Author | Thank you
Source | Confucius old book network dynamics
In recent years, I have been working on collecting representative Chinese and English editions of Aesop's Fables, and I have successively bought more than a hundred copies. I know very well that the road ahead is long, and the more realistic approach is not to covet the tall, not to force the integrity of the whole, but to be satisfied with the fate of the occasional harvest within the scope of the ability. Of course, this is not only because the collection is becoming scarce, but also because my financial resources and energy are very limited. The characteristic route I set for myself is to collect and study while writing out my experience to share and teach with book friends, and then carry out further in-depth research on this basis.
I had earlier learned from Huang Gaoju's translation of Aesop's Fables (Hubei Education Press, 2007) that there was a good illustration by Charles Livingston Bull (1874-1932), who "in his time was the best wildlife painter in the United States, and perhaps even the best in the world." Unlike many of his kind, he was also an expert in animal anatomy and served as chief taxidermist at the National Museum of Washington, D.C." Therefore, that day, I saw a copy of Ginn and Company's "Aesop's Fables" from Ginn and Company in 1915, and found that its illustrations were from the hands of this "Mr. Cow", so I did not hesitate to take it, although the price was a little expensive and the seller did not give in. Of course, there is another important reason for me to pay for it without hesitation - the title page of this book reads: "Correspondence Society English Textbook Self-Study Book One of the First Kinds of Books Purchased at 4:00 p.m. on July 21, 1926 at the West Bookcase of shanghai Zhonghua Bookstore $1.28 Huang Ching-fu." Although I had never heard of the "Correspondence Society" at the time, I felt that I could dig out something interesting.
Interestingly, when I searched for information on the "Correspondence Society", I found that Kong.com had also sold an English version of "Iso's Fables" published by Grosset & Dunlap and illustrated by John Tenniel in February 2019, and it was actually the "Same Door Brother" that I bought--its title page read: "Correspondence Society English Textbook Self-Study Book No. 5 15 On July 13, 1926, at 4:00 p.m., it was purchased at the Western Bookcase $, which was issued by the Commercial Press on Qipan Street, Shanghai." 1.00 Huang Ching-fu”。 Both books have square chapters, and the word "yellow *" can be faintly seen. The latter also has a library collection of books, unfortunately it is not clear, but it is known that it was later collected by the public. The seller wrote that the book was published in 1926, which was actually the time of purchase, and should have been published a few years earlier.
Taking these two books as the entry point, I carefully consulted the relevant literature and the list of books sold by Kong Net, and found that the information about the "correspondence society" was quite rich, and I once again realized that I was actually more lonely than I thought, and I needed to "live to learn from old age" more. Among them, the most systematic information is that Mr. Ding Wei completed his doctoral dissertation at Zhejiang University at the end of 2015, "English Correspondence Education in Modern Private Publishing Institutions (1915-1946)", which is partially referenced in the following content of this article.
From a worldwide perspective, the more formal correspondence education originated in the United Kingdom in the 1860s and flourished in the United States in the early 20th century. It was also during this period that some specialized correspondence schools in the United States began to set up agencies in Shanghai to introduce this more formal correspondence education system to China. In 1906, the Stratton International Correspondence School in the United States set up a general manager department in Shanghai to specialize in Chinese correspondence business. In order to deal with matters such as student homework and Q&A nearby, the school sent teachers to set up a professor branch in Shanghai in 1914, becoming the first correspondence institution in China. In 1915, the Commercial Press was well received by readers because of its easy-to-understand text expression such as english learning journal "English Weekly", and its content was educational and artistic. At the urging of all walks of life, in response to the needs of the society, the library first established the English Department of the Correspondence Society attached to the Commercial Press, which officially opened the prelude to the self-run correspondence education of the Chinese. Because of the very good results achieved, after 1921, the Correspondence School gradually added the Department of Arithmetic, Chinese, Commerce and Chinese Liberal Arts, making it the largest and most prestigious among the many correspondence schools in the Republic of China.
The "Education Magazine" said that the Correspondence School attached to the Commercial Press was "the oldest, most well-equipped and most accomplished tutoring education institution in China." The Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press has been running schools for decades, cultivating a large number of "knowledge + technology" composite talents for the social industrial, commercial, academic, and political circles of the Republic of China, and has effectively promoted the development of the modernization cause of the Republic of China. Obviously, the Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press occupies an important position in the history of correspondence education in China, and it can be said that it has significant practical significance for promoting the research of the theory and practice of distance education and the research of vocational education today.
The Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press published six "small histories" in the English Weekly, making a general and comprehensive historical review of the situation of the correspondence society and its various subjects before 1928. From this, we can understand the historical background, teaching objects, teaching objectives, teaching systems, curriculum settings, and the number of students when the correspondence school was founded. "The Commercial Press Correspondence School "Small History":" "The Commercial Press has taken a deep look at the social situation in our country and feels that the establishment of correspondence schools is enough to supplement the lack of schools, and opens a convenient door for lost scholars, because the establishment of this society in the fourth year of the Republic of China was the beginning of the existence of correspondence schools in our country." At the beginning of its establishment, only one section, English, was set up, which bore the trust of all circles, and many students came to study; in the eleventh year, two subjects of arithmetic and Chinese were added; in the twelfth year, the Department of Commerce was added; and in the fourteenth year, the Department of Chinese Liberal Arts was added. There are currently 26,635 students, and the number of graduates has reached 4,681 (as of the end of November 2016). The effect has long been known throughout the country, and the courses are opened all year round, not affected by the current situation, so there is no risk of students dropping out of school. ”
"A Short History" of the English Section: "The English Section was founded in the fourth year of the Republic of China, and it was one of the first sections of the Society to be established. It is divided into two parts: undergraduate and elective subjects, with the purpose of improving the degree of assisting the identification of English speakers, so that they can read newspapers, write letters, and write essays. Undergraduates are divided into four levels, and anyone who is fluent in Chinese and can read English and pinyin slightly can apply for the first level of celebrities, from yes to the second, third, and fourth levels, which are graduations. After graduating from the fourth level, students can read all ordinary books and newspapers in English, can translate long documents, can read and write various letters, and can write freely. Undergraduate subjects at all levels must be completed according to the level, and those who are interested in studying one or two courses are particularly inconvenient. Therefore, in the sixth year of the Republic of China, the company added english selection subjects, scored nine courses, and let others choose. So the devotees were called Xianye. There are 17,068 undergraduate students enrolled in the English department and 3,650 students in the elective subjects, and 3,150 undergraduate students and 1,170 students in the selected subjects (as of the end of the 16th year of the Republic of China). ”
Limited by space, this article mainly deals only with the English department, because it was the earliest of all the subjects of the correspondence school, the largest number of enrollment and graduation, the greatest impact, the best economic benefits, and the longest duration (after the 1. 28 Incident, the Commercial Press "paid for the ashes of the lecture notes, the social affairs stopped for half a year", and the correspondence school was also hit hard and had to be temporarily suspended. In August 1932, the Correspondence School resumed only the English department and the Chinese liberal arts department, and other subjects were discontinued. The English department of the Correspondence School did not completely copy the Western model of correspondence education, but according to the actual needs of society, set up the "undergraduate" system (academic education) and the "selective subject" system (non-academic education), flexibly created a set of dual-track English correspondence education system suitable for the middle and middle period of the Republic of China, its teaching system, curriculum settings, teaching materials, teaching methods, etc. for the students' vocational needs and adult characteristics, targeted, highlighting the practicality, skills and professionalism, especially the curriculum setting not only closely follows the needs of the social market. Moreover, it pays close attention to the career development of trainees and makes timely adjustments to meet the needs of the trainees' occupational positions.
According to the "Brief Chapter of the Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press" re-revised after the 1.28 Incident: The main textbooks are from shallow to deep, difficult to understand words and sentences, and all have Chinese annotations. Each level of teaching materials is equivalent to about one and a half to two years of homework in ordinary schools. Those who know a little English and want to further their studies should enter the main subject. After graduating from the main department, it is possible to read English books and newspapers, write letters, and write ordinary texts. The main subjects are divided into four levels, and their courses are as follows:
(a) First Grade, 1. 2. Penmanship, Forty Faces;2. 2. Phonetics and Spelling, 5 volumes; 10.0. Reader; 5. Plain Grammar Lessons, vol. 6;5. Conversation Easy Conversation,
5 volumes; Easy Sentence Formation, 3 volumes; 7. Translation of Easy Sentences, vol. 6; Notation How to Remember Words, three volumes.
(b) Second Level Second Grade: 1. (2) Penmanship, Forty Faces; 2. Reader, 8 volumes; Grammatical Summary English Grammar Simplified, 8 volumes; 4. Session Converse, volume VI;5. SyntacticEnce Formation,
8 volumes; Translation of Translation, vol.6;7. Capitalization and Punctuation, vol. 5;8. short
Essay Short Composition, three volumes.
