The discussions which I used to have in my seminar (consisting of students belonging to the Peking Government University) could not have been surpassed anywhere for keenness, candour, and fearlessness.  I had the same impression of the Science Society of Nanking, and of all similar bodies wherever I came across them.  There is, among the young, a passionate desire to acquire Western knowledge, together with a vivid realization of Western vices.  They wish to be scientific but not mechanical, industrial but not capitalistic.  To a man they are Socialists, as are most of the best among their Chinese teachers.  They respect the knowledge of Europeans, but quietly put aside their arrogance.  For the present, the purely Chinese modern educational institutions, such as the Peking Government University, leave much to be desired from the point of view of instruction; there are no adequate libraries, the teaching of English is not sufficiently thorough, and there is not enough mental discipline.  But these are the faults of youth, and are unimportant compared with the profoundly humanistic attitude to life which is formed in the students.  Most of the faults may be traced to the lack of funds, because the Government—­loved by the Powers on account of its weakness—­has to part with all its funds to the military chieftains who fight each other and plunder the country, as in Europe—­for China must be compared with Europe, not with any one of the petty States into which Europe is unhappily divided.

The students are not only full of public spirit themselves, but are a powerful force in arousing it throughout the nation.  What they did in 1919, when Versailles awarded Shangtung to Japan, is well told by Mr. Tyau in his chapter on “The Student Movement.”  And what they did was not merely political.  To quote Mr. Tyau (p. 146):—­

Having aroused the nation, prevented the signature of the Versailles Treaty and assisted the merchants to enforce the Japanese boycott, the students then directed their energies to the enlightenment of their less educated brothers and sisters.  For instance, by issuing publications, by popular lectures showing them the real situation, internally as well as externally; but especially by establishing free schools and maintaining them out of their own funds.  No praise can be too high for such self-sacrifice, for the students generally also teach in these schools.  The scheme is endorsed everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm, and in Peking alone it is estimated that fifty thousand children are benefited by such education.

One thing which came as a surprise to me was to find that, as regards modern education under Chinese control, there is complete equality between men and women.  The position of women in Peking Government University is better than at Cambridge.  Women are admitted to examinations and degrees, and there are women teachers in the university.  The Girls’ Higher Normal School in Peking, where prospective women teachers are taught, is a most excellent and progressive institution, and the spirit of free inquiry among the girls would horrify most British head mistresses.