Chapter 12 Section Two

"Buy a boat and go east, not far away, from Tianjin in the north, and from Shanghai in the south, like a tide. Whenever you go to Japan, you must seize the opportunity to grab a boat, and the boat is full. Chinese students are in a hurry to go east,... I hope to arrive in Tokyo as soon as possible, this is the truth of my enthusiasm for studying abroad.” In China at that time, studying in Japan has become the ideal and goal that young people yearn for.According to the statistics of Minister Yang Shu in the first month of the 30th year of Guangxu (AD 1903), there are more than 1,300 Chinese students in Japan, including more than 1,100 who study liberal arts and more than 200 who study martial arts. of self-funded students.By 1904, the number had increased to 2,400, in 1905 to 8,000, and in 1906 to 12,000. Among them, 60% of them were quick-study students, 30% of them were ordinary students, and 6%-7% of them were unsuccessful. 3% - 4% for specialized schools, and only 1% for those entering universities. 1906 was the peak period of studying in Japan. The reason for this situation was that Chinese youths at that time were eager for success, hoping to master a skill in a short period of time and display their talents after returning to China.They did not make solid preparations before going abroad. In the case of government-funded students, they can be selected if they have a little general knowledge or pass a test; .In addition, some Japanese educators also advocated that what China urgently needs is applied talents with certain skills, and specialized talents with profound knowledge can be cultivated slowly. Therefore, a large number of fast-track courses and general courses for Chinese students have emerged, forming the mainstream of studying abroad. .In Japan, there are even schools that issue certificates after graduating after a few days of study. These special for-profit schools are ridiculed as "school shops" or "learning business".Yang Shu, the Qing government’s envoy to Japan, also talked about this worrisome situation in a memorial: “Japan’s ordinary schools, such as Chengcheng School, are three or four schools that are specially set up for Chinese students. There are no less than ten places, some graduate in three months, some graduate in six months, and even the subjects are determined by the students themselves, catering to the wishes of the students, the students are happy, and they cannot be banned, which is not possible in ordinary schools. Rely on it."

After 1905, Japanese public opinion began to criticize the accelerated education.Waseda University Dean of Education Atsuhito Aoyagi, was the first to criticize and criticize the disadvantages of speed-based education, and pointed out that the Japanese educational circles advocated the inappropriateness of accelerated education.He hopes to stop the accelerated education as soon as possible to cultivate fully useful Chinese talents.In China, in 1906, the Qing government held an examination to reward returned overseas students. Among the 100 candidates who took the examination, overseas students accounted for more than 80%, but those who passed the examination were all American students.Therefore, the Qing government stipulated that all students who returned from Japan and did not have a certificate from the general supervisor could not apply for examinations to reward their backgrounds, nor could they serve as teachers in government schools in various provinces. On August 7, 1906, following the restrictions on the qualifications of students studying in Japan, it was also stipulated that except for the fifth class currently established by Hosei University, which is temporarily allowed to send students to school, all other fast-track students will be suspended.Japanese schools have also stipulated the suspension of general education and accelerated courses.Since then, the number of students studying in Japan has gradually decreased. There were 10,000 in 1907, 3,000 in 1909, and 1,400 in 1912, but their quality has been relatively improved. It has an absolute advantage in the number of the best and the best.

These students studying in Japan in the late Qing Dynasty grew up in a closed and withered environment in China. Once they set foot on the modernized land of Japan, they felt that everything was novelty and progress.Nagasaki is the first stop on the voyage of students studying in Japan, and there are vibrant and prosperous scenes everywhere. Japanese male and female students wear new clothes, carry schoolbags, walk into the school in groups of three or four singing songs hand in hand, It made them feel a lot of emotion, and felt the backwardness and unpopularity of education in their motherland.Zhou Jiachun, a student from Hunan, said in a letter: "Since I entered Nagasaki, I have been wandering in foreign lands, and I have mixed feelings. When I arrived in Tokyo, I couldn't help myself." He did not expect that he had taught a lot of culture to Japan. China is now suffering from severe disasters and is facing the danger of subjugation. "The masters of the past are not as good as the disciples of today." These feelings express the mentality of all the students studying in Japan at that time.

