| The Opium War opened the closed door of the Qing Dynasty, at the meantime the dissemination of western learning brought about the impact of the western culture and the concept of modern higher education. At the turn of the 20th century it marked the beginning of the modern veterinary higher education in China the establishment of the Agricultural College of Peking Imperial University and Peiyang Equine Medicine Academy. It also already had the division of Chinese and western veterinary medicine. During the whole century since then until the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), China’s modern veterinary higher education has germinated and grew. It has undergone quite a few significant adjustments and innovation but still developed gradually despite of ups and downs.This paper studies the modern veterinary higher education in China from 1840 to 1949. Based on abundant historical data as well as a comprehensive method of Pedagogy, Sociology, History and other disciplines, it reviews and analyzes the change of the modern veterinary higher education of China in more than 100 years.This paper reviews systematically the origin and development of the modern veterinary higher education of China. It follows the mainline of the change in the schooling systems and the higher educational institutions due to the regime changes to discuss the differences in veterinary higher education ideas and institutional establishments in different schooling systems during the period of late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. It also analyzes the development, change and impact factors of veterinary higher education based on the political, social and historical settings in which it was embedded in at that time. It elaborates the veterinary higher education in three different historical periods. Firstly, in the late Qing dynasty from 1840 to 1911, it was the period of germination of China’s modern veterinary higher education. It was also the initial transitional period when the veterinary higher education transformed from a traditional to a modern discipline. Secondly, in the early Republic of China till the eve of the Anti-Japanese War period from 1912 to 1937, the modern veterinary higher education went hand in hand with the Animal Husbandry. The animal husbandry and veterinary higher education begun to take shape, and it showed a good development trend. Thirdly in the Anti-Japanese War period till the eve of liberation from 1937 to 1949, China’s modern veterinary higher education has obtained certain achievements and begun to break away from the animal husbandry education. But due to reasons such as the war, it has undergone a hard time until the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This paper enumerates the origin and development of the veterinary higher education in four representative universities and educational institutions in order to carry out a case study on the establishment, development, changes and causes of the veterinary higher education. Meanwhile, it also discusses and analyzes the impact of the political, economic, scientific and technological factors on the development of the veterinary higher education of China.The main body introduces the social background on which China’s veterinary higher education originated and reviews the overall development of China’s modern veterinary higher education. It follows the mainline of the development and changes of the veterinary higher education in two schooling systems in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic period to present the origin and evolution of China’s modern veterinary higher education. It elaborates its organizational establishment, teaching staff, teaching system, talents training, international exchanges and the extension of scientific and technological achievements in detail. In addition, this paper analyzes the factors which restrained the development of China’s modern veterinary higher education such as the resistance of the conservative party and the exclusion of the foreign-worship party, the difficulties of school running due to the regular change of the political situation, shortage of funds, and the problems of the modern agricultural education itself. It also shows the influence of the debates on education development routes on the eve of the "May 4th" movement, during the anti-Japanese War period and on the founding of the People’s Republic of China on the modern veterinary higher education.On the basis of the macro analysis according to the historical timeline, the paper depicts four representative cases in Chapter three to Chapter six. The evolution of the veterinary higher education from the Agricultural College of Peking Imperial University to Beijing Agricultural University is the most complete and complex history of the veterinary higher education in modern times in China. The Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the National Central University is the cradle of the senior talents in veterinary medicine in modern China. Its evolution reflected the overall development of the veterinary higher education during the Kuomintang government period and it was also an epitome of the agricultural higher education at that time. Peiyang Equine Medicine Academy was a pioneer of China’s modern veterinary higher education and a typical representative of the modern military veterinary higher education in China. The national veterinary College was the first independent veterinary college in China. It was a representative of the veterinary higher education in Northwestern China and an epitome of the higher ecucation in this area of China too. The teachers in the veterinary higher education played a crucial role in the higher educational institutions and the evolution of veterinary higher education. A lot of distitinguished educators and scientists have made great contributions to the development of China’s veterinary higher education including such as CAI Wuji, Luo Qingsheng, Xiong Dashi, Sheng Tongsheng, Chen Zhichang.After analyzing the evolution of China’s modern veterinary higher education and summarizing its historical experience and lessons, this paper concludes that we can foster qualified veterinarians with both modern humane qualifications and the ability to solve practical problems only on the condition that we are in a stable and harmonious external and internal environment, respect the development rules of higher education, set a goal to serve the national economy and the development of animal husbandry. Meanwhile, while developing modern veterinary higher education, we should also inherit and carry forward traditional Chinese veterinary culture and technology. |
