What they did in
1919, when Versailles awarded Shangtung to Japan, is well told by Mr.
Tyau in his chapter on "The Student Movement." And what they did was not
merely political. To quote Mr. Tyau (p. 146):--
Having aroused the nation, prevented the signature of the
Versailles Treaty and assisted the merchants to enforce the
Japanese boycott, the students then directed their energies to
the enlightenment of their less educated brothers and sisters.
For instance, by issuing publications, by popular lectures
showing them the real situation, internally as well as
externally; but especially by establishing free schools and
maintaining them out of their own funds. No praise can be too
high for such self-sacrifice, for the students generally also
teach in these schools. The scheme is endorsed everywhere with
the greatest enthusiasm, and in Peking alone it is estimated that
fifty thousand children are benefited by such education.
One thing which came as a surprise to me was to find that, as regards
modern education under Chinese control, there is complete equality
between men and women. The position of women in Peking Government
University is better than at Cambridge. Women are admitted to
examinations and degrees, and there are women teachers in the
university. The Girls' Higher Normal School in Peking, where prospective
women teachers are taught, is a most excellent and progressive
institution, and the spirit of free inquiry among the girls would
horrify most British head mistresses.
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