The biggest purpose of Chinese students going to Japan is to absorb new knowledge, and their attention and greatest feeling is Japanese education.In Japan at that time, since the Meiji Restoration, all cities and towns have set up schools all over the place, even in remote areas, schools abound.A student studying in Japan once made a metaphor like this: "There are as many schools in Japan as the opium dens in our country, and the number of their students is like the smokers in our country." Among the 40 million people in Japan, 3000 can read newspapers and make reading notes. The students studying in Japan unanimously lamented that China, known as an ancient civilization, is now far behind Japan, a small Asian country.At that time, there were many bookstores in Japan, and there were more than 1,000 in Tokyo alone. People who bought books were very enthusiastic. About 100 or 200 kinds of news magazines were published every day.Liang Qichao once said that he "since he lived in the east, he has searched and read Japanese books extensively. If he walks in the mountains and vaginas, he is overwhelmed. His brain quality has changed, and his thoughts and speeches are like the former."As soon as most students arrive in Japan, apart from eager to learn Japanese and prepare to enter the school, they go to halls, bookstores, assemblies, and listen to lectures.According to Xu Shoushang’s recollection, at that time he and Lu Xun often went to used bookstores in Kanda and the library of Maruzen Bookstore in Ginza. Lu Xun bought a wide range of Japanese books, not only textbooks, but also Byron, Nietzsche’s poems, Greek and Roman myths, etc. Every time I come back from the bookstore, I spend all my money.

These young people in foreign countries feel the backwardness and crisis of their motherland. They are self-motivated, diligent and studious, and absorb all new knowledge that they think is useful to the motherland, such as military, police, political law, teachers, industry, commerce, agriculture, construction, railways, surveying and mapping. , physics, chemistry, medicine, foreign languages, physical education, music, art, etc., accounted for almost all the courses offered by Japanese schools at that time.Li Shucheng, a student from Hubei, said excitedly in a letter to a friend: "In Japan, there are schools for politics, law, army, education, agriculture, industry, commerce, medicine, and various industries in society, and they first teach general knowledge. So that knowledge is not partial to one corner. Every student studying abroad in our country can enter any school. It is indeed a big market for knowledge and competition. Madam has the ambition of patriotism and love for compatriots, but if knowledge is not enough to supplement it, it is a dragon. Scales, tigers have no claws, phoenixes have no wings and ears, how can they watch the flying and dancing? Brothers and brothers, how can you get up without excitement?" For the students studying in Japan, their study life is very difficult. ,nervous.After Yu Peilun arrived in Japan, he first entered the police school, later entered the Jingwei School, and then changed to the Osaka Higher Industrial School, in order to save the country through industry.Regardless of his frailty and sickness, he got up at seven o'clock in the morning, went to bed at twelve o'clock in the evening, and studied day and night. Heart.When Huang Zunxian was studying in Japan, he took 33 classes a week, got up at 6:00 every morning, and went to bed at 10:30 in the evening. After summer vacation, he still "woke up at 6:00 and went to bed at 10:00. In the morning, he read English, "Sha Weng Anthology", " Robinson Crusoe; Practice Japanese and Japanese in the afternoon. Make an English diary under the lamp.After dinner, he usually reads Japanese magazines, Chinese newspapers, "Tong Jian", "Zuo Zhuan" and some novels.At the same time, he also took time to translate "The Essentials of Self-Government", "The Essence of Self-Government", "The Evolution of Law", etc., which shows that he has a lot of homework, a wide range of research, and a diligent study.Lu Xun talked about his life and study in Japan in his letter to Jiang Yizhi [zhizhi]: "I live here today, and the moon is only eight dan. People clatter in front, and the sun shoots in the back. The sun eclipses me. An example is fish ears." "The homework in the school is very busy, and there is no rest every day. It starts at 7 o'clock and ends at 2 o'clock in the afternoon...the teachings include physics, chemistry, anatomy, organization, and all kinds of studies in Duyi (Germany). Zhi Xun, Mo Xia will answer."

Among the students studying in Japan, there are seven-year-old children as young as the elders, and seventy-year-old men as the elders. The goals of the students are also different. Those who do their homework at school and are unwilling to ask questions about foreign affairs are likely to displease scholars for the sake of making friends with them. There are those who are superstitious about everything in Japan and think that China’s future is right, and there are those who are dissatisfied with the political system and culture of Japan, let alone Europe and the United States.” This situation is insufficient. No wonder, when they set foot in a foreign world, witness the civilization of capitalism, and feel the atmosphere of capitalism, they will inevitably be surprised, confused, and admired.They need to have a process of identifying the world, and they need to think about what to learn from Japan, and they need to choose their own life path in this exploration.It is through such a process of identification, thinking, and exploration that most students studying in Japan have a belief: "I hope to contribute to the mother country with the income from studying abroad, and think that overseas civilizations will be crossed." Therefore, the introduction and dissemination of Western modern Science and democracy have become the contributions of most students studying in Japan to the motherland.

