It seemed to be a common sense that Westerns think Chinese are smart. Let’s figure out about how regarding some classical pros and cons in Chinese education systems. Notice our comparisons and observations here are upon intellectuals, about their development of intelligence.
Part I: Early Education
A few skills that Chinese traditionally learned and possessed were uniquely important for early develop of human systems. That have something evidently affect people’s whole life, more smart and longer-last as smart! I give four Chinese early learnings and trainings.
1. Tones of Speaking Language
Chinese speaking features tones, each character and characters-who-made-up-a-word has a unique tone to distinguish meanings and to connect contexts within a composed sentence. Western studies indicated that to learn a speaking language with tones would need to practically using both halves of human brain to perform functions to collectively process frequency-domain signals. While in English, for example, it does not feature tones, thus only needs one half of the brain actively functional while learning and practicing the language. The less training and exercise, the less development of human system, that is especially true in early-age of human development.
In China, the modern official language is Mandarin, which consists 4 tones. After Manchurian who invaded and ruled Chinese since some 300+ years ago (Qing Dynasty), Mandarin was derived from the early Chinese spoken language that is mostly similar to now Cantonese. Manchurian royal families were fond and obsessed of Chinese culture, therefore first to master was the language (eventually they later abandoned their own language. And in fact now modern Manchurian have entirely lost ability of speak, read or write Manchurian). However they might felt that Chinese or Cantonese language was hard to speak. The authority adapted to speak a simplified version of 4-tone Mandarin. Cantonese is more sophisticated, with 5 tones. The additional one is like letter M (ɛm) in English, by close mouth at end of a word. Manchurian cannot make that sound.
By the way, the name of the spoken language Mandarin was by a mistake: said long ago an English visitor who on an occasion asked his interpreter what language of that manchurian officer was speaking, the interpreter heard as he said who was that speaking person, then he answered it was Mandarin (a manchurian officer in Chinese).
Any way, back then Mandarin was less sophisticated than earlier real Chinese (now Cantonese) . It is by choice the Chinese authority wanted to get things simpler. By then it made less challenge to people who learned Chinese as the second language; it was easier for their descendants, who could have learned a more sophisticated version so that trained and gained their intelligence better. But who knows?
An immediate backward effect caused by Mandarin was that it disrupted continuity of the art of Chinese Poetry (Shi) and Lyric (Ci). In Chinese the collective effect of tones of characters and notes of music followed a set of sophisticated regularity. That science had been all figured out by ancient Chinese intellectuals since a thousand years ago. But now to modern Chinese who only speak Mandarin it get all confused. There were far fewer Chinese modern intellectuals who can master precision arts of Shi and Ci, or write good lyrics in Chinese. The reason is that they are not speaking the original Chinese any more. Here are a piece of human intellectual wonder that has been already lost.
2. Calligraphy
Writing Chinese characters in style, using traditional brush pen and ink, is an intensive training of collectively coordination and execution that involve people’s emotion, mind, brain, cortex, vision, sensor and motor nerves, movement and steadiness of hands, etc. with real-time intentions and instant feedback-control. Recent Western studies supported that people who wrote in cursive or calligraphy styles of alphabetic languages were statistically better developed with their intelligence as well physical coordinate. Chinese characters are far more sophisticated in writing comparing to alphabets. Chinese calligraphy is a more advanced learning and training.
While Chinese don’t practice calligraphy any more: modern teachers and students felt it frustrating to master such training, effort, time, patience, etc. those are all but short in our modernised life. Technologies can provide higher productivities to our works, such as typing on computer keyboards and brushing fingers on smartphone touch screens. Isn’t it irony that it is productivity that gives us an excuse for not learning. Machines are more smart, while we masters of machines is excused for not being smart.
3. Abacus
The world’s earliest mechanical calculator, with a set of simple rules of hand movements and bead registers, that have mustered all calculations needed since some two thousand ye.ars ago. To early-age education, abacus is the same training and exercise as did through Calligraphy, except it is a version of numerical thinking and execution
While Chinese don’t practice abacus any more. A calculator and a computer can do much easier for its masters. But still I would say, abacus is the most practically comprehensive exercise instruments. Not only for youths during their early education, it is specially for elders. Don’t leave home without it. Bring an abacus in travel can be just as important as using hotel gym.
4. Chinese Traditional Character Sets
Chinese characters features radicles and strokes. The modern authority has introduced a new Simplified Character Set which replaced the Traditional one. For illiterate adults it would have been hard to master Traditional Character Set, but for fresh-learning early education, it has been proven through some two thousand years that human has been able to learn and master the more sophisticated Traditional Character Set. Just about some sixty years ago, somehow the authority decided that the majority Chinese population was dumb. In order to let them become literature, we must have made Characters simpler.
Again this is a training like calligraphy and abacus, except a version emphasis more in visual-brain functions of cognitive recognition and collective memory. Also writing in Traditional Characters are more challenge to brain-eye-hand coordinate. The harder training, the more learning, and the higher intelligence gained through the process. In ancient time, people mastered how to write Chinese characters, then in a more obstructed higher style of calligraphy, intellectuals invented a cursive style hand-writing (Cao), that simplified redial make-out and stroke arrangements. This was the original of many modern Simplified Characters. On the other way around, if people learned Simplified Characters first, later they missed their life-time window of learning, like many of we modern Chinese say: I just cannot master the Traditional Characters; like we lost ability of learning. Perhaps it is the Simplified Character Set who did not train and exercise us intensive enough, that made us dumber.
People said a nation’s wisdom was mostly in writing. Scripts, books, documents, archives, etc. If we could not read then we lost access of the wisdom. The fewer people who know about past translate, while the majority readers are waiting, well they could have learned to master reading from the originals. But the choice was not. While majority of people will neither learn Traditional Characters or wait for its translation into Simplified Characters. They will move on to do somethings easier. Thus we pass by many pieces of human intellectual wonders; see but did not read them.