Preface

Introduction

Studies of History of Macao Education Series provides a platform for the publication of research products by the “History of Macao Education Research Group” working on a five-year “History of Macao Education Research Project 2008-2012”（RG-UL/07-08S/Y1/SWJ/FED），which is included in the University Key Research Areas.

These research products are published，either in collections of selected papers，critical analysis of historical documents，or school histories，or in the form of profiles of personages or conference proceedings，either in Chinese or other languages，both by way of presentations at symposiums and conferences and through conscientious and meticulous reviewing，editing and revision processes.

As the principal investigator promoting and leading this research project，I write this Preface，briefing readers on how this project was identified as one of the University Key Research areas，how the Forum was established，how the research group was created and how our work has been proceeding.

1.History of Macao Education Identified as a Key Research Area

In recent years，with the concerted efforts of the leadership，staff and students，the University of Macau has been working hard to develop the University into a “teaching university based on quality research”.Bearing this goal in mind，I take optimizing teaching and enhancing teaching effectiveness as my major task and at the same time boosting the research ability of teachers and students by nurturing a research culture on campus has become one of the tasks for the development of the University.

The Faculty of Education（FED），being one of the five fundamental academic units of the University，should make every effort and adopt suitable measure to advance in this direction.Specifically，in addition to teaching and community service，FED has adopted three measures：first，encouraging teachers and students to do more research and publish more so as to improve the overall performance and build up research strength；second，organizing more academic activities so as to create more opportunities for staff and students to have their research products published；third，creating inter-university or cross-regional research groups to increase the overall academic productivity.There is only one intention for the three measures，i.e.，creating more opportunities and better conditions for faculty members and students to engage in research and get their works published，thus bringing about more and better research products.

However，FED is still a small faculty，with no more than 50 full-time staff members and a history of only 20 years.In addition to the pre-service and in-service teacher education/teacher training programmes at various levels，we are also entrusted by various government departments to carry out research projects on special topics，to provide consultation to various schools.Burdened by all this complicated and heavy work，we can only hope to make certain breakthroughs by searching for some key areas representative of FED and focusing our limited human resources on them.As a result，we have located the education of Macao as our starting point，traced it to a trajectory of four or five hundred years，incorporated the strengths and products of scholars in the field of history of Chinese education both inside and outside China and then integrate into the system of world education system.And this has become one of the key research areas for our faculty.

2.Liangan Sidi（Mainland-Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macao）Forum Created

In fact the idea that we were to focus our efforts on the history of Macao education was conceived in late 2005.In early 2006，with the financial support of the Research Committee University of Macau，research groups were formed to carry out oral history projects，choosing some renowned figures well in their nineties or even older，such as Mr.Liang Pei-yun，Ms.Tou Nam/Du Lan，and Mr.Kong Peng Ian，as our subjects of research.We set about collecting their works and publications，related documents and visuals while interviewing these veteran educators，their families and relatives.Our purpose was to preserve these precious historical materials and write papers on the history of education and then pass them on to posterity.Some of the products born of these efforts constituted the major content of “Exhibition of Historical Documents of Macao Education：Mr.Liang Pei-yun，Ms.Tou Nam/Du Lan，and Mr.Kong Peng Ian” held at the University of Macau International Library in January 2007.

Coinciding with the exhibition was the 1st Liangan Sidi（Mainland-Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macao）Forum on History of Education，which attracted over fifty scholars interested in the teaching and research of history of education.In addition to paper presentations，a Memorandum was signed，stating that this Forum on History of Education is to be held annually，and hosted in turn by six universities.In accordance with the Memorandum，the 2nd Forum is hosted by East China Normal University in Shanghai in 2008，the 3rd by Beijing Normal University in 2009，the 4th by Taiwan Normal University in 2010，the 5th by Zhejiang University in 2011，and the 6th by Xiamen University in 2012.Then the Forum will come back to Macao again and go on with another cycle in this order.

Participants from both sides of the Strait，as well as from Hong Kong and Macao showed great interest in and expressed willingness to support the study of history of Macao education in two ways：

First，some of the delegates agreed to serve as consultants for our project，assuring quality with their long and rich experience in this field.They include Principal Lao Sin Peng（Vice-President of Macao Chinese Educators’ Association，an old-timer in Macao education research），Prof.Wu Wen Shing（former Head of History Dept.and former Dean of Faculty of Arts，Taiwan Normal University），Prof.Chou Yu Wen（former department head，School of Education，and now director of National Taiwan Normal University Center for Professinal Development），Prof.Zhang Binxian（Dean of Faculty of Education，Beijing Normal University），Ding Gang（Dean of Faculty of Science Education，East China Normal University），Prof.Liu Haifeng（Dean of Education Research Institute，Xiamen University），Prof.Zhou Guping（Former Dean of Faculty of Education，Zhejiang University），Prof.Tian Zhengping（former Dean of Faculty of Education，Zhejiang University），and Prof.Wang Bingzhao（former Dean of Faculty of Education，Beijing Normal University）.

