teen
suspension of Indemnity payments for a period of five years. Pay- ments on account of the Indem- nity should therefore have been. resumed at the beginning of 1923. When the british indemnity pay ments were suspended the total amount outstanding on account of principal and interest, was Hk. Tls. 660,924,550. Of this the British share would have been Tls. 74,354,012, or $111,531,018. This would have been payable in four- further instalments of $4,131,640, and nine instalments of $5,965,338, per annum. These are the sums which are to become available for purposes mutually beneficial to both countries, when the allocation of the remitted in- demnity is definitely determined. And it is noteworthy in this con- nection that the total budgeted expenditure of the Ministry of Education for 1922, the last year for which figures are available, amounted only to $3,529,981 This sum included the expenses of the Ministry itself, and grants to the Government University, Pe- king Law College, the Industrial and Agricultural Colleges, the High Normal College, the Peking Normal Schools (for men and women) the School of Fine Arts. and Students studying abroad, and subsidies to various other institu tions.
There is no doubt that Chinese education suffers from lack ot financial support from the Central and Provincial Governments. But it would be well to consider what will be the financial result of the remission of the American, British, Japanese and Russian shares of the Boxer Indemnity, together with the French share which will ultimately revert to China. When Indemnity payments were pended for five years in 1917, the total outstanding amount of the Indemnity as we have seen, was Hk. Tls. 660,924,550, or $991,- 386,825. Of this latter sum the approximate amounts owing res pectively to the Powers that bare agreed actually, or in principle, to remit their share were follows:
America
Great Britain
France
Japan
Russia
sus-
26
2
on foreign lines of $80,466,200. It is more than doubtful, in our opinion, whether China would de- I've any permanent benefit from the expenditure of this enormous sum upon the promotion of educa- tion, not on a uniform national basis, but with a view to further. ing American, British, French. Japanese, and Russian interests and influence. We propose, there- fore, in subsequent articles to put forward concrete proposals for the allocation of a portion of the British share of the Indemnity to education. projects other than which in our view would be more beneficial to the Chinese people.
II.
EXISTING chaos in China, and
uncertainty as to its duration, constitute serious obstacles to any project for assisting China, either in the development of education, or the construction of railways or Conservancy or other public works. It is futile, while the Central Gov- ernment lacks authority, even in its own capital, and most of the provinces are under the domina. tion of irresponsible militarists to put forward any scheme for the development of education on A national basis, Even if it were practicable, the funds rendered available by the remission of the British share of the Boxer Indem- nity, while excessive if used solely for the support of British educa- tional institutions, would prove quite inadequate for any scheme of a nation-wide character. educational system of a nation of over four hundred millions cannot possibly be reorganized by annual grants of four to six million dollars, however wisely and econ- It is, more- omically expended, over, open to very grave doubt whether China would benefit from a multiplication of the energies of rival systems of education. There
The
is already discernible among the Chinese a distinct reaction against attempts to expand foreign control over education in any form, which is now finding vent in an agitation While against Mission Schools.
$ 72,569,515 this agitation, like others that have 111,581,018 preceded it, may be due to the 152,485,723 prevailing unrest, and may pass 76,634,201 away if and when a stable Govern- 287,502,179
ment appears, it can hardly be expected that a people whose national consciousness must bence- forward be regarded as a serious factor will prefer education British lines, (or American or any other lines) to a system adapted
The total of these amounts 19
If this $700,722.636.
entire amount be expended upon educa- tion during the next twenty-three years it will involve an average annual expenditure upon education
on
to its own national peculiarities and requirements. Dr. Lavington Hart, who has had unrivalled ex- perience in educational work among the Chinese, quotes ene who is probably the ablest of b leaders in the new intellectual revival as authority for the state- ment that foreign educationists have made the mistake of spread- ing themselves out too thinly, and of attempting work which the Chinese would have done better themselves, such as teaching in elementary and low-grade schools. What they should do, says the Chinese whose views are quoted, is to concentrate on work of a higher kind, and seek to produce a last- ing effect by creating some object lesson in one or other of their in- stitutions. If this view he accept. ed as reasonable it would seem that such portion of the British Indemnity as is devoted to educa- tion should be used solely for the support of higher educational in- stitutions in which British indu- ence predominates. There are not many of such institutions. Those
at
present supported by the British Chambers of Commerce include Colleges at Hankow, Wen- chow, Ningpo, Taiyuanfu, Wu- chang, Hainminhsien, Amoy, Pe- king, Mukden, Shanghai, Chung king, Kaifeng, Canton, Chuan- how, Swatow, Foochow and Tien- tsin. All, or nearly all of these institutions are in need of addi tional capital for extension and equipment, The claims of Heng- kong University and of Medical Missions must also be borne in mind, in arriving even at an arbitrary estimate of what might usefully be spent upon education, under British auspices.
Before coming to actual figures it is necessary briefly to discuss the objects to which the remitted Indemnity might usefully be applied in addition to education. We do not think that British public opinion either at home or in the Far East would favour any projects put forward solely OT mainly for the purpose of further ing British political or commer- cial interests. We shall act, fur ther, on the assumption that any project other than the promotion of education, that may be put for- ward, ought to be self-supporting. so that the benefits of the gift of the British taxpayer to China may not be restricted to the present generation. Finally, it is desit- able, to avoid jealousy. that any scheme not of an educational char-
8
acter should benefit as wide D area, and as large a population, as possible.
We intend in our next article to put forward a definite scheme for:
(a) A substantial capital grant, and annual subsidies, to education. (b) The completion of the Can. ton-Hankow Railway.
(e) An expenditure of $25,000,- 000 on Chihli River Conservancy.
Before going into financial de- tails, however, it may be well to make a few observations on certain objections which will be raised, in principle, to the railway project, and also to explain why we have modified our original proposal of some months back for the expen- diture of the entire British share of the Indenuity on education, Hankow Railway. and the completion of the Canton- It will be urged, in opposition to the rail- way project, that now, of all times, is the worst possible moment to advocate further railway construe- tion in China. We see, to-day, the appalling results of continued military interference, and as long as the Treaty Powers are unable, or unwilling, to protect, or to compel the restoration to civil control of, the railways, it seems useless to provide further lines for military exploitation. The point
is well taken. But we must not, wo hope, assume that China for the next twenty years will remain the sport of militarist cliques. If that is to be her fate it would be better to allow the entire Indem- nity fund to accumulate until conditions in China warrant its expenditure upon objects mutual- ly beneficial to China and Great Britain. It would, in our opinion, he just as wasteful to embark upon an ambitious educational
ET- gramme under existing conditions, AS to undertake fresh railway construction; it is impossible to be really helpful to a country so distracted and disunited as China is to-day. The further objection will be raised that the completion of the railway is a selfish project, designed to promote the interests of British manufacturers under the guise of assisting China, careful analysis this objection will prove baseless. The sum it is sug- gested to earmark for the comple tion of the Canton-Harkow Rail- way is forty-five million dollars. Reference to existing Government Railway statistics will show that
304
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.