The meaning of "middle school as the body, western learning for use" is the guiding ideology of Westernization School, which is comprehensively discussed by Zhang Zhidong in his book "Persuading Learning". In order to reconcile the contradiction between the die-hards of the ruling class and the reformists, Zhang Zhidong systematically summed up his own westernization practice, and summarized the ideas of his predecessors as the slogan of "taking middle school as the body and western learning as the use", which became the ideological weapon of the westernization school. Zhang Zhidong's "Encouraging Learning" comprehensively expounded the idea of "taking middle school as the body and western learning as the use". "Chinese style" refers to Confucianism with Confucius and Mencius as the core; "Western learning" refers to the advanced science and technology in the modern west. "Western Learning" serves "China Sports".
Historical significance
During the Westernization Movement, education in China was still dominated by feudal traditional education. The Westernization School put forward the idea of "Chinese style and western use", emphasizing the absorption of western learning without endangering the "Chinese style". This is not only the cultural and educational view of the Westernization School, but also the strategy of the Westernization School to deal with the old school. Under the situation of "Chinese style and western use", the scale of "western learning" education has been expanding and the level has been deepening. At the same time, the theory of "Chinese style and western use" effectively demonstrates the rationality of "western learning" education and promotes the spread of capitalism in China; Under this principle, the education of studying abroad and the establishment of new schools opened a gap in the rigid feudal education system and changed the single traditional education structure.
The early thought of "learning from China and using the West" played a positive role in breaking through the obstruction of feudal die-hards, introducing western natural science, and promoting the modernization of China's industry and military and the emergence of new education. Later, it became the ideological weapon of the Qing rulers against bourgeois reform and bourgeois revolution. As the initial combination of Chinese and western cultures, it has its historical rationality. However, as a cultural integration scheme and educational purpose, the application of China culture and western culture is crude, and it is a direct grafting without overcoming the inherent contradictions between China and the West, which will inevitably be replaced by the new situation.