Localization Of Church Middle School In Suzhou

In the late Qing dynasty, as China opened Soochow as a trading port, western Christian church and its subordinate enterprises appeared and spread fast in Soochow. They set up education as a way of propagating religion and attracting Chinese people to join Christianity, which was the goal that the church and missionaries never changed. The church middle school appeared under such social background. However, Due to the cultural differences and the disability of helping people pass the imperial examination to win fame, the church middle schools, as representative of the western new education, found it was quite difficult at the beginning of their foundation. At the same time, they were under protection of privilege and in a state of anarchy because of the national policy, and they were separated from the chinese old education system at that period.The Republic of China established after the revolution of1911, and the church middle schools welcomed the opportunity of development. As the decline of old education and the rise of new schools, Soochow people gradually broaden their horizons and accepted the western culture and concept. The years between1920s and1930s were an important chance for Soochow church middle schools’development. During that time, they made positive adjustment of their education goals in order to adapt to the new social environment and form,and also take efforts to expand school buildings as well as other facilities. Soochow church middle schools began to take shape. Meanwhile, the government’s control of church schools showed that state power began to enter the school management. In order to get the local people’s approve and acceptance as well as have a competitive edge when compete with other schools in Soochow area, the church middle schools adjusted and changed themselves. Their religious function abated gradually but their localization tend to become more and more obvious. The process of localization had suspended once for the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, but began to recover soon after the recovery of Soochow. Until people’s government took charge of shools after the found of New China, the church middle schools completely became the education institutions governed by chinese government which aimed at cultivating talents for social needs.The localization process of Soochow’s church middle schools was the process of eliminating religious. Their education and service function highlighted gradually, and mission function faded away. National power which controlled and governed the church shools played a role of external force in the process of localization. And the schools in local society tried to adjust themselves to adapt to the needs of society. During the process of localization, the school adjustment was self-conscious. It was the double force which was combined by the external factor of state power with passive internal active factors of local society that promoted the localization of Soochow church middle school to complete.