Chinese Graduates in Engineering.
Before I left for China in the summer of 1934, I gathered
at from conversions with Lord Lugard and Mr Swire that graduates
A
in engineering from Hong-Kong University were disinclined to
undertake manual work, such as is appropiate to their profess-
ion. This tendency in graduates who have passed through an
academic course is not confined to the Chinese or to the
engineering profession. It is however found in various Asiatic
races and it is consequently not correct to assume that grad-
uates who for lack of practical experience are unable to obtam
satisfactory appointments will realise the logic of the situ-
ation, and will set to work to make their hands and their
clothes as dirty as may be required. They are quite capable
of gazing intently at the logic of the situation and doing
nothing whatsoever.
A few men are being sent to England at the expense of
private firms or institutions for the necessary training, but
their number is insufficient to meet the needs of the profess-,
ion.
ed
↑ suggest that a more positive policy than that of con-
fronting young men with logic is called for, in view of their
persistent tendency to ignore it. They must be, if not compell-
at least strongly urged, to undergo the distasteful
manual training which an English or European graduate in engin-
collis accepts as a matter of course. The facilities might
take the form of scholarships or allowances paid from the
Indemnity Fund or by a Colonial Government or a Foundation,
while the pressure might perhaps be exerted by a joint declar- ation of British, Chinese, and possibly other engineering
other engineering firms
23