Liu Zhanen’s Educational Theory and Hujiang University’s Sinicization of Education in the 1930s

By analyzing the educational theory of Liu Zhanen(劉湛恩), the President of Hujiang(滬江) University, this paper aims to uncover significant insights into how Hujiang University addressed the debate on the Sinicization of Education, which became a prominent issue in the education sector during the 1930s. The analysis is summarized as follows.BR First, he opposed the Europeanization of education recommended by the League of Nations and did not consider the Americanization of education to be appropriate. He seemed to have rejected both the Europeanization and the Americanization of education and proposed a third approach towards the Sinicization of education. However, judging from the examples of scientific education experiments he presented, he appears to have been quite influenced by the American model.BR Secondly, his focus on the Sinicization of Education was on vocational education and civic education, with a particular emphasis on vocational education. His vocational education differed from the employment education provided by the Nationalist government and Chen Guofu(陳果夫). Influenced by John Dewey's perspective on vocational education, he viewed a job as a means of self-realization for individuals, symbolizing their participation in society and contribution to its development.BR Third, his theory of vocational education was logically connected to his theory of civic education. He considered the formation of citizens to be an important and urgent national task in China. He believed that educating citizens in political knowledge and literacy was not sufficient; instead, he argued that autonomous and independent individuals must fundamentally emerge.BR Fourth, he responded to the discussion on the Sinicization of Education in the 1930s as an extension of the vocational education movement and the civic education movement that he had been involved in as an executive of the YMCA since returning from the United States in September 1922. He specifically explored the potential for Sinicization of education in vocational education. The educational reform attempted by the president of Hujiang University after taking office should be understood as a promotion aimed at implementing the Sinicization of Education based on his theory of vocational education.