<論説>清末の修身教科書と日本

Abstract

中国では十九世紀宋から次第に国民教育の必要性が認識されるようになり、二〇世紀初頭の光緒新政時に近代的学校体系が整備されるにいたった。ここで国民教育の観点から中心的役割を担ったのは修身科である。本稿は、そこで用いられた小学修身教科書を通じて、当時求められた「国民」像を検討したものである。本格的な修身科導入に先立つ戊戌変法期の教科書では、徳育のなかに「天」が措かれることによって、天の下での平等や天賦人権を享受しうる市民的存在としての人間像が描き出されようとしていた。しかし光諸新政期の修身教科書にいたると、「天」が消し去られる一方、「国」が徳育の基礎に据えられ、国家への献身が期待される、きわめてナショナルな「国民」像が打ち出されるようになった。そして、この変化の背景には、修身教科書を媒介とした、日本の「教育勅語」からの影響が存在していたのである。

Late 19th and early 20th century China experienced large-scale reform of Qing Dynasty policies in such areas as government administration, taxation, and administrative structure. In the last years of the dynasty, reform extended to include marked shifts in the traditional educational system. The aim of these educational reforms was to replace the existing educational system designed for the elite, which had traditionally been based on the civil service examination system, the keju 科挙, with a system of education for the masses. Reform was implemented with a particular focus on modifying the compulsory education in elementary schools. The central tenant of these reforms was to raise national conscience among the masses with careful consideration given to the introduction of the subject of ethics. This article examines the image of ideal national character as projected through these ethics textbooks for elementary school students during this period of reform. The birth of the ethics textbook in China occurred in the Xinzheng 新政reform period at the beginning of the 20th century. Although ethics became established as a formal subject at this time, the subject of ethics was rooted in the Wuxu 戊戌 reform period at the end of the 19th century. Forerunners of the textbooks had been compiled during the Wuxu period, the most famous of them being the Mengxue keben 蒙学課本. The most prominent feature of this textbook was the primary focus on the concept of Tian天 (Heaven, God) in moral education, instituted by the editors under the influence of western textbooks for children. The position and significance of heaven was that it stood above the people and conveyed an idealized image of strength, granting the people equality and rights. The people were therefore considered citizens under Tian, and did not share a sense of nationalism, viewing themselves as citizens of the nation of China. During the Xinzheng reform period of the early 20th century, ethics textbooks came to be published in earnest. The Zuixin xiushen jiaokeshu 最新修身教科書, published by the Commercial Press, and Chudeng xiaoxue xiushen jiaokeshu 初等小学修身教科書, published by the Qing education department, are representative of the textbooks published during this period. An important feature common to both of these textbooks was that Tian was thoroughly disregarded and, in its place, guo 国, the nation, was established as the foundation of moral education. Subsequently, the ideal image of a person became extremely nationalistic, reflecting his/her existence as a member of the community, in the form of the guo for which one might sacrifice his/her life. Thus, between the Wuxu and Xinzheng periods, the focus of the textbooks changed. This change was further influenced by ethic textbooks of Meiji Japan. In the early years of the 20th century, the number of Chinese students in Japan increased very rapidly, and a great number of Qing bureaucrats visited Japan to observe educational facilities. Furthermore, a Japanese mission of government bureaucrats and educators visited China to "cooperate" in the educational reform of China. Through such contacts between China and Japan during this period, the ethics textbooks of Japan exerted influence on educational policies in China. Especially worthy of note is the fact that the "Imperial Rescript on Education" 教育勅語, which had served to strengthen nationalism In Japan, also influenced ethics textbooks in China. The new image of the people of the nation brought about by Japan essentially formed the ideological foundation of textbooks of the Republic of China after the Xinhai revolution 辛亥革命. Therefore, the "modern age" of Chinese education, and subsequent nationalism began with the influence of both Western and Japanese educational policies and was facilitated by the Chinese policy that shifted from Tian (heaven) to guo (the nation) as the basis of moral education.