| To both China and Japan the period from1860s to the1890s is a key period that affectedmodern historical progress. Many historians are summarizing and introspecting why Japansucceeded while China failed? This topic is debated and discussed constantly in both Chinaand Japan, even in the west.Studying the education reform of the Westernization Movement is of great significanceto understand modern history of Chinese education. Studying the education reform of MeijiRestoration is an insurmountable panel point to understand Japanese education history. Thesignificance of comparing the similarities and differences between education reform ofWesternization Movement and Meiji Restoration in the process of modern social civilization,finding out the success and mistakes of the two sides is more important than merely making aresearch on the education reform of Westernization Movement or Meiji restoration’seducation reform. This is the starting point of why this article selects the education ofWesternization Movement period and the Meiji Restoration period to make comparative studybetween the two countries.This paper is divided into five parts. The first part is a comparison of reform background.The three aspects: international environment, social conditions and education foundation arecompared in this part. In the international environment, the pressure China got was far moreintense than Japan got. In the aspect of social conditions, the intellectuals in two countrieswere eager to carry out a reform, but Japan’s social condition was superior to China. In theaspect of education foundation, the degree of education development in Japan was higher thanthat in China. The second part is a comparison of the aim of reform. The aim of the twocountries are both to save the country and make it rich and strong, but China’s Westernizationeducation only aimed at cultivating talents the Westernization business needed, mainly thetranslation talents and military technology talents, for the sake of maintaining the feudalistrule of the Qing Dynasty; while the nature of Japan’s education reform of Meiji Restorationwas bourgeoisie, the goal of which was to cultivate the people of a civilized nation and toconstruct a capitalist country. The third part is a comparison of the guiding ideology. Bothcountries paid attention to the succession of traditional culture and moral, but the guidingideology of Westernization education was ‘Chinese as the Fundamental Structure, Western forPractical Use’, only studying the science and technology of the west. The education reform in the Meiji Restoration was the comprehensive learning from the western countries, followingthe guiding ideology,"Japanese soul and foreign knowledge", absorbing the thought, systemand method of European and American advanced education extensively in order to achievethe goal of a civilization of reform. The fourth part is a comparison of reform measures. TheWesternization education was to enlighten the bureaucracy not forming a national policy, onlymaking progress in new-styled schools and programs of study abroad. The education reformin Meiji Restoration was carried out in the whole country with the national will and hadrelatively complete education legal system, establishing a modern education system and tookthe western education theory in depth, initially forming a Japanese education thought system.The fifth part is the conclusion, which summarizes the experience and lessons ofWesternization Movement and Meiji Restoration in modern education reform and putsforward five suggestions to the current education reform:1. The top design must bestrengthened.2.The education reforms must be promoted together with other reforms.3. Thestrategic role of education for the developing countries catching up with advanced countriesmust be realized deeply.4. The self-centered culture education must be abandoned.5.Development of education should abide by the education law. We should not worry, norshould we wait. |
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