It signalizes the adoption of the two very important steps in progress to
which I have already called your attention, to wit, the sending of ten or
twelve officials abroad to study western affairs, and the introduction of
mathematics and western science into competitive examinations.
Taken in connection with the construction of a railway in Formosa, and the
railroads from the Kaiping coal mines to Taku and from Taku to Tientsin, it
is seen that China has really had an awakening.
Very minute directions are given to the traveling officials to study the
customs, politics, fortifications, arsenals, steamships, railways, warlike
inventions, etc., in the various countries visited and to report thereon.
The importance of the introduction of mathematics and physical science as
studies can not be overrated.
In the memorial submitted a labored argument is made to prove that this new
departure is simply a return to ancient Chinese methods.
It is stated that from 1122 to 255 B. C. mathematics was classed as one of
the six arts, these being propriety, music, archery, charioteering, study,
and mathematics, and from 620 to 907 A. D. “men qualified in mathematics
were selected for official preferment.” * * * The memorial marks a revival
of learning which is destined to work mighty changes. Whence the impetus
came is not an essential inquiry. It is not improper to state, however, that
in an analysis of the causes of progress it will be found that our own
country, at the beginning, under the ministration of Burlingame and his
predecessors and on down to the present hour, has borne its full share in
the material and educational development of China. If other nations, as a
late writer in the Atlantic Monthly asserts, opened with their guns the way
and we simply followed, it must still be admitted that our peaceful
treatment has borne fruits no less precious than the commercial advantages
won by arms.
[Inclosure in No. 394.—Extract from Chinese
Times.]
an important memorial on educational
reforms.
A memorial from the Tsung-li yamên submitting a proposal
for the introduction of mathematics and other western sciences into the
civil competitive examinations, provincial and metropolitan.
On the 18th of April, 1887, the grand councilor received an Imperial
rescript wherein Her Majesty the Empress acknowledged the receipt of a
memorial from a censor, one Ch’en Cho Ying, proposing the granting of
literary degrees to mathematicians, and requesting that, in appointing
secretaries and others for our diplomatic service abroad, the applicants
should he chosen from those officials who have traveled in foreign
countries. He also proposed the purchase of irrigation machinery from
abroad.
Upon receipt of the above memorial Her Majesty ordered the Tsung-li yamên
in conjunction with the boards of revenue and ceremonies and Prince
Chun, to consider the measures proposed and submit a memorial
thereon.
Accordingly, in obedience to the Imperial commands, we have deliberated
upon the matter in question, and, lifting our heads, we humbly perceive
the solicitude of our sacred sovereign, which embraces everything which
concerns the national welfare, being specially circumspect in the
bestowal of civil ranks and most earnest in encouraging men of talent.
Such solicitude can never be forgotten.
With reference to the memorial of the censor above referred to, we find
that the memorialist proceeds to say:
“Since the beginning of intercourse with western countries, the arsenals,
dockyards, the Tung-wên College at Peking, and the Fang Yuan Kuan at
Shanghai, have been the resorts for the acquisition of western learning
and western sciences. There are, indeed, to be found young men who,
going abroad in their youth, have mastered the western arts, such as
surveying, drawing, mechanics, and other branches; but judging from
their conversation, these have become totally denationalized, and think
it necessary to adopt foreign methods in all their doing.
“The different boards and metropolitan yamêns having recently been called
upon to recommend candidates for going abroad, the memoralist would
suppose the officials would embrace this opportunity to acquire
knowledge of western affairs, yet three months have passed by and no
recommendations have been heard of. Thus, it is evident that those who
are zealous for western knowledge cannot be easily found. Mathematics
being the foundation of all the western sciences, any one who would
master them must start from that foundation; and although it is by no
means necessary, or even perhaps possible, that one should master
several of the sciences, yet when he has obtained a thorough mastery of
mathematics, it will be easy to make further researches. The Kuo Tzu
Chien (Imperial National Academy) was established for the study of
mathematics, and in more recent years the different provincial examiners
have added mathematics to the list of their examinations. Therefore, the
memoralist would earnestly pray that Her Majesty direct the examiners to
make a report of the examinations in mathematics, and allot an extra
number of honors for the successful candidates in that study; that the
original examination papers be submitted to the inspection of the
Tsung-li yamên, and the graduates be ranked as official students of
mathematics; and that at the provincial examinations the first and
second trials shall be in the ‘four books’ and five classics, but in the
third, in accordance with the rules governing the examination of Manchu
interpreters, the five themes to be given shall be on mathematics, and
the literary degrees be conferred on the successful candidates, in
addition to the regulation number of graduates in purely literary
studies. The same rule to he applied to the metropolitan examinations,
the successful graduates from which to be employed in the capital or be
sent abroad where they may pursue further studies in the various
educational institutions of Europe; and on their return after the
completion of their studies, they shall be placed in the Department of
foreign affairs, to be appointed to our diplomatic service abroad. In
this way official advancement will be through a regular course, and our
officers will no longer be the contempt of modern times. Nor on the one
hand will they be like those who, professing to know foreign affairs,
are really ignorant; or, on the other, like those who are inclined to be
partisans of foreigners, and ready to create trouble.”
