pital being incorporated in it. The new educational
movement gained enormously in strength as the result of the
Russo-Japanese War, and in 1906 a new system, theoretically almost
perfect, was established. The new system comprises the study of the
Chinese language, literature and composition, modern sciences, history
and geography, foreign languages,[16] gymnastics, drill and, in the
higher grades, political economy, and civil and international law.

By 1910 primary and secondary government schools and schools for
special subjects (such as agriculture and engineering) had been
established in considerable numbers. In every province an Imperial
University was also established. The Imperial University at Peking now
teaches not only languages and Chinese subjects but also law,
chemistry, mathematics, &c. A medical school was founded at Peking in
1906 through the energy of British Protestant missionaries, and is
called the Union Medical College. When in 1908, the United States,
finding that the indemnity for the Boxer outrages awarded her was
excessive, agreed to forgo the payment of L2,500,000, China undertook
to spend an equal amount in sending students to America.

The general verdict of foreign observers on the working of the new
system up to 1910 was that in many instances the teaching was
ineffective, but there were notable exceptions. The best teachers,
next to Europeans, were foreign or mission-trained Chinese. The
Japanese employed as teachers were often ignorant of Chinese and were
not as a rule very successful. (See further Sec. _History_.) A remarkable
indication of the thirst for western learning and culture was the
translation into Chinese and their diffusion throughout the country of
numerous foreign standard and other works, including modern fiction.

Native press.

The _Peking Gazette_, which is sometimes called the oldest paper in
the world, is not a newspaper in the ordinary sense, but merely a
court gazette for publishing imperial decrees and such public
documents as the government may wish to give out. It never contains
original articles nor any discussion of public affairs. The first
genuine native newspaper was published at Shanghai about 1870. It was
termed the _Shen Pao_ or _Shanghai News_, and was a Chinese
speculation under foreign protection, the first editor being an
Englishman. It was some years before it made much hea