Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 357 (Color Image)

0357	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

THE CHINESE STUDENT 273

Unfortunately, from my own experience, by far

the greater number of foreign teachers I have met,

in native or foreign-run schools and universities,

have proved to be weak. They are handicapped

by being generally poor and dependent on their

salaries from Chinese officials or foreign societies.

If they put up a fight to a finish in a Chinese-run

institution they will probably be forced to give

up their jobs, whilst in the foreign-run institution

there is the danger of the students going out in a

body, with the onus to the teachers of being made

responsible for the collapse of the school.

The Chinese are past - masters in the art of

asserting themselves by combination, and, as a

result of successful strikes and threats in the

past, they have gradually got to realise their own

strength and the weakness of Chinese officials

and foreign teachers in the face of organised

opposition, the only thought of the latter being

to check the evil by temporising and concessions.

The Chinese student is the result of the zeal

of the foreigner for bringing the Chinese up to

modern requirements, and, I think, the very large

bulk of foreigners now regrets his arrival.

It is curious how the Chinese mind is diverted

into the wrong channels. China rose to its highest

prosperity under the Han dynasty, roughly from

200 B.c. to A.D. 200 ; they themselves look upon

this as their most glorious epoch, and even to

this day speak of themselves as the men of Han.

Since then they have gradually gone downhill

except for brief flashes of advancement, such as

the glorious reigns of the great Manchu Emperors,

K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien-lung.

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