A third movement growing out of the intellectual freedom of this period was the Chinese Student Movement, or what is known as the May Fourth Movement. The name of the movement rose from nationwide student demonstrations on May 4, 1919, in protest against the decision of the Paris Peace Conference to accede to the Japanese demand for territorial and economic advantages in China. So forceful were the student protests and such overwhelming support did they get from the public that the weak and inept government was emboldened to take a stand at the conference and refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The students, thus, had a direct hand in changing the course of history at a crucial time and, from now on, Chinese students constituted an active force on the political and social scene. Education under the Nationalist government
Nationalist China rose in the mid-1920s amid a resurgence of nationalism and national consciousness stimulated by post-World War I developments. It was led by the Nationalist Party, the political party organized by Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the republic. Cognizant of the popular appeal of nationalism, the Nationalist Party set up a government pledged to achieve national unity at home and national independence from foreign control as prerequisites to a program of modernization and national reconstruction. In education, it set out to systematize and stabilize a shaky and ill-supported school system and use it as a means of national regeneration. Schools were assured of financial support, however inadequate, and placed under strict supervision and firm control by public authorities.
State control of education by means of centralized administration was instituted. Measures were adopted to correct the abuses and chaos that had resulted from the laissez-faire educational policy of the warlords. Decrees and regulations issued by the Nationalist Ministry of Education were strictly enforced, with the aid of a centrally administered system of inspection and accreditation. Detailed regulations covered the curricula of schools on all levels—minimum standards of achievement; teaching procedures; teachers’ qualifications; and specifications for school buildings, libraries, laboratories, and the like. Private schools were permitted but were as subject to government control as public schools and were required to follow the same regulations with regard to curriculum and all other details.
A uniform system of schools was in effect throughout the country. Elementary education was provided in the four-year primary school, followed by the two-year higher elementary. In areas where there were not enough funds to support longer courses, there were abbreviated schools having only one or two grades. Theoretically, the government was committed to the goal of four-year compulsory education, but financial problems prevented an early realization of this goal. Adult education was given much attention in adult schools, in mass education projects, and in different forms of “social education.” The latter term encompassed a variety of educational agencies outside the schools, such as libraries, museums, public reading rooms, recreational centres, music, sports, radio broadcasting, and films. Reduction of illiteracy was a major objective.
There were three parallel types of secondary education: the academic middle school, the normal school, and the vocational school. To counteract the traditional preference for the academic type of education, the government restricted the growth of the academic middle school. At the same time, vocational schools were encouraged.
A major objective of government policy was to promote “practical studies.” In secondary education, “practical studies” meant the development of vocational and technical schools and more attention to science and laboratory experience in middle schools. In higher education, measures were taken to steer students away from liberal arts, law, education, and commerce to the “practical courses” of science, engineering, technology, agriculture, and medicine. Government grants for private as well as public colleges were usually designated for the science program. As a result of this policy, the years prior to World War II saw a steady increase of enrollment in the “practical courses” of study and a corresponding decline of enrollment in the arts–law–education–commerce courses. The increase of interest in science was also evident in the secondary schools.
It may be said that the thrust of educational policy in Nationalist China was to rectify the imbalance of the past, especially the nonvocational literary tradition of premodern days. In the attempt to counteract past tendencies, however, it was possible that the pendulum might swing to the other extreme. Some educators expressed the fear that the promotion of “practical studies” might lead to a narrow, utilitarian concept of education and a neglect of the humanities and social sciences. Others were uneasy over the danger of regimentation through centralized administration. Nevertheless, education under the Nationalist government did succeed in establishing an effective national system of education, promoting science and technical studies, and correcting the abuses and irregularities of the earlier period. Thanks to dependable financial support, state schools and universities gained in prestige and academic performance until they were recognized as among the outstanding educational institutions of the country.
Other accomplishments of this period include the growth of postgraduate education and research, the general acceptance of coeducation in elementary and higher education, and the use of the Guoyu (National Tongue) as an effective means of unifying the spoken language and thus overcoming the difficulties of local dialects. Education under communism
The communist revolution aimed at being total revolution, demanding no less than the establishing of a new society radically different from what the orthodox communists called the feudal society of traditional China. This new society called for people with new loyalties, new motivations, and new concepts of individual and group life. Education was recognized as playing a strategic role in achieving this revolution and development. Specifically, education was called upon to produce, on the one hand, zealous revolutionaries ready to rebel against the old society and fight to establish a new order and, at the same time, to bring up a new generation of skilled workers and technical personnel to take up the multitudinous tasks of development and modernization.
The People’s Republic of China generally makes no distinction between education and propaganda or indoctrination. All three share the common task of changing man. The agencies of education, indoctrination, and propaganda are legion—newspapers, posters, and propaganda leaflets, neighbourhood gatherings for the study of current events, as well as political rallies, parades, and many forms of “mass campaigns” under careful direction. It is evident that the schools constitute only a small part of the educational program.
When the communists came to power in 1949, they took up three educational tasks of major importance: (1) teaching many illiterate people to read and write, (2) training the personnel needed to carry on the work of political organization, agricultural and industrial production, and economic reform, and (3) remolding the behaviour, emotions, attitudes, and outlook of the people. Millions of cadres were given intensive training to carry out specific programs. There were cadres for the enforcement of the agrarian law, the marriage law, and the electoral law; some were trained for industry or agriculture, others for the schools, and so on. This method of short-term ad hoc training is characteristic of communist education in general.