Shi Ying’s Educational Thought And Practices Research Projects

Shi Ying is a famous revolutionist, educator and industrialist in the history of the Republic of China. As a Juren (successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level in the Qing dynasty), he had ever been to Europe for study twice. His experience of studying abroad for17years made him have unique world views:on one hand, the traditional Chinese culture had been deeply imprinted in his minds; on the other hand, the philosophy of western democracy and the development of science and technology had profoundly influenced him. With the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, he utilized the essence and abandoned the dross. Finally, he formed his unique educational philosophy and practice, and left positive effects in the educational history of China. For decades, a lot of articles or papers about Shi Ying have been published, but most of them are about the historic evaluation. As one of the initiators of the Revolution of1911, he promoted the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation twice. He was reputed as "the cleanest politician in the Republic of China" and "the sage of the age". However, few scholars studied his position and influence in the educational history of the Republic of China. So, in this paper, the author attempts to reveal his significance as an educator from his rich life experiences, and his educational connotations, and the contemporary inspirations.This paper is divided into four parts:In the first part, Shi Ying’s life experiences and the sources of his educational thought are introduced. During his teenager, deeply influenced by Confucianism, he formed the unique character which was then acted as the source of his educational thought and practices. Through the western education he received, he believed that the practicability of knowledge was the most important criterion to promote the development of the society and improve people’s life. The education abroad prompted his conversion, and he became a new intellectual. During the period with Sun Yat-sen to realize the rejuvenation of China, he put into practices his belief of founding and reviving China through education all the time.In the second part, the educational connotations of Shi Ying are explored. Shi Ying didn’t write books, what we can find are the conversations with his students, the speeches to the public and the newspaper essays, but we still can construct the system of Shi Ying’s educational thought. The center of the system is Confucianism, Confucian morality is the main contents of education; the vascular of the system are Three People’s Principles of Sun Yat-sen and modern scientific knowledge, Nationalism, Civil Right and the People’s livelihood are the guidance of education; the most active parts are the daily development and the Time-Dependent; the Skeletons of the system are the practices and application of knowledge, the development of China relies on the practical talents, it’s the reason why Shi Ying focused on the application of knowledge all the time.In the third part, Shi Ying’s educational practices are described. Education was always his focus whatever and whenever. He created the education of comprehensive universities in Hubei province. Jianghan University, National Wuchang University and National Wuhan University were all his practices to revitalize education of Hubei. He promulgated many provisions, standards and proposals to ensure the development of education when he was the mayor of Nanjing, such as the proper usage of educational funds, the quantity and quality of the education facilities and the raise of teachers’ treatment and quality; he vigorously promoted the national education and considered that the improvement of national qualities was a major means to the constitutional democracy; he was a person of exemplary virtue, and imparted his realization of life and experience of learning to his students; he applied the knowledge to practice and advocated that education should serve society, such as the equipment and practice are the crux for an engineering institute, the vocational education was the crux for peoples’ livelihood.In the fourth part, the contemporary inspirations of Shi Ying’s educational thought are analyzed. Confucian Morality is the primary content of education; Combination of Theory and Practice is the most important education method; Multi-Dimensional Education is desired; and Consciousness of "official standard" in education field must be abandoned.