Journal paper

Issue No.	No. 72
Title	Japanese Public Opinion on Chinese Education Reform: As Seen through The Shuntian Times
Author	Tong-yi Chou
Page	189-230
Abstract	By examining The Shuntian Times, a Japanese-funded newspaper published in China, this paper attempts to describe Japanese public opinion on educational reform in China during the late Qing dynasty. At the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-5), Japan began sharing its own experiences in westernization with the Qing dynasty government, thus providing it with assistance in carrying out social reform. This paper argues that Japan helped China not only with the establishment of new institutions, but, perhaps more importantly, with the creation of new ways of thinking. In trying to determine how the Japanese public felt about China during the end of the Qing dynasty, two main sources are available to us: diaries and reports written by Japanese scholars who had lived in China, and educational publications in China that were funded by Japan. As the former source has been well explored, this paper focuses on the latter, with particular attention paid to Lun-shuo, a daily column in The Shuntian Times. The material is divided into six main categories: (i) general suggestions for educational reform in China; (ii) descriptions of Japanese links with Confucianism; (iii) discussions about the importance of moral education; (iv) advice on abolishing the Imperial Examination Systems; (v) women’s education; and (vi) primary education reform.
Keyword	Shuntian Times ; education ; westernization ; public opinion ; China-Japan relations ; late Qing
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