University Spirit

Author: Yang Dongping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The development of the spirit of Chinese universities and the formation of their institutional systems have contexts and paths that are quite different from those in Western countries. On one hand, China's higher education originated from the late Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement, driven by practical utilitarian goals such as military and industrial development and primarily promoted by the government, with a strong background of technologicalism and instrumentalism. In the 1930s, it also faced urgent pressure from the war of resistance for survival. On the other hand, with changes in ideology, the educational spirit of liberalism was gradually squeezed out by nationalism and authoritarianism.