Such were the words of the censor as contained in his memorial; and it is
our opinion that plans for encouraging men of talent and learning should
be suited to the circumstances of the times. During the years of 18S5
and 1867 the Tsung-li yamên, in a memorial to the Throne, proposed the
examination of students in mathematics, who, in conformity with the rule
in force at the Tung-wen Kuan in Canton, were to be appointed to
official positions at the expiration of three years’ study.
[Page 229]
If the candidate were a Manchu, lie was to have the grade of official
interpreter, and be allowed to take part in the provincial examinations
for literary and other degrees; if he were a Chinese, he was to be
classed as a kien shêng (collegian of the Imperial Academy), and be
further privileged to participate in the provincial examinations; and
both the Chinese and Manchus who were successful were to be appointed
expectant interpreters. This memorial was sanctioned by Imperial decree,
in the hope that the measures therein proposed would encourage and
stimulate students and open a path for their personal advancement, so
that in future years they might attain to positions of honor and
fame.
But inasmuch as there were existing established rules governing the
selection of graduates at the metropolitan and provincial examinations,
it was most difficult to introduce innovations. Consequently, during the
middle of Tao Kuang’s reign, although in a memorial from the then
viceroy of the Two Kuangs, Chi Kung, he classed mechanics and
mathematics as one of the five learned professions; and again, at the
beginning of Hien Fêng’s reign, the Censor Wang Mao Yin made reference
to it; lastly, in the year 1870, the viceroy of Fuhkien and Chekiaug,
Ying Kuei, and others, in a memorial, advocated the introduction of
mathematics. In each case the boards decided that the proposed measure
was in violation of established usages, and the matter was stopped.
Mathematics, however, is classed as one of the six arts (these being
propriety, music, archery, charioteering, study, and mathematics), and
during the Chow dynasty, in advancing their men of talent and virtue,
they considered those who understood mathematics as belonging to the six
professions; and in the Tang dynasty men qualified in mathematics were
selected for official preferment.
Our country had, in the remote past, framed a set of mathematical
treatises which have served as models for hundreds of ages, and the
National Academy was subsequently established, where a prescribed number
of young men might be instructed in mathematics, the number to consist
proportionately of Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese, and the term of study
to be several years. But mathematics, in order to be mastered, must be
begun when one is young.
Our sacred sovereigns of successive dynasties, in their far-reaching
schemes of improvement, availed themselves of the help of western
mathematics, which they combined with our own, and in constructing their
orreries, “Chi Taos” (equators), and other scientific representations
that have remained standing monuments of their skill, and in
manufacturing fire-arms and munitions of war, they borrowed the help of
western methods. During the reign of Kang-hi, when wars with feudal
states were frequent, two officers attached to the board of astronomy,
Nan Huai Jên and Tang Jo Wang, were ordered by Imperial command to
manufacture arms for the use of the army. These are historical facts,
adduced to prove the force of our arguments. But people of the present
day, who regard mathematics as a purely western science, have not given
the subject their serious attention.
As for western scholars, we find that half their men of talent and
capacity are drawn from their philosophical schools, which develop these
intellects by the study of logic, and the other half spring from their
marine, because the experience they gain by visiting different parts of
the world emboldens their hearts and expands their knowledge. Progress
or retrogression, therefore, does not depend simply on understanding the
niceties of literary compositions.
Trigonometry and its collateral subjects are truly the foundation of
western sciences, yet although one must begin with that study, he cannot
stop here. Consequently, on both our southern and northern sea-board,
there have been established arsenals, training-schools, military and
naval academies, and those who complete the course of instruction in
these institutions are placed on board-training ships, and those who are
more advanced are appointed to positions in our navy. In this way it is
hoped men of ability will be trained up to serve the country.