(c) Third Level III: 1. Reader, vol. 6;2. Grammar Elements of English Grammar, 12 volumes; Composition Comic, volume 5; 4. Session Converse, volume VI;5. Selected Stories of ASelection of Famous Stories, four volumes;
6． Letters letters, Letter Writing, vol. 6;7. Translation of Translation, vol.6;8. Examples of News Translations of News Translation, 5 volumes.
(D) Fourth Level Four: 1. Notes on History of English Literature, vol. 6; Rhetoric and Composition Rhetoric and Cornposition, vol. 6;3. Selections from Famous Writers, 5 volumes;4. Study of English Idioms
Studies in English Idioms, vol.6;5. Letters letter Letter-Writing, vol.6;6. Translation News Translation, vol. 5;7. Translation of Documents, six volumes; Reference books Reference Books,etc. , five volumes.
I have taken the trouble to list the courses and teaching materials of the English main subject, hoping to have some reference role for professionals currently engaged in English education, distance education and vocational education. The English edition of Aesop's Fables that I purchased was published in 1915, and soon after it was designated as "one of the first types of self-study books" by the English Section of the Correspondence Society, which I founded in the same year, which I think is actually quite amazing and admirable. From the English section brief, I also learned the list of people in charge of correspondence teaching in the English section at the Time at the Commercial Press, and found that the president was He Bingsong, who later served as the president of Jinan University, the vice president and director of the English section was Zhou Yueran, a famous bibliophile, a Yan Fu student, and the author of the super best-selling textbook "English Model Reader", and the director of affairs was Zhou Yueran, the editor of "English Weekly" and Zhou Yueran's brother. In his article "Me and the Commercial Press", the famous foreign language educator Ge Chuanjie talked about his participation in course teaching and homework correction. It can be seen from this that at that time, those who participated in the teaching and management of the English department of the correspondence school were really a temporary choice.
I often think: there is no unprovoked love in the world, there is no unprovoked hate, and there is no unprovoked success. The reason why the Commercial Press has been able to achieve pioneering and brilliant success in many aspects is not only because it has a large number of knowledgeable and discerning editors who can plan and publish a large number of good books with high-quality content, lead the trend, enlighten the mind, and nurture the soul, but also because it has a large number of business wizards with keen eyes and can accurately grasp the needs and pain points of society. This can be seen in the opening of various subjects of the correspondence school, the formulation of various rules and regulations, the selection or preparation of supporting textbooks and reading materials, and the management of students' learning progress and the implementation of reward and punishment measures. This can even be seen in the numerous advertisements of the Correspondence School.
For example, on December 17, 1926, the Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press placed an advertisement on the first page of the Changsha Ta Kung Pao: "It is better to have a million family property than to be a thin skill!" In the era of fierce competition in life, it is impossible to survive without a skill, learning is the foundation of technology, and it is difficult to improve skills without learning. The Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press is an appropriate opportunity to seek learning outside the classroom, and is the only place to seek technology, and now there are five subjects of Chinese language, Chinese, English, arithmetic, and commerce, with 23,000 students, and more than 4,000 people who have died and received honors in the society. The Correspondence Society of the Commercial Press of All Disciplines is hereby opened on Baoshan Road in Shanghai." This advertisement is not large, sandwiched in several large advertisements, and there is nothing outstanding in terms of typography, but the title "family property is millions, it is better to be thin and skilled" Can be described as a direct hit to the hearts of the people - in that era of turmoil and fierce competition in life, "family property millions" may become a pile of waste paper due to changes in the political situation, and it is better to be thin in the body, stealing, cheating, so that you can stand in this turbulent era.
At that time, the Commercial Press was undoubtedly the first to gain the trend, occupying the commanding heights of cultural dissemination, opening up sufficient generous remuneration, retaining top talents, allowing them to work with peace of mind and trying their best to open up the territory for it, leading the cultural publishing and correspondence education into a virtuous circle of golden age. Now, with the economy developing, the country richer, the people's education level higher, and their lives facilitated, the education and publishing industry seems to be facing new and more severe challenges. In view of the past, I hope that our practitioners, researchers and decision-makers can get more inspiration from these histories, find new breakthroughs and new growth points for us, guide the industry out of the predicament, and at least take us into another village of willows and flowers!