Fusion of East and West

Children, Education and a New China, 1902-1915

Series: 

Author:
Limin Bai
In Fusion of East and West, Limin Bai presents a major work in the English language that focuses on Chinese textbooks and the education of children for a new China in a critical transitional period, 1902–1915. This study examines the life and work of Wang Hengtong (1868–1928), a Chinese Christian educator, and other Christian and secular writings through a historical and comparative lens and against the backdrop of the socio-political, ideological, and intellectual frameworks of the time. By doing so, it offers a fresh perspective on the significant connection between Christian education, Chinese Christian educators and the birth of a modern educational system. It unravels a cross-cultural process whereby missionary education and the Chinese education system were mutually re-shaped.
Copyright Year:
2019
E-Book (PDF)
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-40692-6
Publication:
05 Aug 2019
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-41101-2
Publication:
29 Aug 2019
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Limin Bai, Ph.D. (1994), Victoria University of Wellington, is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at that university. She has published extensively on Chinese history, society and education in both English and Chinese, including Shaping the Ideal Child (CUP, 2005).
"As the title suggests, in Fusion of East and West: Children, Education, and a New China, 1902–1915, Limin Bai argues that children’s primers in the new republic combined elements from both East and West during a pivotal period of political change in modern China. Bai recovers the importance and influence of Chinese Christian educators, and she suggests that secular leaders like Liang Qichao may have been influenced by Christians even when they denied such influences themselves or sought equivalents in the Chinese tradition... Bai provides important factual considerations and methodological insights into figuring out how these elements operated just before the dawn of China’s educational revolution.
- Margaret Mih Tillman, Journal of Chinese History, Vol. 6, Issue 2 (July 2022).
Foreword
Preface
Conventions
List of Figures and Tables
Introduction
 1 Wang Hengtong, the Christian Community in Shanghai and the Textbook Market
 1 Wang Hengtong and Hangchow Presbyterian College
 2 Wang Hengtong and the Christian Community in Shanghai
 3 Wang Hengtong as Christian Teacher and Textbook Writer
 4 Wang Hengtong and His Literacy Textbooks
 5 Conclusion
 2 An Innovative Approach: Progressive Teaching Method
 1 Background: Literacy Education Campaign in late Qing China
 2 Wind from the West: Chinese Language Teaching Reform
 3 Comparison: Wang Hengtong’s Primers and Non-Christian Chinese Textbooks
 4 Conclusion
 3 Captivating Children: Hybrid Elements in Literacy Textbooks
 1 Quwei 趣味 (interest; interesting): the Prevalence of New Educational Ideas
 2 The Use of Illustrations: with Children’s Interests at Heart
 3 Making Tradition Modern: Re-creating Exemplary Children in Traditional Chinesemengshu
 4 Conclusion
 4 Literacy Textbooks as Children’s Literature: Making Aesop Chinese
 1 Aesop’s Fables for Literacy Education
 2 A Comparative Study of Three Chinese Versions of Aesop’s Fables
 3 Contextualizing Aesopic Fables for Chinese Children
 4 Conclusion
 5 Textbooks as a Bridge to a World of New Knowledge
 1 The Concept of Gezhi: a Christian Perspective
 2 The Content of Gezhi Learning in Wang Hengtong’s Textbooks
 3 The Circulation of Useful Knowledge: a Comparative Analysis
 4 Conclusion
 6 Traversing the Boundaries between Confucianism and Christianity
 1 The Bible and Christian Content in Wang Hengtong’s Literacy Textbooks
 2 New Hermeneutic Exegesis of Ancient Chinese Scriptures: Searching for a Common Humanity
 3 Reinterpreting the Concept of xiao: Christian Appropriation of Confucianism
 4 Conclusion
 7 Education for a New China: a Multifaceted Perspective
 1 Education for a New China: a Comparison of Christian and Non-Christian Views
 2 Textbook Market: Shared Source Materials, Common Features and Diversity
 3 Different Approaches to the Fusion of East-West and Past-Present
 4 A Key Difference between Christian and Non-Christian Textbooks
 5 Enlightenment and Late Qing Reforms: Education for Girls
 6 Conclusion
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
 Index
All interested in history of Chinese education, Christianity and missionary education in China, comparative education, and anyone with a general interest in Chinese history, culture, religion and society.
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