is becoming more and more corrupt, and academy education also "has accumulated many disadvantages, and it is difficult to return to learning", and there is no way out without reform.

As early as before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, people of insight, such as Zheng Guanying and Tang Zhen, had put forward the idea of ​​reforming the academies "following the Western formula".After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the calls and actions to reform the academy became more intense and widespread. In the First Sino-Japanese War, China suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Chinese people woke up from the pain. It has become the consensus of the Chinese people that reform is the key to self-improvement.As for Guangli School, "the fees must be high."Someone pointed out: "The country is suffering from poverty today, where can we raise such a huge sum of money?" It is natural for people to think that reforming the academies and using the existing foundation and conditions of the academies to achieve the goal of establishing schools and educating talents as soon as possible is a good strategy.At that time, there were academies in all provinces, prefectures and counties across the country. If the existing academies are reformed, or modified, or directly converted into schools, the goal of developing schools and cultivating talents can also be realized as soon as possible without requiring more funds. ".

The decline of the academies themselves in the late Qing Dynasty was naturally the internal basis for the reform of the academies.Except for a few unique academies in the Qing Dynasty, most of them became vassals of the imperial examinations.The teachers in each academies are miscellaneous, most of them are shoddy people, the academies "retain a lot of mediocre teachers", "use fatigue [long dragon] to make up for the number", "only focus on repairing preserved meat", "have never been taught a word" "The purpose of the poems and proses in the classics and poems collected by the Shizi collection is incomprehensible." As a result, "students have nothing to ask questions, the rules of the school have not been cleaned up, and the scholar's practice has been corrupted." Forgetting the origin and chasing the end, "he always cares about pennies and bahts, argues and criticizes angrily, is decadent and has no ambition, messes up academic regulations, and plagiarizes and impersonates his name."Far from being a place for nurturing talents, academies encourage bad habits, damage morality and deeds, and lose their role in promoting education and educating talents. Therefore, it is imperative to reform academies.

Zheng Guanying (AD 1842-1921), an early reformist, was the first to put forward the suggestion of changing academies to schools. He said in his book "Words of the Flourishing Age": "China has its own academy, county, provincial capital, and capital. Its system and expansion are based on the Western and Western formulas, with some modifications. Civil and military divisions are divided into three grades: large, medium, and small. Those set up in states and counties are elementary schools, those set up in prefectures and provincial capitals are middle schools, and those set up in the capital are universities.” However, Zheng Guanying's "Words of a Flourishing Age" was not officially published until March 1894. This suggestion failed to have an actual impact on society for a long time.

After the Opium War, this claim was raised again.In the 21st year of Guangxu (1895 A.D.), the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture Hu Yufen [yufen Yufen] (AD?—1906) put forward ten suggestions in "Reforms and Self-improvement", the tenth of which is "establish a school to store talents ".He believes that there are a large number of talented people in all countries in Thailand and the West, and their great source lies in the establishment of various schools to learn all kinds of practical knowledge.In contrast to China, although the provinces have also set up academies and private schools, they do not pay attention to anything except the scriptures and meanings of the stereotyped essays. They know that they are useless, but they follow them without changing them.He suggested: "Special decree to order the governors of all provinces, we must get rid of prejudices, try to change, abandon the practice of small Confucianism in chapters and sentences, and learn the talents of economics to change the world. We should first set up the provincial capital academies, merge them, abolish them, and establish various schools... a few years Afterwards, the wisdom of the people gradually developed, and then from the provinces to the prefectures to the counties, in order to promote it, all academies, large and small, were all abolished and reformed, and various schools were opened."

In the second year, that is, in the 22nd year of Guangxu (AD 1896), Li Duanfen (1833-1907 AD), the left servant of the Ministry of Punishment, also put forward similar suggestions in "Zou please promote schools".He said: "There are academies in various provinces, prefectures and counties. Students are recruited at the age of the year to study in the academy, and teachers are hired to teach. They are beautiful and good in law. Each province and each county reformed their own academies, expanded their homework, modified their regulations, and made it a school. The academies used to have public funds, and when there were deficiencies, they began to allocate government funds to make up for them. Because of the old expansion, things will go smoothly and easily. The nearest branch If you raise money, you need less and it is easier to gather.”

