Following the defeat of the Chinese empire in the Opium Wars and numerous military humiliations inflicted by western powers, by the late 19th century, the government of Late Qing dynasty initiated a series of reforms in an attempt to revitalize China. Many saw education as the critical part of this reform.

From then on, the imperial civil service examination was abolished and a new education system was set up. Western-style schools, from elementary to higher education, were established and western educational theories, practices and textbooks were introduced. Education on foreign language, science and technology was eagerly sought out. As the modern form of the school system and curricula spread across China, writing and publishing of new-style textbooks for elementary education flourished all over the country.

Traditional textbooks for Chinese elementary students were based on core value and belief systems in Confucianism, such as Three Character Classic (三字經), One Hundred Family Names (百家姓)， Thousand-Character Writing (千字文），Wisdom in Chinese Proverbs （增廣賢文）and Four Books and the Five Classics (四書五經). New textbooks were designed to suit the learning habits of elementary students and the content expanded into science, technology, nature, world knowledge, modern concepts of ethics, etc. Displayed here are just a few samples of these new style textbooks for elementary school students at the end of 19th and early 20 century, selected from the Chinese collection at East Asia library.

養蒙正軌，英國秀耀春，六合汪振聲同譯，上海：江南織造局，[1875-1909]
Xiu Yaochun (秀耀春, Francis Huberty James, 1851-1900), missionary from Britain, taught in the Imperial University, Peking (京师大学堂). This book is a translation from an unknown English source on teaching methods for elementary students.



最新國文教科書，蔣維喬, 莊俞編纂，上海 : 商務印書館, 光緖30年[1904] Weiqiao Jiang （蔣維喬，1873-1958，influential educator and philosopher. This book covers a wide range of subjects, with lovely pictures and interesting text, quickly became a favorite textbook for elementary school children. It was the first complete set of standardized textbooks in China and had a great impact on Chinese education. The publisher of the book, the Commercial Press (商務印書館), became a major player in this revolutionary educational reform.



澄衷蒙學堂字課圖說，劉樹屏编，[蘇州?]： 澄衷蒙學堂印書處, 光緖31 [1905] Liu Shuping (劉樹屏, 1857-1917), the first principle of Chengzhong Elementary school in Shanghai, which was established by Ye Chengzhong (叶澄衷）in 1899. He and his colleagues first wrote this textbook to be used in his school. It covered the basics of natural science, geography, chemistry, astronomy, law, politics, etc. and was widely adapted by many schools across China.



再次改良婦孺新讀本，陳榮袞編，出版不祥，[1900-1903] Ronggun Cheng (陳榮袞, 1862-1922年), influential educator. He was actively involved in the education for children and women, and advocated the use of vernacular Chinese (白話; "plain speech"), a style of writing that is similar to modern spoken Mandarin Chinese in textbooks, instead of classical Chinese or literary Chinese (文言文), a traditional style of written Chinese. This book was his early attempt to use both vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese in the textbook for elementary children and women.



普通最新雑字圖本，王燾，上海：鴻裁書莊付石印，光緒三十二年 （1906） Teaching of English was introduced in the late Qing. This book, published in 1906, has section of Chinese/English commonly used words.

The Stanford East Asia Library Presents:

CHINA AND THE PERFORMING ARTS

OCTOBER 15, 2010 | 3:00PM—5:00PM
Place: Campbell Recital Hall, Braun Music Center, 541 Lasuen Mall
Admission: Free and open to public

Stanford University is proud to host the visit by famous Chinese performing artists:
Mr. Zhou Zhiqiang - Theater Producer, Dubbing Artist
Mr. Shang Changrong - Peking Opera Performer
Ms. Mao Weitao - Shaoxing Opera Performer

Come and hear what these amazing artists have to say about performing, art, life, and culture in China! During the session, audience members will have opportunities to ask questions and see a special performance. There will also be a presentation by Beauty Media from China, who will donate a selection of Chinese performance arts audio-video materials to the Stanford East Asia Library.

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斯坦福大学很荣幸地邀请以下中国著名表演艺术 家访问我校：

周志强 国家话剧院院长 舞台剧制作人 配音艺术家
尚长荣 上海京剧院 京剧 表演艺术家
茅威涛 浙江小百花越剧团团长 中国剧协副主席 越 剧表演艺术家

斯坦福大学东亚图书馆、东亚研究中心和孔子学院热忱欢迎您参加艺术家见面会暨中国舞台艺术音像制品捐赠仪式。
届时您有机会与艺术家直接对话，并一睹大师们的舞台风采！

时 间： 2010年10月15日 3:00PM—5:00PM
地 点：斯坦福大学音乐系Campbell演 奏厅
免费向公众开放

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Event co-sponsored by: Stanford East Asia Library, Center for East Asian Studies and Stanford Confucius Institute

This exhibition features Hangul calligraphy works donated by eleven established Korean female calligraphers.

Hangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language. Promulgated in 1446 by Sejong the Great (1397-1450), fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, it was originally known as Hunmin jeongeum ("Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People"). The original Hunmin jeongeum manuscript has been registered with the UNESCO program, "Memory of the World," since October 1997.

After the creation of Hunmin jeongeum, the shape of Hangul gradually further developed in its use for woodblock-printed books and for practical everyday manuscripts. Today's Hangul calligraphy as a formative art began around 1910.

This exhibition features the photographs of Zhou Wanping and his
photographs of various sections of the Great Wall, and Liu Ti and his
landscape photos of China's border areas (Yunnan and Inner Mongolia).

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Meyer Library, the East Asia
Library will hold an exhibition of works of the renowned calligrapher
C.C. Wang and stone carvings of Niu Kesi from November 16 to December
15, 2006.
C.C. Wang (Wang Chi-Ch'ien or Wang Jiqian, 1907-2003), distinguished
artist, collector and connoisseur, was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu
Province, China, and studied traditional Chinese painting under Gu
Linshi (1865-1933) and Wu Hufan (1894-1968) from the 1920s to 1940s.
Living mostly in New York City since 1949, C.C. Wang contributed
greatly to upgrade both of art history value and art market value of
Chinese painting. Some 60 works from his collection are now kept at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in which a room named "C.C. Wang Family
Gallery" was dedicated to.
Niu Kesi ("Superior to Marx" in Chinese), the style name of Hanli Li,
born 1954 in Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province, China, and studied
stone carving under his father Tingjiao Li (1921-1971) since childhood.
In 1972, he was selected by government to Balin County, Inner Mongolia
to pass on his skill there. In the period of 1984-1994, Niu Kesi
traveled widely across Europe and to Macao. Since 1995, he has
skillfully combined artistic conception with careful, precise carving,
thus making a pioneering contribution to the creation of large scale
stone carving. Niu Kesi was the winner of the 1999 China National
Craftsmanship Award and was honored with the title of "Master of Jade
and Stone Carving" in 2004.

The Stanford East Asia Library, in conjunction with the Silicon Valley
Asian Art Center, is delighted to host an exhibit of over fifty Chinese
folk house paintings by Yu Chunming.
Yu Chunming is a well-know Bay Area artist who has been dedicated to
painting the folk houses of China since the 1980s. He has trained both
in Chinese and Western art and thus brings an integration of both
perspectives to his work. Not only are these paintings of interest from
a purely artistic perspective, but they are important because they are
helping to preserve the memory of a type of Chinese architecture that
is rapidly disappearing under the onslaught of the ever-growing Chinese
economy. In other words, this exhibit combines the beauty of the
painter's art while allowing the viewer to study Chinese history and
habitation culture.