Article contents
Local Government Schools in Sung China: A Reassessment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
Extract
Inscriptions on excavated oracle bones and tortoise shells confirm that formal education existed in China as early as the Shang dynasty (roughly 1480–1066 B.C.). Historical data show that Emperor P'ing-ti of the Han dynasty established a countrywide government school system in 3 A.D., consisting of a central school in the capital and local schools in prefectures and counties. Over the next nineteen centuries, the school system developed gradually, sometimes damaged by war but soon restored, until the introduction of the modern Western system in the early twentieth century.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1994 by the History of Education Society
References
1 Ku, Pan Han-shu (Peking, 1962), 12.355.Google Scholar
2 Zheng, Yuan Sung-tai chiao-yü—Chung-kuo ku-tai chiao-yü te li-shih-hsing chuancbe (Kuang-chou, 1991), 235–36, 308.Google Scholar
3 Sung hui-yao chi-kao: Ch'ung-ju ([hereafter SHY: CJ] Peking, 1987), 2.27.Google Scholar
4 For a discussion on finance of central schools in the Sung dynasty, see Hung-ch'i, Li Sung-tai chiao-yü san-lun (Taipei, 1980), 73–95.Google Scholar
5 Hsüan, Hsü Hsü-kung wen-chi (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an [hereafter SPTK ed.] Peking, 1922), 28.2a–3a.Google Scholar
6 Ch'ang, Wang Chin-shih ts'ui-pien (Peking, 1985), 126.8a.Google Scholar
7 Chung-yen, Fan Fan Wen-cheng-kung chi (SPTK ed.), 14.7a.Google Scholar
8 For a discussion on curricula in schools of the Sung dynasty, see Zheng, Yuan Sung-tai chiao-yü, ch. 1.Google Scholar
9 Hsiu, Ou-yang Ou-yang Wen-chung-kung chi (SPTK ed.), 39.12a. Kuan was a monetary unit in imperial China. One kuan was usually a string of 1,000 copper coins.Google Scholar
10 Ibid., 116.8b–9a; An-shih, Wang Wang Wen-kung wen-chi (Shanghai, 1974), 34.403.Google Scholar
11 SHY: CJ, 2.28b.Google Scholar
12 Ibid., 2.34a.Google Scholar
13 Hsiao-hsiang, Chang Yü-hu chü-shih wen-chi (SPTK ed.), 13.10a; Kuang, Li Chuang-chien chi (Ssu-k'u cb'üan-shu [hereafter SKCS ed.] Taipei, 1983), 16.610.Google Scholar
14 Chu, Yin Ho-nan hsien-sheng wen-chi (SPTK ed.), 4.3a.Google Scholar
15 SHY: CJ, 2.4a.Google Scholar
16 An-shih, Wang Wang Wen-kung wen-chi, 34.406; Kung, Tseng Tsung Kung chi (Peking, 1984), 17.282.Google Scholar
17 SHY: CJ, 2.8a–b.Google Scholar
18 Ibid., 2.37b–38a.Google Scholar
19 Hsi, Chu Hui-an hsien-sheng Chu Wen-kung wen-chi (SPTK ed.), 78.9b.Google Scholar
20 Ying-lin, Wang Yü-hai (SKCS ed.), 167.352; Chung-yen, Fan Fan Wen-cheng-kung chi, 7.1b.Google Scholar
21 Hsi, Chu Hui-an hsien-sheng Chu Wen-kung wen-chi, 20.10a; Tsu-ch'ien, Lü Tung-lai chi (SKCS ed.), 6.54. For studies of the reconstruction, see Chaffee, John W. “Chu Hsi and the Revival of the White Deer Grotto Academy, 1179–81,“ T'oung Pao 71 (1985): 40–62; and Chaffee, “Chu Hsi in Nan-K'ang: Tao-hsüeh and the Politics of Education,” in Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage, ed. Theodore de Bary, William and Chaffee, John W. (Berkeley, Calif., 1989), 414–31.Google Scholar
22 Chüeh, Yüan Yen-yu Ssu-ming chih (Sung Yuan Ssn-ming liu-chih ed.), 14.36a.Google Scholar
23 Lei, Chang Chang Yu-shih wen-chi (SPTK ed.), 50.4a; K'o-chia, Liang Ch'un-hsi San-shan chih (SKCS ed.), 9.201.Google Scholar
24 Shih, Yang Yang Kui-shan chi (Cheng-yi-t'ang chüan-shu ed.), 2.20b. Sheng is a unit of dry measure for grain. One sheng in the Sung dynasty is equal to 0.6641 liter today.Google Scholar
25 SHY: CJ, 2.15a, 2.22a, 2.30a–b.Google Scholar
26 Hsi, Chu Hui-an hsien-sheng Chu Wen-kung wen-chi, 100.14b.Google Scholar
27 K'o-chia, Liang Ch'un-hsi San-shan chih, 8.187; Lu Chiu-yüan, Lu Chiu-yüan chi (Peking, 1980), 19.230.Google Scholar
28 SHY: CJ, 2.20a, 2.22a.Google Scholar
29 Hsi, Chu Hui-an hsien-sheng Chu-wen-kung wen-chi, 79.14a.Google Scholar
