Reformed And Carried Forword

Wu Ru-lum (1840-1903), a renowned and reputable figure in academic and political world of Late Qing Dynasty, had accomplished great achievements in the field of literature, Confucianism classics and education. He was the master of the famous "Tong Cheng" Literature School. When dealing with the increasingly escalating national crisis, Wu Ru-lum was not confined to the traditional ideology. Instead, he actively and spontaneously explored every possible way to save his country and the Chinese ethnics. During the process, he gradually established a set of ideology for social reformation that was typical of his own characteristics.The ideology proposed by Wu Ru-lum for social reformation mainly included different phases of westernization, cultural improvement and education salvation. Between the period of mid 1860s and late 1880s, Wu ever joined the league established by Zeng Guo-fan and Li Hong-zhang and accepted their appointment as the county governor for the state of Shen Zhou and Ji Zhou. The experience from this period greatly broadened his mind and made him more open to new ideas. He began to realize that only through advocating westernization could China deal with the "unprecedented and radical change"; hence his proposal of westernization. According to this idea, he encouraged to develop commerce and trade, advocated the wide building of railway and attached much importance to foreign policy. He claimed that careful selection of alley was very important to ensure the stability and prosperity of his country.In 1889, Wu Ru-lum resigned and began to work as a teacher and headmaster of Lotus Pond School. Working in this school, Wu had a wide access to new western science and ideology. This advantage and his diligence helped him a lot in deepening his understanding of western learning. Against the shortage of Chinese learning, he proposed to conduct a cultural improvement, which indicated his second idea for social reformation. During this period, Wu greatly advocated the advantage of western learning. As for the quintessence of national classics, or ancient Chinese prose and classics, he insisted to inherit and carry them on. By integrating the new western ideas with the traditional view, he held an outlook to create an ideal state of "integrity of traditional view and western new ideology". In the year of 1902, Wu paid a visit to Japan as general director of Jing Shi College for observing and studying the education system. During the journey, he was greatly impressed by the key role that education played in social development. Taking this opportunity, Wu modified his outlook for Chinese social development and had new proposal for saving the nation. His proposals in this phase were mainly about: abolishing the imperial examination system, widely establishing schools, reforming the course structure of education system and sending students abroad for further education. In addition, he also proposed to unify the language used at home and promote universal education. All the proposals that he held and measures that he took conformed to the social reality at that time, and had facilitated and promoted the modernization of Chinese education to some extent.Integrating Wu Ru-lum's life events, the present thesis is devoted to the historical development of Wu's ideas for social reformation. The illustration is made both synchronically and chronologically, presenting the adaptation process to the constantly changing situation of this great figure, who had been deeply influenced by traditional Chinese ideology, but strived to learn the newest and advanced idea to save his country and Chinese ethnics. More importantly, his thinking and proposals could possibly leave implications for the present society, which, similarly, is undergoing a radical social reformation.