ABSTRACT
In the late nineteenth century, two significant endeavors to promote Chinese language studies were undertaken at higher education institutions in the United States. In 1877, Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884), a sinologist, was appointed the first professor of Chinese at Yale. This was the first professorship in Chinese in the US Meanwhile, Harvard College’s 1879 ‘Chinese Educational Scheme’ devised by Francis P. Knight (1831–1880) hired a native Chinese speaker, Ko K’un-hua (1838–1882), to teach Chinese language. While there is not yet a complete account of Williams’s appointment, Ko’s appointment has been studied by many researchers (Cui 1994; Fan 2002; Hanan and Adolphson 2003; Lum 2008; Xu 2014; Zhang 2000; Zhang 2002, among others). Furthermore, even though these two appointments took place around the same time, there has been very little scholarship comparing them from the pedagogical perspective. The goal of this chapter is to fill this gap. The first part will provide a historical account of these two appointments based on archival research; the second part will discuss pedagogical issues that spring from these two significant events in light of their impact on and insights into the field of teaching Chinese today. The conclusion will offer implications for the teaching and promotion of Chinese language and culture in the twenty-first century given what we learn from this history.
