The Rural Education And The Rural Population Changes In Modern Zhejiang

The rural areas of Zhejiang province experienced dramatic changes under the strong western colonial forces in modern history, which included the increasing recession of rural economy, the gradually-adding social crisis, frequent population migrations and the low cultural quality, which meant the most typical characteristics of peasants were the poverty, ignorance, weakness and selfishness. The creation and further development of rural education became one of the indispensable parts of the early educational modernization of Zhejiang province. It was not only a solution to rural problems, but also undertook the historic missions of national salvation under the western impact.This dissertation mainly expounded the relationship among the vocational educations, the popular education and the population changes in rural areas.The first part introduced the quality condition of the rural population in modern Zhejiang. Through the analysis of their physical health, culture structure and occupation structure, the quality condition could be described as malnutrition and poor medical conditions, the deteriorating physical fitness, the low cultural and scientific quality, the small proportion of elementary educated people, the rising proportion of displaced farmers, and the growing poverty in rural areas. According to the quality conditions, the reconstruction of education was required objectively to be in compliance with the rural life and to promote the improvement of the rural population quality and to achieve the transformation of rural society.The second part investigated the rural vocational education in modern Zhejiang. The creation and development of agricultural technology education were explored through two phases of the late Qing Dynasty and the republic of China period. One special section was about the education of sericulture in modern Zhejiang. The development of the vocational education had made it convenient for more peasants to receive new agricultural technology knowledge, improved their quality and promoted the reform of agricultural technology. Thereby it had enhanced the productivity and improved their embarrassed lives to some extent. The significance was not only related to the reform of professional areas, but also one of the forces of the modern transformation of the rural population.The third part discussed the rural popular education in modern Zhejiang. Although encountered various difficulties, the rural popular education improved the farmers'literacy rate and their cultural level to some extent, which also enhanced the agricultural technology and enriched farmers'lives and fostered the survival of rural community, so it was beneficial to improve the overall quality of the rural population.The fourth part was the conclusion of the interaction between the rural education and the rural population change. On the one hand, the rural population change restricted the degree, speed and content'of the rural education; on the other hand, despite of its limited scale, the development of the rural education improved the quality of the rural population and, in a certain sense, promoted their modern transformation.The epilogue revealed the practical significance of the interaction between the rural education and the rural population change. Based on the awareness of the importance of rural education, the practical function of education and the construction of teaching staff should be strengthened to improve farmers'scientific and cultural quality and foster new educated farmers with skill and management.