The Scientific Renaissance in China

Abstract

THE political changes in China during the last decade have had two opposite effects on the intellectual sides of Chinese life. The Revolution of 1911 gave a powerful stimulus which enabled the intellectual aristocracy to revolt successfully against the domination of tradition, and to advance a scheme of education free from the chains of classicism; but the concurrent political disorder has led to a reactionist triumph in administration. The reform in education which was regarded in 1911 as of primary importance was the replacement of the old written language by one based on an alphabet. The debt China owes to its written characters is incalculable. They have formed the real bond between the many provinces and races of the Empire, and long training in their use has given the Chinese their precision in observation, tenacious memories, and fine artistic perception. These great benefits have been attended by serious drawbacks. Learning the characters practically monopolises all school time. Each character has to be learnt by a distinct effort of memory. A child learns in the four years in the lower primary classes 700 or 1000 characters and a little arithmetic; and if it leaves school with a knowledge of only that number, it in time falls into the ranks of the illiterate. Knowledge of 4000 characters is required for general purposes, and a well-educated man is expected to know 8000 or 10,000. Hence the seven years spent at the lower and higher primary schools, and most of the subsequent four years at a secondary school, are occupied in learning to read and write.