CO129-531-10 Hong Kong University- encouragement of Chinese students to counteract American influence 30-5-1931 - 1-9-1931 — Page 93

13

order generally, the existence of which is recognised and proved

in the several departments of nature. It keeps alive that spirit

of awe, wonder and humility, qualities that are aroused as the

marvels of the universe are progressively revealed.

100

Moreover he roundly asserts that the Chinese character is

good, not because of, but in spite of the dulling and stupefying

effects which the drudgery of the former system imposed. The

greater number of Chinese youths who were exposed to the influences

of such learning never arrived at the point of understanding the

doctrines to which their arduous study was meant to lead them, and

therefore their character must have been established by other means.

What were these other means? As a general rule the children were

taught either within the bosom of the family or in a small group

in a school by a scholar specially engaged for this purpose. The

child's moral and intellectual development therefore must have

been moulded very largely by these two factors the home life and

the teacher's example, and very slightly if at all by the subject

of his read ing.

T

This is not a strong argument of course, for obviously whilo

it may be admitted that the youth derived very little practical

or moral benefit from his Confucius and Mencius, yet the same

could not be said of the teacher, who had proceeded much further

and no doubt with greater profit in the course, and who therefore

probably did embody and express within his life the ideals of his

maste_s. If then the child did derive his standards by imitation

rather then through personal study it would still be possible for

the old Classicists to claim that the influence of Confucius and

mencius was dominant in moulding the thought and behaviour of the

Chinese, and that a discontinuance of such schools of study would

imperil the moral structure of Chinc se society.

It is thought that the advocatos of this doctrine ought to

be satisfied if excerpts are given from the Confucian Classics,

P.T.0.