Knowledge Dissemination And Reading Selection:Mao And Western Learning,Cognitive And Understanding,1910-1937

At the period of transition of modern China, the Western Learning has been disseminated on Chinese soil through various mediums. Thanks to the implementation of new educational system, Western Learning has finally claimed its legal position in Chinese elementary education, which facilitates Chinese youth's access to Western Learning in larger scopes and in wider domains. This thesis intends to analyze how Chinese youth come into contact with Western Learning and how they understand it at the beginning of the20th century, exemplified by the case of Mao Tse-tung's contact of and influence under Western Learning.On the cognitive level, the translation of many works about Western Learning from late Qing Dynasty to the period of the Republic of China has become the major resources of knowledge. Through these resources, the youth of that time can achieve a perceptual cognition towards Western Learning. Whether the youth benefit from these resources, or they get stuck in them, they are able to contemplate upon their realm of knowledge and construct their own life through these resources. Mao, in his youth, has gained a brand-new comprehension towards the world through his reading of the books translated by K'ang Yu-wei, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and Yan Fu. When it comes to the personal selection of the western learning, this is closely connected with the experiences of each individual. In chronological order, this thesis studies the books of Western Learning that Mao has read in his youth, and explores his cognition of Western Learning and institutions and systems as well as his social activities, so as to reconstruct Mao's reading repertoire in his youth and analyze his understanding and selection of Western Learning. On the basis of the above analysis, the author draws a conclusion:In modern China the youth's understanding and selection of Western Learning depend, to a large extent, on the education that they have received, and their understanding and selection of the western learning tend to reflect obvious geographical characteristics in accordance with different localities from which the youth hail. For Mao, he has come into contact with and began to understand western learning owing to his half a year's working and reading in Hunan Library as well as his studying in Hunan First Normal School. Mao also tends to manifest his personal attitude towards knowledge and western learning from the perspective of traditional culture characteristic of Hunan and Hubei Province.On the level of the youth's understanding of the western learning, this thesis examines Mao's understanding of the thought of western democracy through Mao's The Annotations and Commentaries of Ethics Principle.Meanwhile, the author further probes into Mao's understanding of Marxism based upon the expounding of Mao's two works, On Practice and On Contradiction. As for Mao's understanding of the though of western democracy, the author holds that on account of his accumulation of knowledge of western learning in his early years, Mao could only gain a general comprehension of Ethics Principle to certain extent. On the other hand, however, due to the restriction of distinctive cultural tradition and the shortage of educational resources, Mao has to turn to the traditional culture and knowledge for help when he illuminates his understanding of Paulsen's Ethics Principle. In regard to Mao's understanding of Marxism, judging from the content of On Practice, though his understanding of Marxism can be said to be quite preliminary, this paper of Mao can nevertheless be regarded as his effort to issue a manifesto of reestablishing political ideology for communist party. In his another paper On Contradiction Mao expresses his new understanding of Marxism. This is a symbol that Mao begins to analyze the theories of Marxism and Leninism based upon his own understanding. This paper demonstrates the justifiability of the application of the standard that practice is superior to knowledge in the principles of communist party.All in all, in the trend of the dissemination of Western Learning, the youth in modern China are more likely to understand and choose Western Learning on the basis of individual personality and background. Their diversified expounding of western learning reflects the multitudes of outlooks of value in modern China.