A Study Of The Influence Of Missionary Schools On Modern Chinese Study Abroad Education (1839-1952)

The study abroad education in modern China originated in missionary schools.The Morrison School was established in Macau in 1839.It was the first missionary school in western China to spread Western learning.In 1847,the principal Brown of the school led three Chinese students,Rong Hong,Huang Sheng,and Huang Kuan to the United States,triggering a halfcentury of studying abroad.Since then,several modern study abroad movements in China have been closely linked to missionaries or mission schools.The spread of western studies to the east,and missionaries coming to China opened the prelude to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.Under the auspices of the unequal treaty,church schools were able to take root in China,and missionaries established a group of church primary schools,secondary schools,and women's schools that were independent of the Chinese education system.At the same time,Chinese government-run new schools have also been established,but suffering from the shortage of new teachers,Western missionaries have been reused,participated in the teaching and management of new schools,and promoted the development of the modern Chinese government-sponsored study abroad movement.In addition,the establishment of women's schools in churches has impacted traditional Chinese education.With the support of missionaries,Chinese women have also begun to go abroad to study,setting a precedent for women to study abroad.At the end of the 19 th century,the missionaries shifted their goals to the field of higher education in an attempt to control the Chinese elite.Therefore,a number of missionary universities were established and registered overseas to obtain the degree granting authority,which greatly increased the prestige of missionary universities and provided education for overseas students.Laid a good foundation.One of the most influential church universities during the Republic of China is Shanghai St.John's University.Around the 1920 s was a turning point in the development of missionary universities.Challenged by the National University,the devastation of war,the awakening of the Chinese people's national consciousness,the ecclesiastical school was swayed by wind and rain,and gradually declined.At the same time,study abroad education is also a setback.In 1952,as a pioneer camp of Western colonial aggression,missionary schools were banned,merged into public schools,and missionary schools disappeared in mainland China.Missionary schools have opened a precedent for studying abroad in modern China and participated in the development of the study abroad education in modern China.They have changed people's attitudes toward missionary schools and overseas education and promoted the modernization of Chinese education.As the beneficiaries of the education abroad,these intellectuals who had been baptized by the European wind and the beautiful rain promoted the development of missionary schools and overseas education in the early stage,and later became anti-aggression fighters and became gravediggers in the missionary school.Although the ecclesiastical school has disappeared,its influence in modern Chinese education abroad cannot be ignored.