The reformists not only criticized the so-called western education of the Westernization School as shallow and mediocre, "the language and writing are shallow, the military strategist is at the end of his studies, and if he does not do his best, he will not achieve much." At the same time, it also disapproves of the so-called "middle school as the body, western learning for use" argument of the Westernization School. Yan Fu pointed out that "style" and "use" are inseparable, and middle school is different from western learning. "Middle school has the style of middle school, and western learning has the style of western learning. If you divide, you will stand, and if you combine, you will stop. " It is believed that the Westernization School's "Chinese style and western use" is not thorough in learning Western learning, and it is "a false voice of stealing Western methods and following the real disadvantages of China."
The reformists advocate the introduction of "western learning and learning from the world", that is, they should not only learn advanced western natural science knowledge, but also learn western ideology and culture in order to improve the political system. At least changing "Chinese style" into a constitutional monarchy has become a fairly common trend of thought among advanced people at that time. On the other hand, some westernization schools are also summing up the gains and losses of running westernization education. Zheng pointed out in the second volume of "Western Learning" in the Three Classics of Qing Dynasty: "Although Cantonese Dialect Hall and Hall are the best, they only need to learn language and literature, but if their astronomy, geography, mathematics and chemistry are only superficial, they are like naval armament school, which is only located in.
Under the impetus of the reformists, Emperor Guangxu issued an edict in May (1July, 895) in the 21st year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty: the way of self-seeking governance must keep pace with the times. When national affairs are difficult, we should especially unite as one, strive for self-improvement and avoid hidden dangers. I stayed up all night worrying about my work. But I want to put aside my habits, practice actual politics first, stack current affairs according to the rules and regulations of Chinese and foreign ministers, and read them carefully and adopt them. Such as repairing railways, casting money, building machines, mining, folding the South Canal, reducing troops, building postal services, training the army, consolidating the navy and establishing schools. , should be held in time. ..... The provincial governors' offices carefully planned and handled the situation in the above-mentioned provinces with the two departments of the clans and local officials, and limited it to January for analysis and replay.
Seeing the rapid rise of Japanese national strength in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Sheng Xuanhuai, a customs official in Tianjin, deeply felt the importance of education. He and Tenney Charles Daniel, an American educator, had planned to set up new institutions of higher learning to train senior talents in the west. When he received the imperial edict from Emperor Guangxu, he wrote to the Qing court: Since the Reform in Japan, schools and academies have been widely opened, especially to the army and navy. That is, today's diplomatic envoys abroad are based on statutes. It's only been more than ten years, and it's carefully prepared. Sheng Xuanhuai put forward that the first step of self-improvement is to store talents, and to store talents must first promote learning. China's wise men, where there is contempt, but the election will be in the public, and the election will be within the scope of poetry. As for manufacturing technology, they are mainly craftsmen who don't understand arts and sciences, but they want to fight hand-to-hand with other countries and are stupid in their careers. So they want to run a first-class school and a second-class school as their successors.
On October 2nd (1895, 165438+ 10, 18) in the 21st year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, with the approval of Emperor Guangxu, Sheng Xuanhuai founded "Beiyang Western Learning School" in Tianjin according to the American university model, and later renamed it Beiyang University Hall. Sheng Xuanhuai's thought of establishing Beiyang University Hall originated from his westernization practice. He deeply felt that "the way of self-improvement lies in cultivating talents" in the Regulations on the Establishment of Chinese and Western Schools in Tianjin. The way to seek sages is to establish a school first. ""if a man is a tree, he will set up a school one year later and get up one year later. "It is particularly emphasized that new talents must be cultivated on their own, and hiring foreigners can only be temporary and short-term.