本文旨在探討甲午前在華中外人士對美國教育的介紹，透過對49種當時出版專書之分析，發現主要屬史地類，編著者以傳教士居多，出版時間以同光朝較多。其中有教育記事者26種，內容涉及中小學、大學、女子教育、陸海軍校、聾啞院、師範學堂、神學院、醫學院、法學院、育嬰院、教育行政制度、技藝館、圖書館等主題；範圍涵蓋一特區29州。但對國名與地名、中小學與大學的譯名不一，因美國由公立共同小學、免費公立中學及州立大學所構的教育階梯，與以8-4制為主的三級學制尚在形成，更增加清人理解的困難。又用中國科舉概念去理解與轉譯美國學制易生誤解，雖略及教育行政制度，但未辨明教育權屬地方而非聯邦。總之，甲午前清人無法從論著中認識美國教育的完整面貌，不利日後的教育借用。

The aim of this article is to explore the introduction of American Education in lateCh'ing before 1894. Historical method was used: forty-nine volumes of historical andgeographic books, traveling records, and diaries written by missionaries, diplomats,local officials and commoners were analyzed. Among them, twenty-six volumes ofthese had recorded educational events in the U.S. A., involving elementary and middleschools, colleges and universities, girls’ education, military academies, blind and deafenschools, normal schools, professional schools of law, medicine and theology, Severalreasons were argued to cause difficulties to get a full picture of American educationwere found, making borrowing the concepts challenging. First, the educationalinstitutions recorded were located in Washington D. C. and 29 states, and the namesof country, states, and educational institutions were translated differently, leading toconfusion. Moreover, as the American common education system and school system of 8-4 pattern were just starting to form, it was harder for outsiders to understand. Further,the concepts of civil service examination in China were used to interpret Americansystem by a few authors, causing misunderstanding. Finally, although the educationaladministration system had been mentioned in some books, it was not clearly stated orexplained that the right of education belonged to states instead of the nation.