A Comparative Approach to the Cultural Dynamics of Sino-Western Educational Co-operation

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine comparatively three distinctive exemplars of Sino-Western educational co-operation: Tongji University as an expression of Sino-German educational interaction, Qinghua University with its roots in Sino-American relations, and the lesser-known Zhongfa University, an important institution of French-Chinese scholarly collaboration in the pre-Liberation period. The present open-door climate has given rise to contemporary projects of educational cooperation between China and each of these countries, as well as many other western countries, which might be illumined by some reflection on an earlier period. It will be of interest, therefore, to investigate the particular combination of scholarly values or ethos created by each institution and its relevance to the wider problematic of the modernization of Chinese scholarly culture.