Chapter 23 Section 8 The Beginning of Modern Geography Education

In ancient my country, geography (geography) has always been regarded as an appendage of history, not as a special subject, and even the arrangement and classification of geography works are included in the history department.This situation is extremely unfavorable to the development of geography and affects the establishment of geography as a truly independent discipline.It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that new changes occurred. After the Opium War in the middle of the 19th century, the so-called "Westernization School" and "Reformation School" emerged successively in my country. They all put forward the requirements of looking at the world, opening new schools, learning foreign science, technology and culture, and improving the old cultural and ideological system.Under such circumstances, geography, as the primary object and means of understanding the world, developed rapidly in the late Qing Dynasty.First of all, it translated many foreign modern geographical works, introducing foreign geographical environment, geographical thought and geographical method.According to statistics, from 1858 to 1904, there were no fewer than one hundred foreign works on geology and geography translated and published.Secondly, with the opening of new schools at the end of the 19th century, school geography education has also received attention.For example, in 1902 and 1903, the school regulations promulgated by the Qing government twice stipulated the formal learning of geography courses.In 1902, the "Regulations of the Imperial School" stipulated that the courses of political science in colleges and universities must include Chinese and foreign geology courses, and the schooling period is three years (the first year is to learn the geography of foreign countries, Europe, America, Africa and island countries on the sea; the second year is to study geology; the third year is to study geology. One-year study of geography and literature); art subjects include geology and mineral science; business subjects must study commercial geography, etc. The "Zouding School Regulations" promulgated in 1903 stipulated that the five subjects of Confucianism, Literature, Gezhi, Agriculture, and Commerce in the college must have geography courses.There is also a Chinese and foreign geography major in the liberal arts department. Its schooling period is three years. The courses mainly include: geographical research method, Chinese and foreign geography, political geography, commercial geography, historical geography, etc.Among them, the geography research method course mainly teaches the relationship between China and foreign countries, climate and geography, and finance, sea and land transportation, history, flora and fauna, culture, military, industry, customs and other elements and geography. The "Zouding School Regulations" also stipulates that the corresponding geography courses must be offered in Jinshi Hall, Translation Hall, and Normal Hall, including general geography, Chinese and foreign geography, geography, and geography of various continents.In 1906, the Qing government enacted the Regulations for Selecting Subjects for Excellent Normal Schools, which stipulated that the preparatory courses for excellent normal schools should be graduated in one year, and students should study about three class hours of world geography every week; Continents, geology, geography and human geography courses.Since then, my country's geography education has quickly got rid of the traditional geography system in ancient China with evolutionary geography as the main body, and embarked on the road of modern scientific geography.In particular, at that time, the Normal Hall of the Imperial University Hall and so on, had actually arranged geography courses.For example, in the first year of the Teacher’s College, there are global events, domestic territories and maps; in the second year, foreign territories and maps; in the third year, geography and geology; and in the fourth year, sequential methods of geography.According to statistics, only the normal hall of Jingshi University, from the beginning of enrollment in 1902 to the 1911 Revolution in 1911, 306 students graduated in nine years, and about 230 did not graduate, that is, about 400 of the normal students in Jingshi University received systematic education Modern Geography Education.It marked the rise of modern geography in my country.

Here we should also mention Zhang Xiangwen, a geography educator and geographer who is a pioneer of modern geography in my country. Zhang Xiangwen (AD 1866-1933), courtesy name Weixi and nickname Zhuangu, was born in Siyang County, Jiangsu Province.After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he was deeply influenced by the Reformation Thought, and studied geography hard. In addition to studying Chinese geography, he also actively learned new knowledge of foreign geography, trying to lead my country's ancient traditional evolutionary geography to the road of modern scientific geography.He taught geography courses in many schools very early, such as teaching geography at Shanghai Nanyang Public School (the predecessor of Shanghai Jiaotong University) from 1899 to 1903; teaching geography at Tianjin Beiyang Women's High School from 1907 to 1912.After that, he taught geography at Peking University.

In geography teaching, he absorbed western scientific geography knowledge and combined with Chinese characteristics, edited and published the first batch of geography textbooks in China.Such as "Elementary Geography Textbook" (first edition of Shanghai Nanyang Public School) and "Secondary National Geography Textbook" (first edition of Shanghai Lanling Society) published in 1901. In 1903, he published the textbook "Geography" (published by Shanghai Wenming Bookstore); in 1909, he published "The Latest Textbook of Geology" (published by Shanghai Wenming Bookstore), etc.Among them, the "Elementary Geography Textbook" and "Middle National Geography Textbook" have a total of more than 2 million copies, which have a great influence on the spread of modern Western geography. The term "textbook" was also created by his two works.The book "Geography" written by him is the first work on physical geography in my country. The content of "Geology" is divided into five parts: star world (universe), land world, water world, air world, and biological world.Until now, the basic content of the compilation of general physical geography works still does not include these five aspects.In particular, the translations of foreign physical geography works before this were all limited to the inorganic nature, but Zhang Xiangwen added a chapter on the biological world for the first time, linking the inorganic nature with the organic nature. This is an important aspect of modern geography. progress.In addition, the book also includes his scientific exposition and discussion on some natural geographical phenomena and laws.The establishment of general physical geography is one of the important signs to distinguish the new geography (modern geography) from the old geography. The publication of Zhang Xiangwen's Geography is undoubtedly another sign of the rise of modern geography in my country. Geography lays the initial foundation.

