晚清政府的南洋“劝学”与华侨兴学——槟榔屿、马来联邦、荷属东印度和新加坡的案例阐析

Schooling Supervision by the Late Qing Authorities in Southeast Asia and Schooling Initiation by the Overseas Chinese:In the Case of Pinang,Federated Malay States,Dutch East Indies and Singapore

清王朝的最后几年,为了争夺海外华侨,曾派员到东南亚的槟榔屿、马来联邦、荷属东印度(爪哇)和新加坡进行“劝学”,褒彰出钱、出力支持当地华侨教育事业的侨商、校董和教师等。这几地的华侨顺应清政府的“劝学”,继续创办新的学校,华侨学校数量在清王朝结束前大幅增加。与此同时,一些地方的华侨与时俱进,在学校里开设了若干适应华侨在当地生存发展需要的实用性课目。新加坡等地更对儒学内容进行创新,开办华侨女子教育。各地的华侨教育实践远远超出了清政府的“劝学”目标。清政府的“劝学”,虽然在一定程度上增进了华侨的办学热情,但被“劝学”地区华侨教育事业的跃进主要建立在一代代华侨长期兴教办学、弘扬中华文化的基础上,同时与当地华商的物质支持密不可分,也得益于中国国内先后南来的知识分子的助力。东南亚华侨在顺应“劝学”的同时又努力扩展实用性教育内容,其中所表现出来的与时俱进的智慧和勇气,在东南亚华侨教育史上写下了夺目的篇章。

In the last few years of the Qing Dynasty,the Government sent officials to Pinang,Malay Federated States,Dutch East Indies(Java)and Singapore for supervising schooling and commending the Chinese Merchants who gave the financial support to the Chinese education,the directors of school board and school teachers in order to win over the overseas Chinese.The local overseas Chinese wherefore complied with the Qing’s call by setting up more new schools,thus the total number of Chinese schools had increased greatly before the Qing Dynasty withered away.In the meantime,the overseas Chinese went with the current situation by offering some practical courses in schools for the existence and development of local overseas Chinese.A renovation of Confucianism was even made and the Chinese women education was even opened in Singapore.The practice of Chinese education mentioned went forward beyond the goal of“Schooling Supervision”made by the Qing Authority.Though the Qing’s requirement of“Schooling Supervision”raised the overseas Chinese enthusiasm of running schools to a certain extent,the great progress of the Chinese education cause in the places as above-mentioned was mainly initiated on the basis of running schools and carrying forward the Chinese culture through overseas Chinese generation by generation,and of the direct material support from the Chinese merchants and also of the benefit from the domestic intellectuals who came from China early or late.Meanwhile,the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia made efforts to promote the applied education when complied with the Qing’s call of“Schooling Supervision”,in which,their wisdom and courage of going forward with the time are the illustrious chapter in the history of the overseas Chinese education in Southeast Asia.