Journal paper

Issue No.	No. 60
Title	Reforms to The Constitution of Imperial Schools in Late Qing
Author	Chou, Tong-yi
Page	79-118
Abstract	In 1904, the Qing government issued The Constitution of Imperial Schools (zou ding xue tang zang cheng), which effectively set up China’s first modern educational system. Soon afterwards, however, it became clear that the new system had fallen short of expectations, and there were calls from the public for the government to reduce the excessively long study hours and the amount of time that students were required to devote to the study of the traditional Confucian classics. 　　Thus in 1909 a revised system was put in place. In primary schools (初等小學堂), students were now required to spend less time on Confucian texts. To make up for the lack of exposure to traditional Chinese texts, students were required to spend more hours studying the Chinese language. 　　Further adjustments were made in 1910. The curriculum of both primary schools and secondary schools was further simplified. In addition, courses of a more practical nature were introduced. The government hoped that by reducing the number of subjects students were required to study, it would be able to solve the problem of a shortage of qualified teachers.
Keyword	The Constitution of Imperial Schools, Zou Ding Senior Elementary School System, Zou Ding Junior Elementary School System, the Study of Confucian Classics, the Study of Chinese, Revisions
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