The Dissemination Of The Western Learning And Its Influence On The Traditional Education During The Late Ming Dynasty And The Early Qing Dynasty In China

With the development of the capitalistic modern science in Western Europe, the modern educational theories and systems, as well as the schools of a new type cropped up accordingly during 16-18th centuries. Meanwhile, Chinese culture and education had been maintaining feudal tradition of Confucianism from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty. In order to make Chinese convert to the Christ, the western missionary came to China , unintentionally building a bridge of cultural exchanges between China and the western countries.In 1582, two western missionaries were permitted to live in China for the first time. Since then, missionaries who came to China were in an endless stream. For successful missionary work, they took the strategies which accord with Chinese psychology, such as "making up for Confucianism", "bending with Confucianism". Henceforth, the western learning came into China, bringing a great influence on various spheres of China's society, especially on educational field.During the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, the dissemination of the western learning made Chinese feudal education undergo a great change, altering people's educational concepts. From the perspective of educational target, traditional education cultivates talents who gave great importance to morality and ethics while the western learning cultivates talents who pursued innovation, truth and humanism and be able to apply what their learning to the real world, making a breakthrough in traditional educational aim. From the angle of educational content, Confucianism which focuses on the Four Books and Five Classics is the main content of feudal education, giving little attention to nature science. Bring China with human and nature science , the western learning partly changed Chinese traditional educational content, laying a foundation for Chinese modern educational system of new-typebranches of learning. As to teaching methods, new-type teaching methods which stress practical ability such as object teaching, training emphasizing logical thinking and scientific experiments are promoted. As to educational theories, the dissemination of the western learning had shaken the basis of Chinese traditional educational theories. In the light of western learning, some Chinese intellectuals put forward a new theory of human nature, underlining "utility" and "righteousness". The concepts of stressing individual demands of utility and existence, promoting value utility of science in the western learning exerted a direct impact on Chinese traditional educational concepts, adding strength to China's native pragmatic educational thought. Thus, educational value emphasizing utilitarian consciousness was affirmed in Chinese educational field. In fact, just like Xu Guangqi's remark "in order to surpass the west we should first learn and grasp the western scientific knowledge", the spread of the western learning from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty heralded the campaign "learning from the west" in modern China.During the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, the dissemination of the western learning affected Chinese traditional education greatly, stunning Chinese intellectuals profoundly. Those advanced Chinese devoted themselves to the learning and sorbing the western learning. It can be said that the rough course of Chinese education's modernization began during the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. The study of educational history within this period is benefit to the development of Chinese pedagogy, and the reflection of this history provides the modern construction of Chinese education with valuable experience and reference.