UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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| Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris |
| Purpose Previous research on the role and impact of the “May Fourth Movement” in Malaya has often portrayed the movement as historically inevitable, but it often lacks direct historical factual support and dialectical associations, particularly in studies related to education and intellectual trends. This article focuses on “folk school” to explore how early Chinese Intellectual dissemination “going to the underclass” within Malayan Chinese society, which was an immigrant society primarily composed of illiterate people and lacking cultural institutions and intellectual classes. It seeks to answer the question of how “enlightenment” was “possible” in early Malayan Chinese society. Main Theories or Conceptual Frameworks Not applicable. Research Design/Methods/Participants This article is a qualitative study that uses early major Chinese newspapers in Malaya, such as The Sin Kuo Min and Lat Pau, as social texts, supplemented by school special publications as supporting evidence. The study focuses on the period of “May Fourth Enlightenment Movement”, from 1917 to 1924, to analyze the dissemination and development trajectory of the concept of “folk school.” Research Findings or Conclusions Preliminary analysis reveals that Chinese associations, clan groups, and newspaper reading societies, particularly emerging organizations such as youth organizations, played a key role in promoting grassroots enlightenment education. In Malayan Chinese “Going to the Underclass” movement, it was clearly not an elite or intellectual-driven enlightenment movement but a lower-class enlightenment movement lacking a clear “leadership center,” unlike the “popular education” movement in China, which was driven by Beijing university students who served as the proponents and disseminators of ideas. Additionally, it can be argued that in the 1920s, the concepts of “folk school” and “popular education” were intertwined and coexisted in the Malayan Chinese society, with “popular education” thought driving “folk school.” For the general labour class, who had a relatively low level of knowledge and the majority of whom were illiterate, this folk school approach was particularly important. This led to night schools in Malaya tending more towards literacy and eradicating illiteracy, rather than on achieving the post-May Fourth goals of individual personality development, personal awakening, and equality values. In other words, the grassroots enlightenment movement in Malaya was more of a “folk education” rather than a “popular education” in nature. On the other hand, this also meant that their daily reading habits likely extended beyond just written texts; they needed to “read” through sound, such as listening to news reports or watching dramas, engaging in alternative forms of reading. Theoretical or Practical Insights/Contributions/Recommendations This article attempts to explore the “folk school” movement and the phenomena and trends of school-running through early newspaper reports, revealing the dissemination methods and specific impacts of the new May Fourth ideas in Malayan Chinese society, and tracing their origins. It aims to fill the gap in previous research on the May Fourth Enlightenment thought. This article also points out that the dissemination of the May Fourth enlightenment in Malaya was externally driven, originating from China to meet its need for enlightenment and national salvation. However, in the unique social context of Malaya, which was primarily composed of the labour class, its manifestation of the movement differed somewhat. Night school and Supplementary School became more prevalent, not only striving to balance the values pursued by both “folk education” and “popular education,” but also taking the responsibility of maintaining “social order” among the overseas Chinese in the Nanyang region. This provides a new perspective on the study of the overseas dissemination of the May Fourth Movement. © 2024, Department of Education, National Taiwan Normal University. All rights reserved. |
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