TITLE:
Chang Chien’s Thought on Education
AUTHORS:
Sun Shun-Chih
KEYWORDS:
Confucianism, Local Self-Government, Education, Industry
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.2 No.3,
March
19,
2015
ABSTRACT:
Chang Chien (1853-1926) was a native of Nant’ung, Kiangsu. In spite of the
various works on Chang Chien, which testify to the significance of his role in modern
China, Chang Chien’s thought on education is still not well-researched. The purposes
of this paper are firstly, to analyze Chang Chien’s thought on education systematically
and clearly in the hope that it may become a useful reference for researchers on
modern China, and secondly, to stimulate scholars for further research. This paper
depends more on basic source materials rather than second-hand data. Among various
source materials, Chang Chien’s Diary, The Nine Records of Chang Chien and The Complete Work of Chang Chien are the most important. Chang Chien’s thought on education may
be summarized as follows: 1) Education as a means of saving China and education
and industry as basis of local self-government; 2) Universal and compulsory education
for the primary education; 3) A planned education to be achieved step by step; 4)
With special emphasis on industrial education; 5) With special emphasis on patriotic
education; and 6) With special reference to Confucianism and strict education. The
paper has also discussed the background to Chang Chien’s thought on education, the
factors which shaped it, and how it developed.