CO 15129
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[April 3.]
SECTION 2.
MAY O
C.0. 15123
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
REGP 5 MAY 09
March 11.
195
SECTION 4.
[12627]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 3.)
(No. 76.) Sir,
Peking, February 17, 1909. I HAVE the honour to inclose, in translation, a recent Decree contemplating a return to the old methods of Chinese education, in view of the alleged failure of the modern system which was officially inaugurated in 1905.
The abolition of the time-honoured examination system was carried out in that year at the recommendation of Yuan Shih Kai, then Viceroy of Chihli, and it is somewhat significant that a proposal should be made to revive the old curriculum as soon as its chief opponent has been removed from office.
With the statement that the schools of the present day are worthless and stand in need of reorganization no disinterested person would disagree, but the fact that they have neglected purely Chinese studies in their pursuit of "Western learning" hardly secus to justify a return to the archaic system which was for so many years the only avenue to employment in the public service.
The Report of the Board of Education on this subject will be awaited with anxiety by the student class, to whom a new opening is now offered in an institution known as the "Frontier Service School," which has been founded for the purpose of educating young men for service in Mongolia, Chinese Turkestan, and Thibet. I have the honour to inclose a translation of the Notification respecting this school which was published in the "Official Gazette.”
I am sending a copy of this document to the Government of India.
[9342]
Sir,
No. 1.
Foreign Office to Messrs. Pauling and Co.
Foreign Office, March 11, 1909. I AM directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, on the subject of the proposed loan to the Chinese Govern- ment for the construction of the Canton-Hankow Railway.
I am to inform you that instructions are being sent to His Majesty's Minister at Peking to the effect that, if he is appealed to by the Chinese Government on the subject, he is authorized to state that the firm of Messrs. Pauling and Co. are of good standing, thoroughly reliable, and capable of carrying out satisfactorily any contracts which they may undertake. Sir E. Grey does not consider that it would be possible to instruct Sir J. Jordan to go beyond this in the matter of support to you as regards this particular railway, with reference to which a special arrangement was made, with the knowledge and under the auspices of His Majesty's Government and the French Government, between the British and Chinese Corporation and a French Syndicate.
A further communication will be addressed to you in reply to your letter of the 9th instant.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
F. A. CAMPBELL.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
(Translation.)
Inclosure 1 in No. 1,
Extract from the "Gazette" of February 8, 1909.
DECREE RESPECTING CHINESE EDUCATION.
THE Censor, Li Shuo Hua, having represented in a Memorial that the national literature is in danger of extinction and that Chinese scholarship is on the verge of perishing, and having proposed the temporary re-institution of annual and supple- mentary examinations for the Licentiate's degree, and the same Censor having further represented in an additional Memorial that the schools of the present day are worthless and stand in need of reorganization in order that an accumulation of abuses may be removed, it is hereby commanded that the Board of Education shall consider these representations and report thereon to the Throne.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Extract from the "Gazette" of February 12, 1909.
PROSPECTUS OF THE FRONTIER SERVICE SCHOOL" ("CHIH-PIEN HSÜEH TANG ") INSTITUTED UNDER IMPERIAL AUTHORITY. (Translation.)
THIS school is founded by the Mongol Princes and nobility, under authority from the Throne which was obtained by a Memorial presented by the Board of Dependencies, for the purpose of preparing candidates of promise for service in the frontier
dominions.
[2243 c-- 2]
[2193 7-4]
¡