Sessional_Paper_1904 — Page 786

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The works studied in the Chinese School appear to have been selected and graduated very judiciously. In Class I, the lowest, where the boys have studied Chinese from one to two years, the meaning of words, and reading, writing and the explanation of simple sentences, together with short stories such as "Falling down a well" or "The worship of Confucius," are taught.

In the top Class, where the boys have all studied, from 5 to 6 years, and many of them for longer, selections from the Classics were read and explained. We venture to suggest that some of these works might be recommended attention of Cadets studying the language.

to the

52. Class I is divided into three Divisions and contains roughly 200 boys. The boys selected read well from the volume of the Mung Hok Tuk Pun allotted to them, and were all able to explain in colloquial Chinese the meaning of what they had read. They also wrote on their slates sentences from this book: the writing was good on the whole, though were occasionally used, e... Z for

for A letter was also written on the Tsing Ming Festival, or as au alternative on the Dragon Boats, and this was well done.

53. Class II.-Here the boys have studied for 3 or 4 years, and their reading and writing were very good. The top boy read at sight and explained an unseen passage from the Liu Chai. A short passage was set as dictation, which was written correctly with the brush by nearly all the boys. The Master, Mr. Họ FUNG-CHEUNG, has evidently taught his Class most carefully.

They read

54. Class III.—The boys have studied from four to seven years. from a more advanced volume of the Mung Hok Tuk Pun. The writing in this Class was particularly neat.

55. Class IV seemed to have read Chinese for about the same average time as the boys in Class III, but the subjects offered were more advanced. The top boy in this Class, FUNG HON-PING, was good. Passages from the Tso Chin were read and explained.

56. Class V.-The Class read passages from the Classics, and appears to have studied Chinese for a minimum of 6 years. The writing from dictation was excellent, and no mistake was made by any of the 16 boys who did this exercise. We also gave unseen passages from the Liu Chai and from the works of the philosopher LIT to be read and explained; in every case the passage was under- stood, and a word-for-word translation into Colloquial Chinese was given. The Liu Chai is by no means easy. It is a very hopeful sign that so many boys were

able to understand and explain this book.

57. In the Chinese Side and in the corresponding Lower and Preparatory Schools, translations from Chinese into English and vice versâ are not attempted, rightly so in our opinion. The Written Language is quite difficult enough to learn, without harrassing boys, who are only beginners, by asking them to tran- slate it into English, of which they know still less. To require a boy in the Lower School to translate from Chinese into English is much the same thing as to ask an English School boy to translate from Latin into French. Translation is an art in itself and presupposes a good knowledge of two languages. As such it is, we hold, wisely confined to the Upper School.

58. We have been asked to report on the work done by the Vernacular Masters in charge of these Classes. It is a pleasure to be able to report most favourably. They have evidently taken great pains with their work ; and we con- sider the prospects of the Chinese Side to be most promising.

59. The Upper School (Classes I, II & III).—These Classes were examine in Chinese by means of an unseen paper, selected from one of the Readers no use in the Chinese Side of the Lower School. The passages set presented difficulties, though they contained a few words that are somewhat co Class I the papers were attempted by 33 boys, and the resu

follows: 2 were good, 5 were fair, 11 though poor meaning, and 15 were worthless. We attach tw

* Not

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