| This dissertation is the study of the development of national normal education for women in China and its interrelationship with the intellectual, social and political environment during the period of 1919-1929, with special emphasis on the role of the National Peking Women's Higher Normal School and its successor schools, as a case study of social change.; The Chinese absorption of Western influence into their own system of thought during the end of the nineteen and the early twentieth century was precipitated by her internal weakness and failure to preserve her sovereignty in the face of foreign encroachment.; Confronted with a unique national crisis, both government officials and intellectuals realized that changes were essential if China were to survive.; The educational reforms and the introduction of a reconceptualized educational system were among the many roads chosen by Chinese reformers. The establishment of a national higher educational institution for women was a particularly revolutionary step in the modernization of Chinese society.; Peking Women's Higher Normal School and its successor, Peking Women's Normal University, was the first and the only higher educational institution supported by the government in the 1920's. This national higher educational institution for women was characterized by several unique features. First, its organizational structure went through many stages of transformation. Second, this institution existed during an epochal period in Chinese history which was characterized by political disunity, Western cultural intrusion and the emergence of a heightened nationalist consciousness. Third, both the faculty and the students of Peking Women's Higher Normal School were influenced by the new tide of the cultural movement of the May 4th era and they were the ardent participants of political and social reforms in the 1920's.; This study examines the nature of the vicissitudes of Peking Women's Higher Normal School and its successor, Peking Women's Normal University; the content of their curricula and their disciplines; the impact of Western cultural values and teachers influenced by Western educational models on the development of the students' values and behaviors; and the legacy of the graduates in Chinese society. They represent a group of new Chinese females who are women of hope and determination. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)... |
