Article contents
The Reorganisation of Higher Education in Communist China, 1949–61*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
Extract
Within the short span of twelve years since their rise to power in 1949, the Chinese Communists have completely revamped their educational system. Private institutions of higher learning have been abolished and the number of universities vastly reduced; in their place hundreds of technical institutes have been created, with an unprecedented increase in enrolment and graduates. The faculties of various universities and colleges have been amalgamated in an effort to train more and more scientific and technical personnel. New types of instruction, known as “specialty” (spetsial'nost) and “specialisation” (spetsializatsiia), have been introduced to accelerate the training of industrial experts. Emphasis on science and technology has completely replaced the traditional respect for the humanities; the highest learned organisation in Communist China today is the Academy of Sciences, and not the Academy of Letters (Hanlin Yuan) of Imperial China. A Twelve-Year Science Programme was adopted in 1956 with the avowed objective of producing 10,500 top scientists and some two million technicians by 1967, and towards this end a new University of Science and Technology was established in 1958.
- Type
- Recent Developments
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The China Quarterly 1964
References
1 Berberet, John A., Science and Technology in Communist China (Santa Barbara: General Electric Company, 1960), p. 100.Google Scholar
2 Ibid. 3
3 Tsung-t'ung, Li, Chung-kuo Li-tai Ta-hsueh-shih (A History of Higher Education in Successive Chinese Dynasties) (Taipei: 1958), pp. 7–12.Google Scholar
4 Tung-yüan, Ch'en, Chung-kuo K'o-chü Shih-tai Chih Chiao-yü (Chinese Education in the Period of Civil Service Examinations) (Shanghai: 1935), p. 47.Google Scholar
5 These four books are: The Confucian Analect, The Book of Mencius, The Great Learning and the Book of the Mean.Google Scholar
6 Li Tsung-t'ung, op. cit., pp. 105–114.Google Scholar
7 Ibid. p. 118.
8 Ibid. pp. 118–123.
9 Purcell, Victor, Problems of Chinese Education (London: 1936), pp. 24–25.Google Scholar
10 Legge, James, The Chinese Classics, II, The Works of Mencius (Hong Kong: 1960), 3rd ed., pp. 249–250. Mencius, III, Part I, Chap. 4, verse 6.Google Scholar
11 Martin, W. A. P., Calendar of the Tungwen College (Peking: 1879) pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
12 Ibid. p. 17.
13 Ibid. p. 10.
14 Ibid. p. 18.
15 Ibid. p. 24.
16 Ibid. p. 25.
17 I-lin, Ch'en, Tsui-chin San-shih-nien Chung-kuo Chiao-yü Shih (A History of Chinese Education in the Last Thirty Years) (Shanghai: 1932), pp. 48–49.Google Scholar
18 Ibid. pp. 50, 121.
19 Ibid. p. 52.
20 Kuo, Ping-wen, The Chinese System of Public Education (New York: 1915), pp. 78, 82.Google Scholar
21 Yu-lai, Feng, “Tui-yü Chung-kuo Chin Wu-shih-nien Chiao-yü Shih-hsiang Chin-chan ti T'i-hui” (“An Appreciation of the Educational Thought in China in the Last Fifty Years”) Jen-min Chiao-yü (People's Education), No. 4, 08 1950, pp. 9–10.Google Scholar
22 Orleans, Leo A., Professional Manpower and Education in Communist China (Washington, D.C.: 1961), p. 71.Google Scholar
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Chün-tuan, Ch'ien, “Tang-ch'ien Chiao-yü Chien-she ti Fang-chen” (“A Guide to Our Immediate Educational Construction), People's Education, No. 1, 05 1950, pp. 10–11.Google Scholar
26 Chih-chung, Pai, Chung-Kung Chiao-yü P'i-p'an (A Critique of Chinese Communist Education) (Hong Kong: 1955), p. 46.Google Scholar
27 Shih, Chung, Chung-Kung ti Kao-teng Chiao-yü (Higher Education in Communist China) (Hong Kong: 1953), p. 1.Google Scholar
28 Chiao-yü, Hsin She (New Educational Society), ed. Wen-pu Kai-ke Kao-teng Chiao-yü (Steady Reform of Higher Education) (Shanghai: 1950), pp. 4–6.Google Scholar
29 “Ch'üan-kuo Kao-teng Chiao-yü Hui-i ti Ch'eng-chiu” (“The Accomplishments of the National Conference on Higher Education”), People's Education, No. 3, 07 1950, p. 9.Google Scholar
30 Chiao-yü, Hsin She, ed., op. cit., pp. 74–76. The address of the Soviet expert is reproduced in People's Education, No. 3, 07 1950, p. 25 et seq.Google Scholar
31 Hsin Chiao-yü She, op. cit., p. 36.Google Scholar
32 Shih, Chung, Higher Education in Communist China (Hong Kong: 1953), p. 76. This is an English version of his Chinese work quoted earlier, but there are some differences in content.Google Scholar
33 Ibid. pp. 43–44.
34 Ibid. p. 44.
35 Chung Shih, op. cit. (Chinese version), p. 21.Google Scholar
36 Chao-lun, Tseng, “Kao-teng Hsueh-hsiso ti ‘Chuan-yeh’ She-chih Wen-ti” (“The Question of Setting up ‘Specialty’ in Institutions of Higher Learning”), People's Education, No. 29, 09 1952, p. 6.Google Scholar
