298
It has about 250 students who are divided among the various faculties Medicine, Science, Arts and Agriculture. There is a school Dentistry which is an outstanding feature of the University work, being excellently equipped and splendidly organised. There are two untrained men on the staff one is a coolie who earns eleven dollars per month. He is in the anatomy department and has a perfect genius for assembling bones together after proper treatment and building up the skeleton of the animal to which the bones belong. There is another lowly-paid man who is able to model heads and faces which illustrate the diseas es of the jaw. There are dozens of examples of his work on the shelves
in the dental school.
The department of Agriculture is building up a reputation for itself by improving the quality of the local fruit, by crossing it with foreign varieties. The breed of cattle too is being improved by the introduction of new strains.
Last summer the University sent out a scientific expedition to the tribes of people to collect data and statistics with regard to diseases among them and their physical condition. The medical work is an important feature of the University. There are two modern hospitals, one for women and one for men in Chengtu, and a third administered by an American mission on an independent basis. The students have therefore splendid opportunities of becoming proficient in the science and art of medicine for the department is very much alive and most anxious to train students who will bring credit to the institution after they have gone into practice. Dr. H. Anderson said he was anxious to establish a liaison with Hong Kong University, so that his students could come to Hong Kong and do such medical work as was not possible in Chengtu owing to absence of equipment or facilities.
A pleasing feature in this sphere of University work was the cooperation and the cordial relations which existed between the provincial University in the city and the Union University. Some of the foreign staff gave assistance in the matter of English. The provincial university was accommodated in Chinese buildings surrounding a series of courtyards. We were received by the Dean of the Faculty of Law which in every Chinese University forms the largest faculty. One recent report goes so far as to say that 36 per cent of the undergraduates are taking a law course, but the Education Year Book of 1932 gives the percentage as 18. The standard in this university was probably not high. There were 1800 students, a number that could hardly be provided by the Middle Schools available without lowering the standard of admission. An attractive feature about this University to me personally was the presence of three of my former students on the staff. Two were engaged in the departments of Education and English respectively, and the third was in charge of a large Middle School.
The general impression one gathers from a survey of the work that is going on in the Universities of China is the titanic effort that is being put forward to get into line with Western thought and the character of the intellectual conflict which lies behind the new movement. It would appear, at first sight, that the transition of thought from the study of man's behaviour, which has been the province of the Chinese philosopher, to that of nature would be easy and logical. This, however, is not necessarily true for the humane philosopher in China proceeds on the deductive principle to the establishment of certain doctrines which become fixed. The acceptance of the Confucian code was the result, after much trial and examination of many systems. It is evolved from the general body of thought in China, and conforms therefore to the wishes of the people. Having been accepted and established, it has moulded the thought of succeeding generations. Its principles cannot easily be eradicated, for the rigid discipline of its teaching has determined the manners, customs and behaviour of hundreds of generations. It has in the past won
7.