In order to promote the development of our country's geography, Zhang Xiangwen also initiated and organized my country's first geography academic group - my country Geological Society. On September 28, 1909, Zhang Xiangwen invited more than 100 academic celebrities, teachers and students of various schools, and education officials to hold a meeting in Tianjin to establish the "China Geological Society" (the meeting site was moved to Beijing in 1912). At the meeting, Zhang Xiangwen was elected as the President.Famous geographers of the older generation in my country, Bai Meichu, Ding Wenjiang, Yuan Fuli, Wang Chengzu, Huang Guozhang, etc., have all joined the activities of the Earth Society.After the establishment of the Society, it also regularly published the journal "Journal of Geosciences". Since the first issue was published in February 1910, it was forced to stop publication on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937. In 28 years, it has published more than 180 issues and published more than 1,600 papers.

In particular, the "Journal of Geosciences" published in July 1911 published an award-winning essay inspiration from the Geological Society of China, which listed 25 questions in three categories related to geosciences, and required applicants to write papers of more than 5,000 words. In October, it will be sent to the editorial department of "Journal of Geosciences" to participate in the evaluation and exchange.His thesis involves many fields such as physical geography, cultural geography, medical geography, population geography, urban geography, historical geography, economic geography, political geography, military geography, etc.The problem is as follows:

Class A: 1. China's geology has more loess in the north and red sand in the south. The reasons for its formation can be described in history? 2. What are sunspots in Japan and China?Or it is said that the discovery of sunspots is related to the floods and droughts on the ground, can you analyze the reason in detail? 3. Since the Han Dynasty, the traffic between China and the Western Regions has been frequent. Wherever the soldiers are, the envoys, the merchants and the monks have traveled. Can you detail the routes and prove this name? 4. Why do riverside and seawalls in the northern part of China reject halogen nitrate so much?What is the reason for today's desire to divide and improve to become fertile soil?

5. The ancients entrusted many myths about storms and rains, and tried to find out the rumors and proverbs that follow the old folk customs, and deduce the reasons based on academic theories. 6. The cause of Huangmeiyu varies from person to person, so we should gather the opinions of various schools and make a compromise according to theories. Class B: 1. Change the provinces to suit the administrative division. 2. The trend of civilization is mostly from south to north, but why does China go from north to south?Can the sequence of its development be described? 3. Now it is planned to set up meteorological observation stations everywhere to prevent floods and droughts, and try to plan them in natural areas (including Manchuria, Xinjiang and various vassals).

4. With regard to the most recent boundary agreement, state the key points along the border, and keep the discussion in order to regulate the war. 5. The origin of the Yellow River may be said to start from the stars;Can you list the words of recent explorers, and break them according to the context of mountains and rivers? 6. With regard to the types of infectious diseases, review their original places of occurrence, and deduce the causes of their occurrence. Class C: 1. Since the opening of the Suez River, the situation of the world has changed. After the completion of the Panama Canal, the situation of the world will change again, and the impact will be particularly great on China. According to the past measurements, can you tell us about its advantages and disadvantages?

2. Proposal on Mongolia's reconstruction of provincial divisions. 3. Proposal on Tibet's reconstruction of provincial divisions. 4. Proposal on the provincial division of Qinghai reconstruction. 5. To guide the Huaihe River into the sea, how to set up branches to plan the overall situation. 6. The Japanese are scholars of human geography, and they are proud of each other to make achievements, but every time a hundred schools of thought in China come first, can they cite a group of books to prove it? 7. Plan conscription regional meetings (including Manchuria, Xinjiang and various vassals).

8. Research on the rise and fall of various cities in China (including Manchuria, Xinjiang and various vassals). 9. The theory of China's future urban changes (including Manchuria, Xinjiang and its vassals). 10. There are animals and plants in China that come from other lands and have been born for a long time. If they are inherent, try to test their types and origins. 11.Silk tea is the main product in China. Try to test the origin of its invention and the decline and prosperity of its export in the past dynasties. 12. Since modern times, business has become more and more important, and the population of the city is increasing day by day, while the population of the field is decreasing day by day. This is a major problem in life. How to adjust the surplus and deficiency so that the national economy and the people's livelihood can benefit from it?

13. Hundreds of bamboo-branch poems with annotations (regardless of whether they are native or foreign countries, anyone who is about mountains and rivers, scenery, and special customs and customs can be included in the chant, and detailed annotations should be added). These activities of Zhang Xiangwen and the Geological Society actively publicized and expanded the spread and influence of scientific geography in my country, and made great contributions to the establishment and development of modern geography in my country.Therefore, he deserves to be the pioneer of modern geography in our country. It can be seen from the above that the beginning of the 20th century marked the germination of modern geography in China, no matter in terms of geography education, geoscience organization, or the research scope and topics involved in geography at that time. After the mid-1930s, the Geographical Society of China was established. Under the advocacy and organization of Zhu Kezhen, the founder of modern geography in my country, the education and scientific research of modern geography in my country officially started nationwide, and geography in my country officially entered the modern era.