Chinese Vocational Educationsociety Craft And Design Education Research (1917-1937),

The period of the Republic of China was an important stage of germination anddevelopment of the chinese design education, while the design educations of occupation,professional art, normal schools and engineering constituted the overall pattern of exploration ofdesign education in that period together. In the early exploration of the occupational designeducation in the Republic of China, the Chinese Occupational Education Association founded byHuang Yanpei had a very representative and typical significance.Founded in1917in Shanghai, theChinese Occupational Education Association was a social group sponsored by our country to carryout occupational education. By setting the “preparation for the development of individualcharacter, making a living, serving the society, and improving productivity for the country and theworld” as its purposes of occupational education, it had been committed to study and publicize thetheory of occupational education, and made great contribution for the undertaking of the Chineseoccupational education. Its social need-oriented specialty and curriculums as well as its teachingmode of using hands and brains together made a considerable breakthrough, and had a typicalsignificance and great influence for the development of the education of crafts and design at thattime. Through the social investigation and studying abroad, the Chinese Occupational EducationAssociation opened the subjects of gold engineering, carpenter, enamel and button based on thesocial needs, and established internship and production factories, encouraging its students tostrengthen practical ability while studying theoretical knowledge. Though the ChineseOccupational Education Association had no definite idea and systematic frame of design educationat the time, its curriculum arrangements involved much of design education, with crafts containingdesign and design containing crafts, which could be referred to as the education of crafts anddesign as a whole.The thesis further demonstrated the characteristics of the education of crafts and design of theChinese Occupational Education Association, and stressed its importance in the development ofthe occupational education, by analyzing the specialty-setting principles, training objectives,teaching modes, course contents, curriculums, school system and teaching management.Meanwhile, during this period of prosperity of education of the crafts and design, the author hopesthat it can provide a reference for the development of the modern crafts and design by reflectingon the experiences and limitations of the Chinese Occupational Education Association.