PENSAMIENTO Y MATERIA

It may have been because administrative control was secondary to

ideological in the priorities of Zhang Zhidong and his colleagues that the

administration of the new school system remained a make-shift anomaly until

1906. The 1904 school system replaced the vague and general duties of

the guanocue d a c h e n , who had responsibility both for the university and for

the school system as a whole, with a zongli oouewu dachen (director of

education). The latter was charged with 'controlling the educational

affairs of the whole country', including 'directing schools in the provinces,

formulating a school system, examining school rules, certifying... text­

books, appointing teachers, selecting graduates, co-ordinating school expen-

12. See Gong Shi, 'Beijing Daxue zhi chengli yu yange', in Shu (ed.), Shiliao, V o l . Ill, p. 2.

diture, and all matters connected with education'.^ * This plenitude of tasks was to be handled by six departments, each with a head and several assistants. Among their tasks was that of making tours of inspection and reports on the provinces.

The proposed tours (none were actually undertaken during the brief term of the office’s existence) were the only evidence of Zhang’s concern with the implementation in practice rather than regulation in theory of

the new school system. The central educational office had no direct admini­ strative contact with its provincial equivalent; indeed, the very existence of a provincial equivalent was left to the discretion of each region's

governor. In the words of Duan Fang, a critic of this laissez-faire method, ’people could do as they wished on all things'. ^ The only

educational official sent out from the centre to the provinces was the old

xuezheng

serve a three year provincial term. His duties mainly concerned the super­ vision of the examinations.

The abolition of the examination system, announced in 1905, appeared an opportune moment for the rationalization of educational administration. A Manchu memorialist proposed the abolition of the Board of Rites and the

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establishment of a Ministry of Education like Japan’s. The latter part of this proposal was taken up, and the

Xuc Bu

jiaoyu

1905. It was headed by Rong Qing, the Mongol bannerman who had assisted in the drafting of the new school system, with the experienced educationalist Yan Xiu as second in command.^ Luo Zhenyu, who joined the Ministry in its

14.

Ibid.

15. Duan Fang & Dai Hongci, report on education, in Shu (ed.),

Shiliao

16. Taga,

Shiryo,

17. Yan Xiu's name appears in connection with almost every educational reform - of academies, of the examination system, in the extension of mass education and the improvement (through Nankai) of elite education, but it is difficult to find detailed information on his life and career.

early days, has left a picture of a rather casual mode of functioning: 'When the Ministry of Education was first established, it had no offices, and conducted its business in a rented dwelling. Few of the personnel who had been t r a n s f e r r e d ha d as yet a r r i v e d , . . . at that time the Ministry’s regulations had not been drawn up, and there was no division into depart­ ments and sections. CRong Qingl had all members of the Ministry attend

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each afternoon for discussion.’

In May, 1906, the staffing and organization of the Ministry were decreed, the anachronistic office of xuezheng (which had outlived by some months the examination system) abolished, and an administrative hierarchy which reached to the county level set up. Provincial education was to be headed by tixueshi ) or educational commissioners appointed from the centre. There appears to have been some debate between conservatives and professionally oriented educationalists within the Ministry over these appointments, which ranked second to the lieutenant-governor (fansij$ ^ )

and ahead of the judicial commissioner ([niesi ). According to Luo Zhenyu, ' Vice-Minister Yan at first suggested that they would have to have an understanding of education, meaning that they should be former school­ teachers or administrators. He had already transferred a number of Tianjin primary school headmasters and teachers to the Ministry. I raised the point that since the position of commissioner of education was a very dis­ tinguished one, at the same level as the lieutenant-governor, someone of commensurate standing should be chosen... the only thing to do is to appoint them as the former xuezheng were appointed, from the Hanlin Academy.’ Yan disagreed, but Luo pointed out that the juven and shengyuan who staffed the new schools did not necessarily know much about education and certainly knew nothing of official life. A compromise was reached, by which the academi­ cians appointed were to be sent on a tour of inspection overseas for several months before taking office. When it came to the selection of particular men, Yan Xiu again proposed a ’modern’ method, selection by secret ballot, but was overruled by Rong Qing. Some of the Ministry's employees objected

18. Luo Zhenyu > Luo X.ue bang xianghen quanji (Taibei, 1973), Vol. I,

to one of the four men chosen, on the grounds that he was ’corrupt and reactionary, an impossible choice’, but as Luo dismissively observes, the protesters 'were all former primary school teachers, so their words had no of f c c t ' . ^

Records of the newly established Ministry's internal politics are, unfortunately, scarce, but it is evident that the ill-feeling which existed between cultural loyalists and those who threw their lot in with modern institutions was repeated within the Ministry. In particular, there was a conflict between men who identified with the scholar-official class and those who saw themselves primarily as professional educationalists. Despite his background as a xuezheng, Yan Xiu put the point of view of the latter group. The conservatives appear to have won many of the early battles, although their published statements are usually couched in language

intended to disarm rather than antagonise their opponents. For two years, from 1907 to 1909, Zhang Zhidong returned to the capital as guanxue dachen. The rift between the two groups is illustrated by the obituary notice

published in the Jiaoyu zazhi on Zhang’s death. It gave due praise to the Zhang Zhidong of ten years earlier, who ’created a change in the temper of the times, and was the hope of the educational world', but deplored the

Influence of his conservatism and gradualism on education. The writer continued 'Some may ask why Zhang's earlier and later behaviour differed from each other. There is no difference. Zhang Zhidong was a politician, not an educationalist; he was an educationalist of the old days, not what is called an educationalist today... there was not one of his acts but was

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