Missionary Morrison’s Contribution to English Education in the Late Qing Period

【Abstract】： In the late Qing period， missionaries play an essential role in the development of foreign language education. Besides spreading their religion to Chinese people， they also advanced the cross-cultural communication between China and Western countries through the medium of English language. Among these missionaries， there is a famous pioneer of the missionary work called Robert Morrison who made great contribution to the Chinese English education.

【Key words】：Missionary， Morrison， Contribution， English Education

1.Introduction

Robert Morrison is the first Protestant Missionary into China and he is one of the greatest contributors who boosted the development of English education. Through learning his great contributions to English education， we can get to know that how English was initially introduced into Chinese school education and what kind of profound influence Robert Morrison had created.

2.The Background of Morrison’s Coming to China

The history of English education began with the collapse of the giant Qing Empire and the rise of a new world of modernization. After the Opium War， China was forced to be merged into the world’s modernization and its door was opened by the Westerners. Then many protestant missionaries gained access to China， tried to spread their religion in China and then save Chinese souls. Robert Morrison was one of them. Besides that， Morrison’s coming to China was also resulted from the flourish development of the Evangelicalism Movement in the United Stated and Europe at the cross of the 18th and the 19th Century.

3.Morrison’s Main Contribution to English Education

3.1Setting up the Anglo-Chinese College

When Morrison arrived at China in 1807 to begin his work of Evangelization， the Qing Dynasty held a closed door policy to the outside at that time， and it was difficult for Western missionaries to live in China and to promote the spread of Christianity， so Morrison changed his way of preaching by establishing a school to teach Chinese students in certain areas of study to prepare the way for the quiet and peaceful spread of Christian thought in China.

With the help of Rev. William Milne in 1813， the Anglo-Chinese College was established in 1818 in Malacca. And in order to make the school better， Morrison himself guided and chose the teachers， and he also undertook some teaching assignments. Besides， Morrison divided the students into different classes according to their English level. And different classes are equipped with different textbooks which were designed to suit their English level and the actual demand of English education.

The Anglo-Chinese College was the first missionary school in which English was taught to the Chinese. The English curriculum as well as teaching methodology produced a new English teaching style in Chinese education history. And the Anglo-Chinese College was also meaningful for the career of translating and editing in the late Qing dynasty and made an important contribution to training Chinese translation talents.

3.2Compiling A Dictionary of the Chinese Language

Before Morrison compiled the dictionary， he came across many difficulties， and the difficulties were mainly from the Qing Government. But Morrison persisted in learning it and asked for help from many people including George Thomas Staunton， Yin Kunming， and Mr. Li. And after his diligent study， his Chinese level was improved quickly and then he decided to begin the project of compiling the dictionary.

The dictionary was set about to be compiled in 1808 and was finally finished in 1823. During the fifteen years， Morrison spent nearly thirteen years making every effort to collect vocabulary terms and then divided them into three series. Morrison thought that in order to learn a foreign language well， one had to know more detailed information about the nation’s history and culture， so he also divided the dictionary into several classifications including manners and customs， Chinese philosophy of religion， myths and legends， school education and so on. As a result， this dictionary was called the encyclopedia of Chinese and Western culture and it played an important role in the cross-cultural communication.

His dictionary was integral to the early history of compiling reference books for teaching English， and promoted English learning among Chinese.

3.3Writing a Number of English Textbooks and Translating Books

During the twenty-five years of missionary activity in China， in order to allow more Chinese people to learn English， Morrison finished compiling twenty-one English books in total， among which fourteen books were related to Chinese language， culture and history. These English textbooks were the earliest textbooks and readings and these textbooks were directly used in the Anglo-Chinese College.

Besides writing lots of textbooks， Morrison also translated a lot of Chinese books which were related to language， education， culture and history. Some of the translations were put on the English newspaper --The Chinese Repository to educate Chinese people and take some beneficial effects such as contributing to the cross-cultural communication.

4.Further Development

After working in China for 25 years， Morrison died in 1834 and in order to commemorate him， in 1836， Morrison Educational Association was founded to continue his efforts in education. And the Morrison Church School was also established after that. Although the Morrison school didn’t exist for a long time， the English education of the school was very important in the history of English teaching in China and cultivated several modern talents for our country. All these further developments should thanks to Morrison’s foregoing contribution to English education.

5. Conclusion

In an objective perspective， the English teaching models employed by Morrison in Chinese schools and his educational philosophy had a far-reaching influence on Chinese schooling. We should all remember this great missionary for his great contribution to English education in the Late Qing Period， and his profound influence on today’s education.

Reference：

[1] 譚樹林，馬禮遜與中西文化交流[M]，杭州：中國美術學院出版社，2003。

[2] 韓芳，馬禮遜對中國早期英語教育的開設探究[J]，蘭臺世界，2015（3）： 69-70.

[3] 史麗，晚清傳教士對中國英語教育之影響[J]，通化師范學院學報，2015（2）： 102-104.