身處時代交替裏——北京大學第一任校長嚴復

In the Changing Era: Yan Fu as the First Chancellor of National Peking University

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

辛亥革命雖然一夜之間推翻清王朝的統治，但却不能將封建王朝遺留下來的建制一并推倒。新的制度來不及建立，舊制度下的各種規章與人事安排仍然繼續影響著新時代的領導者。改革者要在這個時代交替的時期開拓新氣象，往往需要相當勇氣與毅力，然而，很多時候都仍只會是吃力不討好。

有“西學第一人”美譽的嚴復(1854—1921 )，早年留學英倫，掌握西方新知識，對中國的高等教育發展也有所見解。1912年，他被委接任京師大學堂監督。隨着學堂其後更名爲國立北京大學，嚴復也成爲大學首任校長。他在任内致力整頓各學科課程，積極籌措經費，對提升大學水平貢獻良好。可惜，他與以蔡元培爲首的教育部時生衛突，令他的工作受到諸多掣肘。半年後，心灰意冷的他選擇離任。

The Revolution of 1911 had overthrown the regime of Qing Dynasty, nevertheless the original management culture including old regulations and personnel could not be abolished immediately. It still remained and affected those new leading cadres until new culture was created in the future. In this changing era, reformers always felt frustrated since they worked diligently but gained very little.

Yan Fu who was a returned student from Britain in the late Qing, mastered well much new Western knowledge and had a lot of progressive insights about the development of higher education in Modem China. He was appointed as the chancellor of National Peking University in 1912. He devoted much effort in dealing with those works such as Modified subjects and raised money to support the university’s expenditure. Unfortunately, he could not solve the conflict with the Educational Ministry which was headed by Cai Yuanpei at that time. Having no alternatives, he resigned from his post at last.