Second，it is also agreed that a special part of the annual forum is reserved for the presentation of research products themed on “History of Education of Macao”.Furthermore，all the consultants listed above have agreed to participate in this project and serve as reviewers of the research papers before they are published.This arrangement is expected to produce two positive effects：first，it will stimulate the project members to speed up their work and write their papers conscientiously，thus increasing the quantity of research papers；second，the above consultants will review these papers and give comments and suggestions for improvement，thus ensuring the quality of research products.

3.History of Macao Education Research Group Officially Established

The University of Macau encourages senior professors with an excellent record of performance to form research groups and engage in perennial（multi-year）research projects incorporating various human resources.In particular，the University Research Committee created the University Level Research Grant in January 2008.The projects financed by this Grant differ from those at the Faculty level in that the University Level projects focus on University Key Research Areas.They are directly supervised and monitored by the University Research Committee，including the approval of project proposals，composition of the research group，funding，research progress，paper reviewing process，and publication of products.What is specially worth noting is that this Grant gives priority to research projects that help promote the development of the University of Macau and of the Macao society.Furthermore，in the composition of research groups，it encourages projects that integrate faculty members of the University with research members of other faculties，other universities and other regions to build up strong research teams.As far as funding is concerned，these projects are allowed more flexibility and given more generous support according to needs.However there is very strict control on research progress，reviewing of papers and publications.

To support this new policy，the FED officially created this research group，named “History of Macao Education Research Group” working on a five-year “History of Macao Education Research Project 2008-2012”，in October 2007.There are 13 formal members in this group，including：Shan Wen Jing（Leader/Principal Investigator），Cheung Wai Po（Coordinator），Ieong Sao Leng，Cheng Chun Wai，Lou Chi Kuan，Vong Sou Kuan，Cheang Ian Pui，Cheng Cho Kee，Yeung Siu Kwai，Tse Kin Shing，Wong Chi Shing，Sung Ming Juan，and Fong Peng Long.The consultants are：Lao Sin Peng，Wu Wen Shing，Chou Yu Wen，Zhang Binxian，Ding Gang，Liu Haifeng，Tian Zhengping，Wang Bingzhao and Tang Kaijian.In addition，special advisors will be invited from Macao，Mainland，Hong Kong，Japan，and Portugal to assist and provide guidance to our work when needs arise.

4.History of Macao Education Research Work Progressing as Planned

Our work has been progressing as planned in the following six areas：

1.Collecting and sorting out data：Our group has been searching for data and objects/relics relating to the history of Macao education through both official and unofficial channels in the mainland，Hong Kong，Taiwan and overseas，as well as Macao.We also make necessary editing of some of the materials and turn all of them digital.

2.Translation work：We hire specialists to translate some books，archives，letters and manuscripts，most of which are in Portuguese and some in Japanese，Spanish，and Italian.English documents are translated by the group members themselves.

3.Interviewing renowned educators：The group will hire people to assist us visit and interview some selected personages who have exerted great influence and made important contributions to the education of Macao and who have experienced the changes of education in different periods，to complement and enrich the data collected.

4.Editing and getting the historical documents/materials published：The members of the research group will examine，select，compare，analyze and edit the documents/materials collected and their translations，from the 16th century to 20th century in chronological order，under the headings of Educational Policies，Educational Philosophy，Textbooks，Educational Resources，and Curriculum Development.

5.Writing papers and publications：The group members will write papers on a number of topics on the basis of data collected and get them published.The papers may focus on particular incidents of education，particular figures in education，in the form of annals or history，to be published either as separate papers of in collections.

6.Research products translated into English：The group will invite specialists to translate important products into English，maybe a whole book or whole paper，or just the abstracts，so that the world will know these products and through them become aware of the unique characteristics of the history of Macao education.

5.Concluding Remarks：Continuing Commitment for Long-term Goals

The members of this research group，though they come from different parts of the world such as the Mainland，Hong Kong，Taiwan，as well as Macao，all agree that we should “Serve Macao，Care for and Dedicate Ourselves to Education” and uphold that history research demands continuous commitment and long-term accumulated efforts.We are determined to work hard，collecting data，analyzing data，and writing up papers to complete all the tasks required by the five-year “History of Macao Education Database Research Project 2008-2012”.We sincerely look forward to the assistance，support and guidance from all walks of life to help us complete the project smoothly.

Shan Wen Jing

Professor and Dean

Faculty of Education

University of Macau

December 2008

（Translated by Prof.Ieong Sao Leng）