| The spread of Western learning in China began in the second half of the16 th century,with the eager overseas expansion of western capitalism in its accumulation period.A major way of early dissemination was the individual introduction of missionaries,and China's reception of Western learning at that time appeared to be passive and piecemeal.Since 1840 s,some Chinese intellectuals began to realize the importance of Western learning,especially western science.They attempted to learn and introduce western science and technology to ensure a prosperous and powerful nation,and then they called on the Qing government to carry out a series of reforms at the national level,one of which was the important strategy of organizing new schools to start science education.Establishment o f academies and launch of science education at the national level started from the late 1890 s.The failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 pressed Chinese scholars to reflect on the limitations of learning only western technology.They proposed reforms in the traditional University education mode from the perspective of political reform,and develop scientific education emulating the western education mode,so as to cultivate science and technology talents.As a result,a number of new schools such as Shan-si Imperial University were established,and they carried out scientific activities and education according to the model of western universities.After the Qing government issued the new educational system in 1904,Shan-si Imperial University,Imperial University of Peking and Peiyang University became the only three modern national universities in the late Qing Dynasty.Shan-si Imperial University,founded in 1902,is among the first batch of new-style higher education institutions established in accordance with the requirements of the New Policy reform of the Qing government,and also with an aim to solve the problem of Shanxi Massacre.Ever since itsestablishment,the school had been deeply engraved with a characteristic of popularizing western culture.And when in 1912,Shan-si Imperial University was changed into Shanxi Grand School,according to the educational tenet of the Republic of China,that decade witnessed a major feature of collisions and fusions,exchanges and integrations of Chinese and Western cultures.This dissertation,in its overall structure,frames the scientific activities carried out by Shan-si Imperial University into the general process of Western learning dissemination in modern China,with its focus on the series of scientific activities in the nearly 10 years from the establishment to its renaming,and endeavors to sort out the historical contexture of the background of the establishment of Shan-si Imperial University,and also the organization,implementation and influence of its scientific education.This paper not only investigates the curriculum of science courses,compilation of science textbooks,popularization of scientific knowledge,activities of science figures,training of science talents,etc.,from the micro level,which all carried out by Shan-si Imperial University,revolving around its science education activities,but also tries to clarify the particular process of western science learning in modern China,the transformation from traditional University education to new-style higher education.At the same time,it also probes,from the macro level of the spread and influence of Western learning in modern China,into the role that the scientific activities had played in learning and introducing western science,and also the positive influences they had exerted on the localization of science and also on the rapid development of science,technology and economy in modern Shanxi Province.For detailed research,the study focuses on the content of western science introduced,the introduction of scientific instruments and equipments,the construction of laboratories,the setup of science specialties and its transitions,scientific figures and their specific activities,the selection of overseas study majors,the contribution of science graduates to the industries of science and technology,etc.It comprehensively combs the historicaltransformations of western science in the process of its popularization in China's modern higher education,from elementary to profound,from marginal to central,and from passive to proactive.Substantial details are collected and analyzed to illustrate and prove the role of science education activities of the University in changing the public's understanding of western scientific concepts,and to dialectically explain the important position that those science education activities held in the process of promoting science localization.This paper emphasizes the collection and textual research of historical literature,and extensively collects materials and archives about the University's memorials,contracts,science textbooks and materials,subjects,teaching and practicing catalogues,lists of graduates,etc.of Shan-si Imperial University in late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Field investigation has also been made on the original site,legacy buildings,historical objects,etc.of Shan-si Imperial University,coupled with newspaper and magazine reports at that time about the recruitment of Shanxi University,the impact of its running and scientific activities,so as to present the history of popularization and dissemination of western science in the University.This dissertation highlights the effective use of oral history research methods,as it is often the fact that historical objects are much lost and difficult to collect.The author has done interviews with the offspring of foreign staff and graduates of the University and then verified their accounts with historical records and documents,endeavoring to truly restore the history of the University's scientific activities and to precisely explore the role of Shan-si Imperial University in the process of western science popularization and dissemination.The dissertation is divided into eight parts:The first part is Introduction.It mainly describes the background and significance of the research,its overall design and framework,current research status,its research purposes,innovations and key issues to be solved.After analyzing the actual situation of the spread and popularization ofwestern learning in modern China,it puts forward the important significance of the nation's promotion of scientific education activities in the localization of science.Shan-si Imperial University,as one of the first three universities founded in modern China,proves to be a very suitable case in studying and understanding the spread of western learning and the localization of science.The second part is science education activities in modern China and the establishment of Shan-si Imperial University.This part introduces the overall situation of the scientific activities carried out by modern Chinese academies and universities,especially those immediately before and after the establishment of the educational “New Policy”,when those schools learned and introduced the western mode of science education.Under the background of communications and collisions between Chinese and Western learning,it combs the process of twists and turns from the University ' s preparation period to its formal establishment.The third part is the organization and implementation of science education activities in Shan-si Imperial University.Centered on the organization and implementation of science education activities in the University,this part focuses on the discipline setups and science courses,and analyzes the situation of science teaching materials,science instruments and laboratories,recruitment of western learning teachers and students as well as training modes.Holistically,this part introduces the mode of science education activities in the University.The fourth part is textbook compilation and translation in Shan-si Imperial University.This paper investigates the science textbooks of Shan-si Imperial University and the science knowledge studied and introduced,makes textual research on the specific textbook compilation institutions of Shan-si Imperial University,such as Shanghai Shan-si Imperial University Translation Institution,the Typography Department of Shan-si Imperial University,systematically examines the latest science books translated by the Translation Institution,and analyzes the contents,uses and influences of the science textbooks of the University.The fifth part is science figures and their activities in Shan-si Imperial University.In this part,the author studies the science figures and the development of scientific activities in Shan-si Imperial University,investigates the scientific thoughts of those science figures and the specific scientific activities carried out in the University,and then their influences on and contributions to the science education of the University are explored.The sixth part is overseas education activities at Shan-si Imperial University and their effects.This paper analyzes the overseas studies of the graduates of Shan-si Imperial University,especially their studies in Japan and in Britain,under the wave of overseas studies at that time.Their majors,contributions after returning to China,their role in the development of local science and technology and local industry in Shanxi Province are focused on,followed by a summary of the accomplishments of the scientific activities carried out by Shan-si Imperial University.The seventh part is charateristics and values of science education activities in Shan-si Imperial University.This part compares the development of science education activities in Imperial University of Peking and Peiyang University,summarizes the characteristics and influences of science education activities in Shan-si Imperial University,analyzes the significance of the serial science education activities on the development of domestic science and technology,economy and politics,and summarizes from the perspective of cultural fusion the role that science education activities played in science localization.The eighth part is Conclusion which sums up the strengths and weaknesses of the research.Although the establishment of new-style academies to carry out science education activities failed to prevent the end of the fall of the Qing Dynasty,a series of activities around the new schools' science education are of great significance to the popularization and dissemination of western learning,especially western science,in China.The serial scientific activities carried out by a number of new schools like Shan-si Imperial University,such as theformulation of science curricula,the compilation of science textbooks,the training of science talents,and scientific investigation and research,have played an irreplaceable role in the recognition and general reception of western science by all levels of the Chinese Society.The combination of Chinese and western education not only opened a new era of the development of modern higher education in China,but also effectively promoted the localization of western science in China and pushed the process of the institutionalization of Chinese science.At the same time,learning and introducing western science in higher education have had a profound impact on the development of science and technology,politics,culture and other aspects of modern Shanxi Province. |
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