Hu and Li suggested that the government and the public pay attention to it, but they believed that "the matter of cutting and reforming academies is related to the growth and decline of talents and the purity of academics, so it must be carefully considered and deliberated", and a cautious attitude should be adopted. Until the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (AD 1898), Kang Youwei (AD 1858-1927) once again proposed: "There are academies in all provinces, prefectures, prefectures and counties. There are more than ten academies, and one or two academies. There are public academies, voluntary schools, social studies, and private schools, all of which have teachers and students, and all of them have funds. It is a pity that all the classes are stereotyped test papers, and there are many mediocre teachers, or those who hold the seats and do not teach, and sit on the sidelines. ,...Mo Ruoyin's existing public and private academies, voluntary schools, social studies, and private schools in the capital, prefecture, county, and township are all changed to schools that study both Chinese and Western. Learning, righteousness, and social studies are primary schools." ("Please order all provinces to change academies and temples into school books", originally published in "Zhixin Bao") Emperor Guangxu accepted Kang Youwei's suggestion, and issued an edict seven days later: "The provinces will soon The existing large and small academies in the prefectures, prefectures and counties should all be converted into schools that also study middle school and Western learning. As for the school hierarchy, the large academies in the provincial capital should be higher education, the academies in the county towns should be secondary education, and the academies in prefectures and counties should be elementary schools. All of them were awarded the articles of association of the Imperial University, and they were ordered to follow suit. The localities donated by themselves, such as righteousness and social studies, were also ordered to study both Chinese and Western cultures, so as to cultivate them widely." ("Guangxu Dynasty Donghualu" IV, Zhonghua Book Company)

There are also people who think that the academy is no longer useful and practical, but "if you don't explore its roots, you will be dazzled by the new law, label it in the name of Western learning, and supervise the teaching of Western scholars. , where can the abuse be stopped" (Volume 5 of "Huangchao Jingshiwenbian", "Hu Pinzhi's Request to Change the Rules and Regulations of the Academy").Therefore, it is opposed to "deeply slandering Western scholars" and also not in favor of "excessively respecting Western scholars".It is not necessary to completely change the academies into schools, it is better to reform the existing academies.For example, Shanxi Governor Hu Pinzhi and Shanxi Xuezheng Qian Junxiang advocated that a large number of academies should be eliminated, the funding of academies should be re-examined, the charter of academies should be revised, and the teaching contents and courses of academies should be changed.Xiong Xiling, a concubine of the Imperial Academy, believed that: "Academy has too many disadvantages, because there are no masters in the mountains", and "the decline of academics is because there are no teachers."He put forward seven suggestions in "Rectifying Tongxing Academy and Huang Ying et al.'s Book of Chen Baozhen", namely, to set the teaching method, to set up teachers, to cut off cadres, to set deadlines, to do homework, to strictly supervise the academy, and to adapt quickly.Qin Shouzhang, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, also proposed three measures to rectify the academy, namely: setting courses, emphasizing teachers' ethics, and reviewing funds.He proposed that the academy should set up six courses: Confucian classics (classics, lectures, exegesis), history (current affairs), anecdotes (Western affairs, treaties, tax rules), geology (survey, map drawing) ), mathematics (gezhi, manufacturing), translation (languages ​​of various countries).In addition to retaining traditional Chinese courses, Western courses are added.

Some people think that the reform of the academies should not focus on rectifying the old academies, but should focus on creating a new type of academies of practical learning, otherwise "it will be difficult to change suddenly."For example: Liao Shoufeng, governor of Zhejiang Province, requested in the 23rd year of Guangxu (AD 1897) to set up an academy to teach Chinese and Western practical studies; Shaanxi governor Zhang Rumei and Shaanxi Xuezheng Zhao Weixi also proposed to establish Gezhi Shixue Academy in Shaanxi in the 22nd year of Guangxu (AD 1896) .Liao Shoufeng founded Qiushi Academy in Hangzhou, where he hired Chinese and Western teachers and also studied Chinese and Western practical studies.Chongshi Academy was established in Jingyang, Shaanxi Province, where Chinese and Western courses were taught concurrently.

