The Research On The Hubei Military Academy Of The Late Qing Dynasty

Modern China’s modernization of education began with the establishment of Tongwenguan and military academy. That is, the establishment of Tongwenguan made liberal education gradually towards modernization, while the establishment of the military academy began the process of the modernization of China’s military education. The Hubei Military Academy founded by Zhang Zhidong, which was considered one of the best among the many military academies in the late Qing dynasty, had a significant influence on the history of the modernization of China’s military education. Meanwhile, it had different levels of effects on the reform of Martial Art Examination System and even on the political situation of the late Qing Dynasty.This article mainly and specifically investigates the founded backgroud, organization, educational philosophy and rewards and penalties system for teachers’ teaching and students’learning of the Hubei Military Academy from the aspects of school profile of the Hubei Military Academy, military academies and the reform of Martial Art Examination System, along with the Hubei Military Academy and the modernization of China’s military education, using such research method as combining grasping the whole picture macroscopically and analysing concrete examples microscopically. And this article also attempts to explore the incurred impacts of the Hubei Military Academy at particular historical period.This article is mainly divided into four parts:The first part mainly elaborates the school profile of the Hubei Military Academy. It attempts to explain the founded background of the Hubei Military Academy, its school scale, organization building, and so on. This article also explains the Hubei Military Academy’s philosophy of education and characteristics of its educational system of trainees, and shows the general situation of its construction.The second part mainly analyses the rewards and penalties for students’learning and teachers’teaching of the Hubei Military Academy and their recommendation. In this article, through the analysis of recommendation system and strict rewards and penalties system implemented by the Hubei Military Academy, we realize Zhang Zhidong’s determination to train new military personnel by founding the Hubei Military Academy. This article also explores the reform of late Qing’s recommendation system to a certain degree.The third part mainly elaborates the relationship between military academy and late Qing’s reform of Martial Art Examination System. By analyzing late Qing’s reform of Martial Art Examination System and government bureaucrats’attitudes towards it and combining the analysis of the building scale of military academies in different provinces from1895to1905, this article reveals the dialectical relationship between the military academy and the reform of Martial Art Examination System.The fourth part mainly elaborates the influence of the Hubei Military Academy on the military and political situation of the late Qing Dynasty. By analyzing the role that the Hubei Military Academy played in training late Qing’s New Army and strengthening the cultural education of soldiers, this article reveals the dual effect of the Hubei Military Academy. That is, on the one hand, it promoted the process of the modernization of China’s military education and changed the custom of putting mental training above physical training in traditional China to some extent. But on the other hand, it accelerated the process of the collapse of Qing Dynasty and feudal monarchy in China.