IN spite of the early spring chill, especially after light rain, Gu Chao, accompa-nied by her mother arrived at the East Asia Exhibition Hall to attend the 9th China International Education Exhibition Tour.

In the hall suffused with a warm atmosphere, representatives from more than 300 foreign colleges and universities vied with each other to introduce their educational systems to students who have the intention of studying abroad.

Already in her fourth year of university study, Gu was looking for an ideal foreign university for advanced studies. Her mother said: "I hope my daughter can improve her educational qualifications and learn more about Western cultures."

It has been a tradition that Chinese people invest a lot in their family education. "They always give the family the best thing, therefore, there is a huge demand and drive to get the best education," Jugal Lalsodagar said as he handed out the brochure for St. Patrick's International College to students visiting its exhibition booth.

Into the past

The words of Gu's mother would probably arouse jealous feelings among parents living a century and a half ago. At that time, parents had to sign a contract with the government of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to make it clear that they would submit to the will of Heaven whatever happened once their children were sent abroad.

For a long time, China was a traditional self-contained agricultural society, but this closed situation was eventually broken by Western ships and cannons.

"In Chinese eyes, Western society was terrible," said professor Jin Linxiang from the East China Normal University. "Some people even thought that if their children went there, their skins would be peeled off, they would be wrapped in the furs of beasts and changed into wild animals."

Under such circumstances, it was very hard for the Qing government to recruit children sufficiently qualified to study abroad. However, the serious setbacks it suffered in its wars made some open-minded comprador bureaucrats enthusiastic about the Yang-Wu (Westernization) Movement (1858-95), realizing that learning Western techniques would help the nation to become strong.

As a result, led by Rong Hong, who studied abroad in 1847 with the help of an American missionary, a group of students aged from 10 to 16 years old were sent to the US to receive a Western education in 1872. This group is regarded as the first government-aided educational mission students to go abroad, according to Jin.

Government will

The arrival of the 30 students evoked great interest among the Western locals. Their long gowns and hair in braids seemed strange and incredible to Americans.

Originally, it had been arranged that these children would live with American families to learn English in a favourable environment. But they were still at a young and impressionable age, "easily influenced by what they saw and heard around them," Jin said.

As times went by, some of them became unwilling to wear Chinese gowns. They had their hair cut and even went to local churches. These changes went against the government will, which was that they would learn advanced techniques from the West without becoming Westernized.

"The Westernization of these students led to the premature end of their studies," Jin said. "Actually, the subjective will of the Qing government could not control the activities of these students. Once they were attracted by Western civilization, they would introduce it to China."

Following the first educational mission students, other Chinese started out on journeys to study abroad in rapid succession. In retrospect over the next 100 years, great changes took place in China's modern history, both in the political and in the cultural field. All of these changes had a close relationship with students studying abroad. "They were eager to save their nation from subjugation and ensure its survival. Generally speaking, this was also the main preoccupation of modern China," Jin said.

China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-95 inspired Chinese to learn advanced naval science from a small country that they used to look down on. It could be said that in a different period, Chinese studied in different countries to learn what they needed to save the nation.

Essence of education

From the academic perspective, Chinese students studying abroad made significant contributions to science, engineering and education, with some even going on to become the main force promoting social change in China.

But in a turbulent society, the purpose of studying abroad, to a great extent, was connected with government policy, which was to serve the Chinese authorities and society first, only then realizing human potential, according to Chen Zuhuai, a researcher from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. "Human potential was not fully recognized," he said.

Compared with their predecessors, today's students are able to develop themselves in the light of their actual conditions and can also pay much more attention to their individual development. However, "as intellectuals, we should maintain our social conscience and concern for our country and our people," Chen said.

In a society without a distinctive religion, power and wealth were used as the principal factors to evaluate a person. Going to study abroad was considered to be a kind of investment required to achieve personal success.

Jin said that studying abroad had led to the introduction of new educational systems and textbooks to China and, at the same time, put China's talented people in contact with the wider world. "But we must realize that the essence of education is to develop human nature, it should not be distorted into a political tool."