A Brief Account Of The Sichuan School For Ancient Learning

In the last years of the late Qing Dynasty,quite a few provinces set up officially the Schools for Ancient Learning to "preserving the national essence". On the whole,the Schools have been ignored in the past studies,few researches even involved in the Sichuan School for Ancient Learning. Mainly depending upon the Jiao Yu Gttan Bao of the Sichuan and other provinces and the relating archives preserved in the Sichuan University Archive,the First History Archive of China and other archives,the author here strives to inspect the opening course of the Sichuan School for Ancient Learning in the last years of the Qing Dynasty,putting main emphasis on the examining of the historical materials so as to give a brief account of the related facts. Firstly,the author will narrate the school's origin and tortuous preparing process,especially emphasizing on the responsible officers' educationalideas,conceives and contemplations. Secondly,the author will put it into the background of the educational practices of the Xinzheng Reforms in the last years of the Qing Dynasty to reestablish the actual preparing and running courses of the school,laying particular attentions to the funds,teachers,subjects,books and so on.Because of the differences of the advocators' thinking inclinations and some local factors such as the limit of the funds,the Sichuan School for Ancient Learning,which was affected very obviously by the one run by Chang Chih-tung in Hubei,embodied some characteristics the other similar schools didn't possess. Especially after the most schools were stopped by the related prohibition issued by the Education Department of the Republic of China in 1911 (the schools in some provinces were closed down before),the Sichuan School for Ancient Learning was the only one in the country that could continue through renaming and other practices with the actual support of the local government. Lastly,it became one of the Sichuan University's predecessors.In the latter half of 1909,Zhao Qilin,the Sichuan director of education,had prepared the school and it was formally opened after a year. As a famous "ch'ing-liu" official,Zhao Qilin was inclined to the philosophy of Sung Dynasty with which he tried to change the Sichuan academic custom. This became an important characteristic that was the reason why the conflict between Zhao Qilin and Sichuan academic circle was so grave that he resigned at last. Zhao Er-xun,the Sichuan Viceroy,also supported to set up the school,his plan to the school was more open and foresighted than Chang Chih-tung's one. Because of its highstandard in the Sichuan education of the last years of the Qing Dynasty,the school could get a plenty of books on national essence and invite many famous scholars in Sichuan such as Xie Wuliang,Wu Zhiying,Xu Jiong and so on to teach,the attraction of the school was big,and this can be seen from the fact that so many pupils took part in the entrance examinations,though it faced the competitions of the other schools.Though the school had kept the normal teaching activities in the first academic year,it could not completely realize the scale planned before the formal opening. After the Revising Rule was issued in the spring of 1911,the Sichuan official had ever repeatedly consulted with the Education Department on the qualification of the registered pupils. It was obvious that the locality had more right in the course of the educational practices of the Xinzheng Reforms in the last years of the Qing Dynasty. Because of the railway agitation and the striking followed,the normal activities could not be kept in the third term;after the Revolution of 1911,the Education Department of the Republic of China published an open telegram ordering the provinces to shut down all the similar schools,but with the endeavors by the officials and the elites,the Sichuan School for Ancient Learning had been reserved through renaming repeatedly.