Beacons of modern learning: Diaspora-funded schools in the China-Australia corridor. (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cheng, Christopher
• Other Names: Wang Cangbai guest-editor.; Zheng Victor guest-editor.; Gao Hao guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Asian and Pacific migration journal. Volume 29:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: 139
• Page End: 162
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: Chinese migration -- Australia -- modern schools -- modern China -- material modernity; Asia -- Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Pacific Area -- Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Migration, Internal -- Asia -- Periodicals; Migration, Internal -- Pacific Area -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration; Migration, Internal; Asia; Pacific Area; Periodicals; 325
• DOI: 10.1177/0117196820930309
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0117-1968

Abstract

In the early 20th century, modern school curricula and new-style schools mushroomed in the Chinese remittance landscape of southern China. Breaking away from the two-and-a-half millennia of Confucian tradition, their creation marked a pivotal point of departure between the nation's past and future. Since overseas migration and modern education both provide a fruitful context for the circulation of new objects and a cross-fertilization of ideas, new schools serve as barometers of social-material change. Research in the present-day cities of Zhongshan and Zhuhai (formerly Heung San County) suggests that diaspora-funded schools were beacons of modern learning within the China–Australia corridor. Both their physical structures and material manifestations invited a new engagement with the modern world.