Teachers' Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State, 1897-1937

317 Pages·2007·2.685 MB·English

by  Xiaoping Cong

Teachers’ Schools and the Making
of the Modern Chinese Nation-State,
1897-1937
Contemporary Chinese Studies
This series, a joint initiative of UBC Press and the UBC Institute of Asian
Research, Centre for Chinese Research, seeks to make available the best
scholarly work on contemporary China. Volumes cover a wide range of
subjects related to China, Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese world.
Glen Peterson, The Power of Words: Literacy and Revolution in South China,
1949-95
Wing Chung Ng, The Chinese in Vancouver: The Pursuit of Power and Identity,
1945-80
Yijiang Ding, Chinese Democracy after Tiananmen
Diana Lary and Stephen MacKinnon, eds., Scars of War: The Impact of Warfare
on Modern China
Eliza W.Y. Lee, ed., Gender and Change in Hong Kong: Globalization,
Postcolonialism, and Chinese Patriarchy
James A. Flath, The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North
China
Christopher A. Reed, Gutenberg in Shanghai: Chinese Print Capitalism, 1876-1937
Erika E.S. Evasdottir, Obedient Autonomy: Chinese Intellectuals and the Achievement
of Orderly Life
Hsiao-ting Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China’s Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics,
1928-49
Xiaoping Cong, Teachers’ Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-
State, 1897-1937
Diana Lary, ed., The Chinese State at the Borders
Xiaoping Cong
Teachers’ Schools and the Making
of the Modern Chinese Nation-State,
1897-1937
© UBC Press 2007
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Cong, Xiaoping, 1954-
Teachers’ schools and the making of the modern Chinese nation-state,
1897-1937 / Xiaoping Cong.
(Contemporary Chinese studies, ISSN 1206-9523)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7748-1347-1
1. Teachers colleges – China – History – 20th century. 2. Teachers – Training of –
China – History – 20th century. 3. Educational change – China–History – 20th
century. 4. Social change – China – History – 20th century. 5. Education and state –
China – History – 20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
LB1727.C5C65 2007 370.71’051 C2007-900028-2
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo
Foundation and with a Small Grant from the University of Houston.
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In memory of my father
Cong Yiping (1917-1998)
And to my mother
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Contents
Tables / viii
Acknowledgments / ix
Map of China, c. 1930 / 2
Introduction / 3
1 The Imperial School System and Education Reform in the Second Half
of the Nineteenth Century: A Historical Review / 18
2 Education and Society in Transition: The Rise of Teachers’ Schools,
1897-1911 / 38
3 Pursuing Modernization in Trying Times: Teachers’ Schools from
1912-22 / 71
4 Modernity and the Village: The Emergence of Village Teachers’ Schools,
1922-30 / 95
5 Nationalizing the Local: Teachers’ Schools in Rural Reconstruction,
1930-37 / 128
6 Transforming the Revolution: Social and Political Aspects of Teachers’
Schools, 1930-37 / 159
Conclusion / 202
Notes / 208
Glossary of Chinese Names and Terms / 253
Bibliography / 266
Index / 296
Tables
2.1 Teachers’ colleges established before 1911 / 47
2.2 Comparison of curricula at female and male secondary-level teachers’
schools / 62
2.3 Imperial titles possessed by graduates of Liang Guang Advanced Teachers’
College / 64
2.4 Age distribution of graduates from Liang Guang Advanced Teachers’
College / 67
2.5 Age distribution of enrolled students in 1910 / 68
2.6 Overall number of enrolled students, 1907-9 / 69
3.1 Numbers of teachers’ schools and students, 1912-17 / 75
5.1 Teachers’ schools in China, 1928-36 / 133
5.2 Curriculum of the six-year teachers’ schools in the 1922 regulations / 135
5.3 Curricula of teachers’ schools in the 1932 regulations: Regular teachers’
school / 137
5.4 Curricula of teachers’ schools in the 1932 regulations: Regular village
teachers’ school / 138
5.5 Curricula of teachers’ schools in the 1932 regulations: Simplified teachers’
school / 139
5.6 Curricula of teachers’ schools in the 1932 regulations: Simplified village
teachers’ school / 140
6.1 Origin of students in 210 secondary schools in sixteen provinces and
cities, 1936 / 163
6.2 Literature passed around among students in Shandong and Hebei teachers’
schools, 1930-37 / 175
6A.1 Origins and educational backgrounds of students in Shandong teachers’
schools in the 1930s who became Communist leaders / 186
6A.2 Activities of students of Shandong teachers’ schools in the 1930s who
became Communist leaders / 190
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of a long journey of intellectual inquiry. My interest
in China’s teachers’ schools began in the early 1970s, arising from connec-
tions between these schools and my family. However, it was not until I at-
tended the University of California in Los Angeles that my general interest
in teachers’ schools became one of scholarly inquiry and academic research.
I will always be indebted to the stimulating academic community at UCLA.
I owe my greatest intellectual debt to my PhD advisor at UCLA, Benjamin
Elman, whose scholarship and academic vision had a strong influence on
the perspective of this book. It was his different approach to Chinese educa-
tion and intellectual history that ignited my desire to work on a topic that
had been sleeping in my mind for decades. Without his inspiration and
unfailing help, I would not have been able to accomplish this work.
My sincere gratitude goes to John Hawkins, my co-advisor, for his gener-
ous support and academic encouragement. I would also like to thank Kathryn
Bernhardt, Theodore Huters, and Perry Anderson. Their preeminent schol-
arship, in addition to the classes I have taken from them, has broadened my
understanding of historical studies. I am particularly grateful to Richard J.
Smith at Rice University, whose encouragement helped me to get out of the
postdissertation quandary and to continue pursuing my work.
In the process of writing this book, I have received many invaluable com-
ments from colleagues. Particular gratitude goes to Joan Judge for reading
my work and for her many suggestions. I greatly appreciate Charlette Furth,
Ruth Hayhoe, Susan Mann, Liu Chang, Dorothy Ko, Meng Yue, Qian Nanxiu,
Elizabeth Littell-Lamb, Xia Xiaohong, Chen Pingyuan, Mary Kay Vaughan,
Robert Culp, Christopher Reed, Keith Schoppa, and Sun Yi for reading parts
of my work and providing many useful insights and suggestions.
I am grateful to my friend Sam Gilbert, who read the manuscript and
offered comments. He also helped polish the prose. Cyndy Brown worked
on the majority of the manuscript to correct grammatical problems and