Body Discipline In Schools In Late Imperial China

The Education Reform in late imperial China was a historic change which brought modernity to China's education in various aspects initiatively or passively.The expression of transforming"Chen Min"to"Guo Min"further promoted the diversion of reform focus from"system"to"people".The criticism regarding inferiority of Chinese body caused by the construction of"filthy body",triggered the public topic of transformation from"personal body"to"state body"be recognized,which led to the agreement of reconstructing body for cultivating"Guo Min"which finally became an important theme in the reform of schools in late imperial China.On the one hand, this theme brought out rules regarding physical training and hygiene which led to great changes in the physical training and hygiene fields.On the other hand,it caused various public outcomes and reflected the logical relation between efforts of body discipline and agreements of strengthening country and people.This study discovered a large quantity of valuable sources,which mainly are school rules and regulations issued between 1895 and 1911.Combine them with various school-level documents,massive media publications,vision culture materials and folk-custom records,this study examines a neglected issue——how did the schools cultivate"Guo Min"through body discipline in late imperial China?——which can be analyzed through three perspectives:(1)How did the schools build up the rationality to body discipline?(2)How did the schools implement their program of body discipline?(3)What consequences did the body discipline achieve?This paper argues that:(1)the rationality to body discipline was based on an ideology reformation of"body belongs to the state",a process of which stemmed from western colonizers' stigma construction of Chinese body,including images of"filth","weakness","inefficiency and lacking sense of punctuality","foot-binding",etc.The stigma was accepted by Chinese elites and brought into the ideology of"cultivating Guo Min",then accelerated the government's policy making and local reform practices in education fields.(2)focusing on the theme of"state body cultivation",the body discipline in schools was reflected in the training of"sense of sanitation","obedience to rules","wearing traditional uniform"and"de-gendering girl students". (3)the unprecedented outcomes of the body discipline was the diversion from"personal body"to"state body"which was especially revealed by the formation of state-control of body,public management of body,political status of body and obligations of body.This Study offers a rethinking of the education reform in late imperial China:as a result of outside impelling action and inside revision,this reform was successful in the transformation from"Chen Min"to"Guo Min",but failed in the transition from"Guo Min"to"Citizen".Although the former transformation was a historic progress,it did not accomplish the mission of cultivating"Guo Min with freedom"or citizenship which is an important purpose of"civilizing body"in China's modernization.