37 Ibid.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid. p. 7.
40 Ibid. pp. 7–8.
41 Orleans, pp. 209–213.Google Scholar
42 Shih, Chung, op. cit. (Chinese version), p. 29.Google Scholar
43 Ibid. p. 39.
44 Yu-nung, Li, Kung-fei Kao-teng Chiao-yü Chih Yen-chiu (A Study of Higher Education of the Communist Rebels) (Taipei: 1957), p. 98.Google Scholar
45 Ibid. p. 74, quoting Kuang-ming Jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily), April 3, 1954.
46 Ibid. p. 73, quoting from Kuang-ming Daily, January 25, 1954.
47 Orleans, pp. 12–13.Google Scholar
48 Yu-nung, Li, op. cit., pp. 72–73, quoting Kuang-ming Daily, 04 17, 1954.Google Scholar
49 Pai Chih-chung, op. cit., pp. 150–152.Google Scholar
50 Min-hua, Yang, “Kao-teng Hsueh-hsiao Kung-k'o Ni-ting Chiao-yü Chi-hua Chung ti Wen-ti Ho Ching-yen” (“Problems and Experience in Preparing the Educational Programme for Higher Institutions of Technology”), People's Education, No. 31, 11 1952, pp. 22–23.Google Scholar
51 People's Daily, 02 26, 1957.Google Scholar
52 Ibid.
53 Kun, Joseph C., Selection and Enrolment of New Students in Higher Educational Institutions of Communist China. Mimeo. draft, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 07 1961, p. 33.Google Scholar
54 People's Daily, 09 19, 1959, p. 2.Google Scholar
55 The State Statistical Bureau, Ten Great Years (Peking: 1960), p. 192.Google Scholar
56 First Five-Year Plan for Development of the National Economy of the People's Republic of China in 1953–57 (Peking: 1956), p. 177.Google Scholar
57 Ibid. p. 178.
58 Ibid. pp. 179–180.
59 En-lai, Chou, Kuan-yü Fa-chan Kuo-min Ching-chi ti Ti-erh-ko Wu-nien Chi-hua ti Chien-i ti Pao-kao (A Report on the Recommendation of the Second Five-Year Plan for the Development of the National Economy) (Peking: 1956), p. 19.Google Scholar
60 Ten Great Years, pp. 192–194;Google ScholarJen-min Shou-ts'e (People's Handbook), 1957, p. 583Google Scholar; Orleans, op. cit., pp. 61, 68–69, 71.
61 Yu-nung, Li, op. cit., pp. 106–107.Google Scholar
62 Kun, op. cit., p. 37.Google Scholar
63 Po-ch'i, Chu, Ta-lu Hsueh-fu Hsin Mien-mu (New Appearances of Schools on Mainland China) (Hong Kong: 1953), p. 8.Google Scholar
64 Chung Shih, op. cit. (Chinese version), p. 40.Google Scholar
65 Ten Great Years, p. 196; also Orleans, op. cit., pp. 74–75.Google Scholar
66 Jen-min Shou-ts'e, 1957, p. 587.Google Scholar
67 Chen, Theodore Hsi-en, “Education and indoctrination in Red China,” Current History, XLI, No. 241, 09 1961, p. 163.Google Scholar
68 C., J., “Higher Education in Communist China: Some Recent Development,” The World Today, 01 1959, p. 39.Google Scholar
69 Ibid. p. 40.
70 Orleans, op. cit., p. 23.Google Scholar
71 J. C., op. cit., p. 42.Google Scholar
72 Orleans, op. cit., p. 23.Google Scholar
73 Quoted in Chang-tu, Hu, China: Its People, Its Society, Its Culture (New Haven: 1960), p. 439.Google Scholar
74 Lindbeck, John M. H., “Organisation and Development of Science,” in Sciences in Communist China, 1961, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
75 Ibid. pp. 16–17.
76 Ibid. p. 12.
77 Ibid. pp. 35–42.
78 Li Yu-nung, op. cit., p. 95.Google Scholar
79 Lindbeck, op. cit., p. 14.Google Scholar
80 Ibid. p. 3.
81 Orleans, op. cit., p. 105.Google Scholar
82 Berberet, op. cit., p. 100.Google Scholar
83 Orleans, op. cit., p. 60.Google Scholar
84 Berberet, op. cit., p. 101.Google Scholar
85 “Chung-kuo K'o-hsueh Chi-shu Ta-hsueh K'ai-hsueh,” (“The Opening of the Chinese University of Science and Technology”) K'o-hsueh T'ung-pao (Scientia), No. 19, 1958, p. 604.Google Scholar
86 Orleans, op. cit., pp. 61–62.Google Scholar
87 Kuang-ming Daily, 09 3, 1961.Google Scholar
88 Ibid. September 17, 1961.
89 People's Daily, 08 12, 25, 31, September 4, 6, 8, 19, 1961.Google Scholar
90 Po-ch'i, Chu, Chung-Kung ti Hsueh-hsiao Chiao-yü (School Education in Communist China) (Hong Kong: 1954), p. 73.Google Scholar
91 Ikle, F. C., The Growth of China's Scientific and Technical Manpower. Mimeo. (Santa Monica: Rand, 1957), p. 38.Google Scholar
92 Chu Po-ch'i, op. cit., p. 253.Google Scholar
93 Ibid. p. 108.
94 Orleans, op. cit., pp. 94–95.Google Scholar
95 Ibid. p. 93.
96 Ibid. p. 91.
97 Clark Kerr, Frederick H. Harbison, John T. Dunlop and Charles A. Myers, “Industrialism and Industrial Man,” Reprint 165, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley, p. 5.Google Scholar
98 Ibid. p. 7.
99 Ibid. p. 3.
100 Wittfogel, Karl A., “Oriental Society in Transition,” Far Eastern Quarterly, No. 4, 08 1955, p. 471.Google Scholar
- 8
- Cited by