2014．第42卷第2（Vol. 42 No. 2）．pp. 73–93
Infant Public Nursing and Public Teaching Ideology of Kang Youwei’s The Book of the Great Unity
Kang Youwei has marvelous talent. Thanks to the appreciation of Emperor Guangxu, he continued to coordinate the Reform Movement of 1898. He wrote The New Study of Wei Jing, The Study of Confucius’s Reform, The Book of the Great Unity, Self-compiled Chronicle of Kang Youwei, The Study of Dong Zhongshu’ Chunqiu fanlu, Compilation of Seven Letters, Documents Drafts in 1898 and other. He was an opinion leader and historians praised him as the “great educator.” The concept of The Book of the Great Unity originates from Three Generations Theory in Chunqiu, Great Unity view in “Evolutions of Rites,” Western utopian socialism and Buddhist thought. The book describes the views on eradication of family system, promotion of gender equality and women emancipation, abolishment of private property, and reform of education system. Infant public nursing and public teaching is an important section in reforming education system. The book advocates the establishment of an Infant Institute for public nursing and public teaching, with various requirements on aspects of infant care and education, including its location selection, education purpose, construction equipment, education officers, education work, teaching methods and control system. Though its feasibility is a query, this set of infant education thought in Late Qing and Early Republic of China, when compared with domestic and foreign infant education views in the same period of time, is really novel, advanced and ideal.
Keywords: Kang Youwei; The Book of the Great Unity; infant; public nursing and public teaching