In order, however, to encourage young men to apply themselves to western
studies, it is necessary that there should be an efficient system of
selection and promotion. We, the ministers, in our deliberations, are
aware that the regulations governing the civil competitive examinations
can not be lightly changed, yet for the sake of encouraging men of
ability, the existing methods might be modified. It is proposed,
therefore, that His Majesty direct the provincial literary chancelors to
issue at the competitive examinations, besides the subject usually given
in the classics and poetry, a theme on mathematics; and should there be
candidates for honors in that study and they be found proficient, that
their examination papers be submitted to the inspection of the Tsung-li,
yamên, and their names be officially registered. That further, when the
provincial examination occurs, the successful graduates first proceed to
the Tsung-li yamên, and there submit themselves to an examination in the
following subjects: Philosophy, mathematics, mechanics, engineering,
naval and military tactics, marine artillery, torpedoes, international
law, and history; and should any one be proficient in any of the above
subjects that he be sent to compete at the civil literary examinations
[Page 230]
in Peking under the same
conditions as the other candidates; and in case of there being over
twenty applicants the word “mathematics” shall be stamped upon their,
examination papers, but no extra paper of this study need be given on
this occasion.
The examination papers of these students shall be handed in from the
“outside screen” to the “inside screen,” and out of every twenty
candidates one shall be selected, provided that he is a thorough master
of rhetoric; otherwise, rather than select unproficient graduates, no
candidates will be accepted at all. And, however great the number of
applicants may be, no more than three shall be selected at one time, in
order to maintain a fixed limit.
The papers of the candidates at the probationary examination held tinder
the direction of the Tsung-li yamên shall be handed in by the latter to
the inspection and keeping of the board of ceremonies, and when the
metropolitan examination occurs the provincial graduates who have passed
successfully in mathematics shall take part under the same conditions as
all the other candidates, selection to he made entirely in accordance
with their literary proficiency.
By adopting the above-modifications for securing men of varied
accomplishments the existing regulations for examining and promoting
literary men will not be changed, while they serve the important purpose
of encouraging men of talent. With regard to those in the different
military and naval schools and on board training ships who have mastered
their respective professions and are already in official position, but
who do not desire to subject themselves to the competitive examinations,
it shall be the duty of the minister in charge of the respective schools
to recommend them for promotion in accordance with the time of their
services. But the conditions governing such men shall be entirely
different from those imposed upon candidates who participate in the
literary examinations. Those of the latter class who graduate
successfully from the metropolitan examinations will be retained at the
capital, and wait for appointments to the Tung-wên College, where they
will act as compilers, and devote themselves to further study until they
may be sent to travel abroad or receive diplomatic appointments,
selection to be made from time to time in accordance with merit and
ability. In this manner those who manage our foreign relations will not
be empty babblers, and they will, moreover, excel in usefulness those
who are proficients only in western arts, without the complementary
literary qualifications.
The censor we have above quoted, in a postscript memorial, requests that
applicants for going abroad shall be impartially recommended by the
officers of the boards and their selection be approved at the
“metropolitan scrutiny.” We find that this “metropolitan scrutiny” is an
important ordinance, carrying with it a restriction to the candidates
recommended by the different yamêns, who, besides being “first class,”
must be attached to the yamêns in some official capacity, and their
merits and learning, their diligence or indolence, must have been looked
into by their respective superiors and their competency for the position
proved before they shall be admitted to the “metropolitan scrutiny.”
Those who are sent out of the capital on official service shall, during
the first half year, have their acts examined into and recorded by their
yamêns, but after that, it shall be the duty of the yamên wherein they
are employed to take cognizance of their acts, inasmuch as the long
separation will place those in the capital at a disadvantage in
ascertaining their doings. With regard to those who are sent on a
traveling tour abroad, the distance of the separation being still
greater, it will be impracticable for the yamên officials to ascertain
whether or not an officer who evinces, commendable energy at home
maintains his zeal and studiousness abroad, and it will not do to record
his doings at random.
It is proposed, therefore, that those who are really meritorious and
pre-eminent in their respective yamdês and should obtain “first class”
and pass at the “metropolitan scrutiny,” should be eligible to be sent
abroad and during the first half year of their service they shall be
regarded as “first-class” candidates for promotion; but after that it
shall be the duty of the respective ambassadors to look after their
conduct, and, if their ability and character are satisfactory, to submit
their names to the Tsung-li yamên for submission to the Throne for the
bestowal of promotion. But they shall not be further examined at the
“metropolitan scrutiny.” Those whose term of service at the capital has
expired shall first be sent to have audience of His Majesty, and then
their names will be recorded for future appointments. And when the names
of any have to be submitted to the Throne, it shall be by the board of
ceremonies through the grand council; and whenever any vacancy occurs it
shall be in the pleasure of His Majesty to appoint these expectant
officials. But those who are to be selected to office by the boards
shall also receive their appointments from them.
(The memorial extends to greater length, but the foregoing contains all
that is important in it.)
