Fu Contribution To Modern Educational Thinking

Yan Fu is a Chinese contemPorary thought enlightener and educator as well as oneof the rePreselltatives who adVocate the saving of China by education. He devotes mostof his lifetime to the Chinese educational cause. In the 1ong practice of educationalmodemization, Yan Fu advances a relative1y systematic contemPorary thoughs andtheories of education and makes promineflt contributions to the deve1opment of theChinese educational causes.Yan Fu is an advocator of saving the nation thIough education. His theory of nationsaving by means of education, which has characteristics of its own, is established onstrong points of the convenional evo1utionary theories of different schools of thought,which emPhasizes the universal natue and gradual process of evolution.The major purpose of his insistence on the nation-saving through education is tosave the nation from doom and to bring prosperity to the nation. hi addition, in thepolitical life of the nation, he also combines the system of constitlltional monarchy withdemocratic politics and education, believing that op key to the success in theestablishment of constitlltional monarchy and democratic endeavours is education. As afirm believer in saving the nation through education, Yan Fu is stTongly opposed to theschemes of saving the nation thIough revolution put forward by the bourgeoisrevolutionaries headed by Dr Sun yat-sen, to the May 4th movement and to theinvolvement of st[ldents in po1itics.hi the aspect of educationa1 theories, Yan Fu deeply criticizes feudalist autocraticeducational system characterized by imPerial examination system and the oldwesternized educational viewpoints holding the traditional Chinese culture to beprimary and the western material civilizations to be secondary Influenced by theSpencef, the British educationalist, he puts forward the theories of moral, academic andgmpastic development.In his educational practices, Yan Fu believes in the popularization of educationtogether with the running of the special education, emphasizing not only the wideIIspread of national education, but also the deve1opmeflt of special education in suchfie1ds as industries, overseas studies, women, families and aesthetics. He also analyzesand expounds them in depth.In teaching, based on his own teaching practices and personal experiences, Yan Fudesigns the educational system, courses, textbooks, educational methods, language atdifferent stages of education and advances a series of operationa1 programmes.Yan Fu's influence of educational thoughs is farreaching. Firstly, Yan Fu is thefirst to base his educational thoughts on the theory of evolution, and emPhasizes the ruleof education in encouraging people, enlighening people, fostering new mora1 valuesand refOrming the natue of nation. This leads gradually to the establishment offoundation of the research and thinking on the educationa1 problems in our nationaleducational field on the relatively advanced and new worid outlook and guides peopleto tTeat the educational problems from the perspectives of evolution. In addition, Yan Fuattaches imPortance to western schools of thought and science and emphasizes thescientific knowledge as the main contellt of education. Ih this way he theoreticallycriticizes successfu1ly the old mode of education advanced by the Westernizationadvocators. APat from that, Yan Fu, in his practices, leams frOm the westerneducational theories and practical experience, combines what is westem with therealities of Chinese education and finds out a relatively advanced way of education thatsuits China's situations.In general, his belief in saving the nation through education reverses therelationship of education to politics and economics and is mentalistic in nature.Howevef, he also opens uP a new way for the Chinese people to save China from doomand bring prosperity to China.