fame. The examinations were open to everyone. Dynasties changed, but the examination system was maintained. In a way, this may have been one of the reasons for the continuity of the Chinese history and language. Education on classical lines in China was as old as Chinese history, but the development of modern education is comparatively recent.

As a result of military defeat in the hands of the Western powers at the end of the nineteenth century, China began to wonder whether there was something wrong with her educational system, particularly the examination system. This old system was discontinued in 1905 and the modern educational system modeled after the American system was introduced. Chinese students educated abroad and foreign missionaries in China made further efforts to strengthen the new educational system. At the same time, the Chinese Government took an active part in the field of education. With the advent of the Republic in 1912, the educational system of China underwent some fundamental revisions, and for another decade continued to adjust itself to the existing problems in China.

The organization of a national authority of educational administration was for the first time provided in the law on the organization of the Ministry of Education in the first year of the Republic, 1912.1 The organization of the Ministry of Education as it stands today is largely based on a combination of revised Organic Laws enacted and amended since 1912.

When the National Government of China established itself in Formosa in December 1949, the political system that was put into operation followed generally the pattern that had been evolved on the mainland. For purposes of local administration, the island has now been reorganized into five independent municipalities and 16 counties (hsien). The councils of these 21 units of local administration are to be elected by secret ballot. These councils are in turn to elect the members of the Provincial Assembly.

In the field of education, the task of the Provincial Government has been to convert a Japanese system of education with a curriculum conducted in the Japanese language into a Chinese system. It was necessary to replace the Japanese teaching staffs largely with instructors from the mainland, for there were Taiwanese who customarily used the dialects of south China as their spoken medium and were uncapable of using standard Chinese (Mandarin) as a literary medium. However, the officials did not have to start entirely from scratch, since elementary education under Japanese rule had been almost universal and the Japanese written language was based on

1 Wang Shih-Chien, Minister of Education. Education in China, Report from the Chinese Year Book, 1936-37.

6

5

CHART 1

Organization of elementary, secondary, and higher education in Taiwan

Elementary

4

4

Chinese characters. Therefore, the Taiwanese students were at the outset familiar with the Chinese ideographs, though they pronounced them differently. Authorities faced another important problem in reorienting students from an essentially Japanese to a Chinese point of view.2

* Ballantine, Joseph W. Formosa, a problem for United States foreign policy. Washington, D. C The Brookings Institution, 1952.

Primary or Elementary Education

Education is free in all elementary schools and is made compulsory for children of school age (6 to 12). In elementary schools, textbooks are supplied by the Government. In 1954, 90.83 percent of the children of elementary school age attended school, as compared to 87.75 percent in the fall semester of 1953.3

The official thought and policy concerning the present-day Chinese education may be found in Chapter II, Article 21; and Chapter XIII, Section 5, Articles 158-169 of the Constitution of the Republic of China, adopted by the National Assembly on December 25, 1946, and promulgated the following year. To any study of contemporary China, it would be very important to have an idea of what this Constitution provides for the education of the people. The articles which deal exclusively with education are therefore quoted here:

CHAPTER II. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF PEOPLE

Article 21. The people shall have the right as well as the obligation to receive public education.

CHAPTER XIII. FUNDAMENTAL NATIONAL POLICIES

Section 5. EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Article 158. The nation's educational and cultural services shall have as their aim the development among the citizens of national characteristics, democratic spirit, traditional morality, good physique, scientific knowledge, and the ability to earn a living.

Article 159. All citizens shall have an equal opportunity to receive education.

Article 160. All children of school age, to wit, those from 6 to 12 years old, shall receive free primary education. Those from poor families shall be supplied with textbooks at the expense of the Government.

All citizens above school age who have not received primary education shall receive such education free of charge and shall likewise be supplied with textbooks at the expense of the Government.

Article 161. The National, provincial, and local governments shall create scholarships to assist students of good scholastic standing and of exemplary conduct who lack the means to continue their school education.

