The
earliest to come were in the military sphere, to rehabilitate army
and navy. Then came professors of every sort, engaged by public
or private institutions to help on educational reform. Even in
agriculture, on which they have hitherto prided themselves, the
Chinese have put themselves under the teaching of the Japanese,
while with good reason they have taken them as teachers in forestry
also. Crowds of Japanese artificers in every handicraft find ready
employment in China. Nor will it be long before pupils and apprentices
in these home schools will assume the role of teacher, while Chinese
graduates returning from Japan will be welcomed as professors of a
higher grade. This Japanning process, as it is derisively styled, may
be somewhat superficial; but it has the recommendation of cheapness
and rapidity in comparison with depending on teachers from the
West. It has, moreover, the immense advantage of racial kinship and
example. Of course the few students who go to the fountain-heads
of science--in the West--must when they return home take rank as
China's leading teachers.
All this inclines one to conclude that a rapid transformation in
this ancient empire is to be counted on.
[Page 195]
The Chinese will soon do for themselves what they are now getting
the Japanese to do for them. Japanese ideas will be permanent; but
the direct agency of the Japanese people will certainly become
less conspicuous than it now is.
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