Regarding the three methods of reforming the academies, the imperial court did not make a clear statement at first, but proposed to change the academies into schools, rectify reforms, and create new types of academies. ".According to their own understanding and local realities, various places adopted different methods, such as: Zhang Zhidong changed the academy into a school in Huguang;Some have added a time study, such as: Shaanxi Weijing Academy stipulates that in addition to classics and historical exegesis, it is necessary to study foreign religions, customs, history of various countries, public laws of all countries, foreign languages ​​and characters, and knowledge of geographies, manufacturing, military affairs, electrical, optical mirrors, etc. Chemistry, medicine, mining, balloons, air clocks, arithmetic, heavy learning, etc. "must each take up one subject, and learn gradually."Jiangxi Youjiao Academy cut all the children's papers, set up a mathematics department, hired mathematics teachers, and recruited mathematics students.Hunan School of Classics added equipment and courses in astronomy, geography, surveying, photochemistry, mining and electricity.Hunan Yuelu Academy also added anecdotes, arithmetic and translation studies.In addition, Deshan Academy in Changde, Hunan, Xiyin Academy and Wenzheng Academy in Jiangning, Jiangsu, Zhengyi Academy in Suzhou, Pingjiang Academy, Jingzheng Academy in Yunnan, and Jinggu Academy in Guangxi have all undergone reforms to varying degrees, mostly by adding new courses. Especially mathematics.

On April 23rd in the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (June 11, 1898), Emperor Guangxu issued an order to the whole country during the Hundred Days Reform Movement that all academies should be changed into schools.All provinces have complied.Seven days before the release of the emperor's decree, Wang Yuzao, the governor of Guizhou, changed the ancient academy of urban studies in the province to the Jingshi school.Hu Pinzhi, the governor of Shanxi Province, changed Lingde Academy, the provincial capital, into a school in the provincial capital.Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, changed six academies including Zhongshan, Zunjing, Xiyin, Wenzheng, Fengchi, and Kuiguang into prefectural academies at the same time as he created a new school.Jiangsu Xuezheng Qu Hongji (jiji) changed Jiangyin Nanjing Academy into an institution of higher learning.Rong Lu, governor of Zhili Province, changed Baoding Lianchi Academy into the Provincial Capital Higher School, and Tianjin Jixian Academy into Beiyang Higher School, and merged Wen, Sanqu, and Jigu into Tianjin Fuzhong School and Tianjin County Primary School. The Second Furen Academy was also changed into a school. However, due to the failure of the Reform Movement, Empress Dowager Cixi abolished the New Deal. One was to restore stereotyped examinations, and the other was to stop academies from being converted into schools, ordering "academies in all provinces please proceed as usual and stop schools." Although the transformation of academies into schools has been forced to stop, the reform of academies has become the general trend. Although the academies say "business as usual", in fact it is no longer possible. In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900 A.D.), the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded the capital, and the imperial court was forced to flee westward. In desperation, the Empress Dowager Cixi also had to agree with the reform, admitting that "taking the strengths of foreign countries can make up for China's shortcomings."As a new policy in education, the transformation of academies into schools has once again aroused people's attention.In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (AD 1901), Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, and Liu Kunyi, governor of Liangjiang, jointly signed a letter, re-proposing the transformation of academies into schools. , all the provincial capitals were re-established as universities, all prefectures and Zhili prefectures were re-established as secondary schools, and all prefectures and counties were re-established as primary schools." Various provinces took different specific steps according to local conditions, setting off an upsurge of academies being transformed into schools. .By the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (AD 1902), most provinces and autonomous regions basically realized the requirements of changing academies into schools.The ancient academies, which existed for more than a thousand years, were finally replaced by new schools.The academies not only made positive contributions to the development of ancient Chinese culture and education, but also laid the foundation for the development of modern education. The transformation of academies into schools is indeed the "fastest way" to develop new schools.The academy's long-term accumulated experience in running schools and fine traditions of teaching are precious heritages in my country's education treasure house, providing a useful reference for the development of new education.This is exactly where the value of the Academy of Research lies.