Article 162. All public and private educational and cultural institutions in the country shall, in accordance with law, be subject to State supervision. Article 163. The State shall pay due attention to the balanced development of education in different regions and shall promote social education in order to raise the cultural standard of the citizens in general. The National Treasury shall give cash grants to border regions and economically poor areas to help them meet their educational and cultural expenses. The Central Government itself may undertake the more important educational and cultural enterprises in such regions or give them financial assistance.

3 Official press release, "Formosa in 1954.” Chinese Embassy, Washington, D. C.

Article 164. Expenditures for educational programs, scientific studies, and cultural services shall be, in respect of the Central Government, not less than 15 percent of the total national budget; in respect of the provinces, not less than 25 percent of the total provincial budget; and in respect to the municipalities or hsien, not less than 35 percent of the total municipal or hsien budget. Educational and cultural foundations established in accordance with the law shall, together with their property, be protected.

Article 165. The State shall safeguard the livelihood of those who work in the fields of education, sciences, and art, and shall, in accordance with the development of the national economy, increase their remuneration from time to time.

Article 166. The State shall encourage scientific discoveries and inventions.

Article 167.

The State shall give encouragement or subsidies to the following enterprises or individuals:

(1) Private educational enterprises in the country which have a good record;

(2) Chinese educational enterprises abroad which have a good record; (3) Persons who have made discoveries or inventions in the fields of learning and technology;

(4) Persons who have rendered long and meritorious service to the cause of education.

Article 169. The State shall positively undertake and foster the development of education, cultural services, . . . for the benefit of racial groups in the border regions.

Because of the increasing demand for preschool education in recent years, the Ministry of Education is establishing kindergartens or nursery-infant schools as part of the elementary school system. A study of the curriculum, organization, and equipment of kindergartens is now underway by the Educational Research Council. Steps are being taken to provide training for nursery teachers.

Taiwan Province is divided into 1,248 school districts, in accordance with the geographical environment and the density of population. According to the new policy, children 6 years of age should enroll in the school in their neighborhood.

The number of children attending school in Taiwan and Kinmen in 1954 was 1,147,185 of whom 1,139,960 are in Taiwan. The following table shows the number of schools and school children (including Penghu and Kinmen) in 1953 and 1954.

TABLE 1.-Number of children of school age attending schools and number of elementary

1953 1954

Academic year

schools 1

1 Statistics in the table were released by Chang Chi-Yun, Minister of Education. "Education in Free China" address delivered Oct. 21, 1954. Published by China Culture Publishing Foundation, Taipei, 1954

The Educational Research Council which has 40 members started in September 1954 and has been organized for the purpose of studying general and special educational problems in Taiwan.

The capital city of Taipei, where in 1953 the number of children attending school constituted 98 percent of all the children of school age, had the highest attendance record, while Penghu, with a ratio of 79 percent, had the lowest. The average attendance for the whole of Taiwan is 89 percent. An association similar in function to that of the Parent-Teacher Association and known as "Mother-Sister Association" has been started. It is the hope of the Ministry that the Association will result in securing a strong link between home and school and that the parents will become conscious of the responsibilities they share with the teachers.

Program of Studies in Elementary Schools

The aims of elementary education are to emphasize the cultivation of citizenship, to develop healthy habits, and to acquire knowledge and skill for making a living. The typical elementary school in China offers a 6-year program, the first 4 years of which constitute the lower school, the last 2, the higher school. (See chart organization of elementary education.) The subjects offered and the time allotted for each course are given in tables 2 and 3.

There has been a slight revision in the program of studies in the elementary schools since 1949, when the National Government moved to Taiwan. (See table 2.) Table 3 gives the courses offered and the time allowed for each course in the elementary schools on the mainland from 1942 to the time of the Communist occupation. The teaching periods vary from 30 to 60 minutes in length. The total teaching and learning periods for each grade are given in both tables as averages. It is understood that each school may adjust its time to community needs by adding to or subtracting from the total teaching and learning periods within a range of something like 90 minutes.

TABLE 2.-Elementary school curriculum (revised)