In 1900, more than 100 students studying in Japan established the first patriotic group "Inspiration Club" in Tokyo, Japan.Some members founded the first magazine "Translated Books Compilation" run by students studying in Japan, which specialized in translations of European and American bourgeois enlightenment classics, such as Rousseau's, Montesquieu's "On the Spirit of Law", John Mill's , Spencer's "Education" and so on. In 1901, the students studying in Japan published the "National Daily" in Tokyo. It boasted of the French Enlightenment thinkers Montesquieu and Rousseau. An autocratic regime, striving for the natural rights of the people." It expounds the rights of the people from all aspects, and demands that the people's conscious sense of responsibility be raised: "It is the twentieth century today. The people of my fellow countrymen should know that the responsibility for the rise and fall of a country rests solely with the people. "In the article "Speaking of the Nationals" published in the second issue of the "National Daily", a comparison was made between "nationals" and "slaves": "Slaves have no rights, but citizens have rights; slaves have no responsibility, but citizens have responsibilities; slaves The slaves are willing to be suppressed, but the people like freedom; the slaves are superior, but the people are equal; the slaves like to be dependent, but the people are independent. This is the difference between the slaves and the people.” Here, the students studying in Japan have revealed: Chinese intellectuals We must break through the shackles of feudalism, modernize ourselves spiritually, and form new life attitudes, values, and behaviors, so that the Chinese nation can achieve national awakening in the modern sense.

Students studying in Japan also carried out large-scale book translation activities.At that time, Japan was almost a showcase of Western culture. Absorbing Western culture from Japan was a shortcut to understand world trends.As a result, some professional translation groups, such as Yishu Compilation Society, Hunan Compilation Society, Textbook Translation Society, Guoxue Society, Dongxin Translation Society, etc., came into being. According to statistics, from 1902 to 1904, foreign countries translated and published in China There are about 533 books, of which 321 are translated from Japanese, accounting for 60.2% of the total, covering philosophy, religion, literature, law and politics, military system, business, education, history and geography, mathematics, physics and chemistry, surveying and mapping, diplomacy, mining, etc. service and so on.Before the Sino-Japanese War, the Westernization Movement was advocated in China. Most Chinese believed that the West was superior to China only in science and technology, and more than 70% of foreign books translated were natural science and applied science. After 1895, the Restoration Movement was launched, and those who advocated reform realized that the reform should start with internal affairs and learn from Western social systems. Therefore, the translated books focused on the humanities and social sciences, and most of the content was related to law and politics.According to statistics, from 1880 to 1904, among the 2,204 booklets translated from Japan, social sciences accounted for 697 (32%), history and geography 257 (11%), while natural sciences accounted for only 267 (12%). The dissemination of translated works in China is of positive significance in helping Chinese people understand new ideas and new cultures.

From the perspective of the entire history of the new culture, the new culture took root in China due to the translation, advocacy and introduction of students studying in Japan at the beginning, and later, the literary revolution was born under the careful cultivation of the students studying in Japan.After the May 4th Movement, with the efforts of students studying in Japan, the foundation was further consolidated and carried forward. Among them, students studying in Japan such as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo made indelible contributions.Another example is that the introduction of drama also came from the hands of students studying in Japan. At the end of the 19th century, the Japanese drama world introduced drama from Europe and the United States. Li Shutong, a student studying in Japan, was deeply attracted by this form of drama. In 1906, he initiated the students studying in Japan to establish the Chunliu Club, and organized some drama lovers to study and rehearse. Japan performed dramas such as "Black Slave Calls to Heaven". Later, the students studying in Japan returned to China, and the drama was introduced into China and spread in China. Tian Han, Ouyang Yuqian and others are the backbone of it.In terms of education, students studying in Japan also had a great influence. The school system stipulated in the "Kingdom School Regulations" in the 28th year of Guangxu (AD 1902) was entirely copied from the Japanese school system; In 1903 (AD 1903), the "Zouding School Charter" was almost copied from Japan, except that Zhang Zhidong added some of his own classics education.The school system (Renzi Guichou School System) promulgated until 1912 to 1913 was also formulated according to the Japanese school system.This kind of imitation and imitation is obviously through the hands of students studying in Japan. Therefore, the amazing development of China's new education from the beginning to the end is directly and indirectly closely related to China's education in Japan.