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"Dr. Hu Shih added that the intellectual exchange between Great Britain and China was not as great as in the case of America and China, and that the Chinese Renaissance began in American Universities in 1916/17, when a number of the many Chinese students there carried on a controversy on the future of Chinese literature.
"Dr. W. A. Young's proposal seems to me to be a sound one, and I think that the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce might give it its support. I do not know that one is called upon to discuss details.
"It must always be remembered that there are a great num- ber of Universities in America, and that they vary considerably in standard. It is much easier for a Chinese boy or girl to get into a University in America, than it is to get into a University in England or Scotland. It is exceedingly difficult for a Chinese student to gain admission to a College either at Oxford or Cambridge. British Universities, from their point of view, are undoubtedly right in being rather exacting in their standard of admission, for it is a distinct risk to send an Oriental boy who has just left school, and is say between 17 and 19 years of age, to the entirely different environment of an English or American University. British administrators have always been acutely conscious of this risk, and this consciousness exercised considerable influence over the founders of this University.
British Influence in China.
"Much the best thing, it seems to me, for British influence in China, would be a steady stream of the best of Chinese youth to this University, whence the best students might pass on to special courses of advanced study in Universities in Great Britain. But an indispensable preliminary to this development is the recognition of this University as an Imperial asset. Obviously the Colony of Hong Kong cannot be expected to support such an institution as this University would have to be, if it were to play the role that I have imagined for it.
"I have suggested that the English-speaking Chinese lecturer or professor, whom Dr. Young envisages, will not be easy to find. The old Chinese scholar knows the classics, but he knows no English. An English speaking Chinese product of a Chinese school or University to whose credit some education in America or in England has been added, will know little about China and less about Chinese litera-
ture, history and economics. There is no institution in China of elsewhere in which Chinese can learn these things. Indeed the comparative study of things Chinese' has never been seriously attempted.
The Study of China and Things Chinese,
"If the British want to improve their position in China by making what might perhaps be called a cultural approach to the Chinese, the first and absolutely necessary step is the establishment of a British institution in China for the study of China and all things Chinese. The French have established such a school at Hanoi for the study of Indo-China. If the University of Hong Kong is useless from this point of view, then sweep it out of existence; but the need for an influential British school in China is obvious, and I don't see how such an institution could be established anywhere but in Hong Kong.
If the future relations between China and Britain constitute a problem vital, not merely to trade in China, but also to the peace of the World, then someone has to do some long, deep thinking. The problem is new, and there are no precedents."
The Committee of this Chamber wrote to Glasgow that it was in sympathy with the foregoing observations by the Vice- Chancellor, and was of opinion that Chinese students would derive most benefit from receiving a University education in their own environment, the best of them afterwards proceeding to Universities. abroad for post-graduate study. Subject to this qualification the Committee considered that the proposals put forward by Dr. Young were to be commended, although it must not be supposed that they would do a great deal towards solving the problem of the relations between Great Britain and China.
The Committee commended to special attention the Vice- Chancellor's remarks on the desirability for the establishment (or development) of a British institution in China for the study of China and all things Chinese. France and the United States had realised the necessity for this, and Great Britain ought also to take the question into serious consideration.
At a later stage, in reply to an enquiry from the Chairman of the Chamber (Mr. D. G. M. Bernard) as to what exactly he sought in the way of support from Home, the Vice-Chancellor wrote a further minute in which he returned to the question of the
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