30 For example, see Lee, Thomas H. C. Government Education and Examinations in Sung China (New York, 1985), 130; and Pao-lin, Kuo “Pei-Sung te chou-hsien-hsüeh,” Li-shih yen-chiu 2 (Apr. 1988): 85.Google Scholar
31 Shao-yü, Chiang Sung-ch'ao shih-shih lei-yüan (Peking, 1981), 61.816. Ch'ing is a unit of area. One ch'ing during the Sung dynasty is approximately equal to 36,864 square meters today.Google Scholar
32 See Hsia, Ch'i “Sung-tai hsüeh-t'ien-chih chung feng-chien tsu-tien kuan-hsi te fa-chan” and “Sung-tai huo-pi ti-tsu chi ch'i fa-chan,“ in his Ch'iu-shih chi (T'ien-chin, 1982), 160–93.Google Scholar
33 T'ao, Li Hsü tzu-chih tung-chien ch'ang pien (Peking, 1985), 99.2303.Google Scholar
34 K'o-chia, Liang Ch'un-hsi San-shan chih, 8.184.Google Scholar
35 Kou, Li Li Kou chi (Peking, 1981), 23.252.Google Scholar
36 SHY: CJ, 2.5a.Google Scholar
37 K'o-chia, Liang Ch'un-hsi San-shan chih, 8.185.Google Scholar
38 SHY: CJ, 2.7b, 2.31b.Google Scholar
39 Yao-yü, Lu Chin-shih hsü-pien (Peking, 1985), 19.2b.Google Scholar
40 Lei, Chang Chang Yu-shih wen-chi, 50.9b.Google Scholar
41 Yao, Lou Kung-k'ui chi (SPTK ed.), 91.23a.Google Scholar
42 Yü-ch'eng, Wang Hsiao-hsü chi (SPTK ed.), 17.11a; Lao Hsing-chih, Hsing-chai chi (SKCS ed.), 4.323–24. Tan is a unit of dry measure for grain. One tan is equal to 100 sheng.Google Scholar
43 K'o-chuang, Liu Hou-ts'un hsien-sheng ta-ch'üan-chi (SPTK ed.), 143.9b.Google Scholar
44 For example, see Pao-chu, Chou et al., Chien-ming Sung-shih (Peking, 1985), 476; and Lee, Government Education and Examinations in Sung China, 16, 27.Google Scholar
45 Chieh, Shih Ts'u-lai hsien-sheng wen-chi (Peking, 1984), 19.224.Google Scholar
46 Ssu-te, Kao Ch'ih-t'ang ts'un-kao (Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng ch'u-pien ed.), 4.72.Google Scholar
47 Hsiu-nien, T'ang “Pa,“ attached to Meng-hsi pi-t'an (Peking, 1974).Google Scholar
48 Tseng-hsiang, Fu Ts'ang-yüan ch'ün-shu ching-yen lu (Peking, 1983), 14.1206.Google Scholar
49 Sung Hui-yao chi-kao: Shih-huo, 7.32b-33a; Kao Ssu-te, Ch'ih-t'ang ts'un-kao, 4.72.Google Scholar
50 Hsi, Chu Hui-an hsien-sheng Chu Wen-kung wen-chi, 80.16a; Yao, Cheng Ching-ting Yen-chou hsü-chih (Chien-hsi ts'un-she ed.) 3.3b.Google Scholar
51 Tuan-lin, Ma Wen-hsien t'ung-kao (Peking, 1986), 17.171, 17.170; Sung hui-yao chi-kao: Shih-huo, 7.23b.Google Scholar
52 Sung hui-yao chi-kao: Shih-huo, 70.135a-b; Tuan-lin, Ma Wen-hsien t'ung-kao, 19.187.Google Scholar
53 chü, Chiang-su t'ung-chih Chiang-su chin-shih chih (Chiang-su t'ung-chih ed. 1927), 8.40a.Google Scholar
54 SHY: CJ, 2.25a-b, 2.13a.Google Scholar
55 Hsi-lu, Yü Chih-shun Cheng-chiang chih (Wan-wei pieh-ts'ang ed.), 11.20b; Yao-yü, Lu Chin-shih hsu-pien, 19.2b.Google Scholar
56 Chung-liang, Yang Tzu-chih tung-chien ch'ang-pien chi-shih pen-mo (Taipei, 1957), 126.6b; Sheng-chung, Ko Tang-yang chi (SKCS ed.), 1.400.Google Scholar
57 SHY: CJ, 2.21b-22a; Chih, Li Huang-Sung shih-ch'ao kang-yao (Tung-fang hsüeh-hui, 1928), 18.9b.Google Scholar
58 T'o, T'o Sung shih (Peking, 1977), 167.3971; Tuan-lin, Ma Wen-hsien t'ung-k'ao, 62.563; Kuang-ming, Teng et al., Chung-kuo li-shih ta-ts'u-tien: Sung-shih chüan (Shanghai, 1984), 458.Google Scholar
59 Hsin-ch'uan, Li Jian-yen yi-lai hsi-nien yao-lu (Peking, 1988), 149.2403; SHY: CJ, 2.37b.Google Scholar
60 SHY: CJ, 2.38b; Hsin-ch'uan, Li Jian-yen yi-lai hsi-nien yao-lu, 180.2978; Hsi, Chu Hui-an hsien-sheng Chu Wen-kung wen-chi, 24.3b.Google Scholar
61 Li-chi: Hsüeh-chi (Peking, 1980), 36.1521.Google Scholar
62 See Zheng, Yuan Sung-tai chiao-yü, chs. 1, 2, and 3; and idem, “The Grade System of Schools in Eleventh-to-Thirteenth Century China,” Chinese Studies in History 25 (Winter 1991–92): 17–52.Google Scholar
63 chü, Chiang-su t'ung-chih Chiang-su chin-shih chih, 8.40a; Sung-shih ch'uan-wen (SKCS ed.), 27 (shang). 457.Google Scholar
- 5
- Cited by