History of education in China

The history of education in China began with the birth of Chinese civilization. The nobles often set up the educational establishments for their offspring. The Shang Hsiang was a legendary school to teach the youth nobles. It may have been the origin of education in China.

Zhou Dynasty

The government founded five national schools to educate Six Arts of junior nobles.

Hundred Schools of Thought

At that time, numerous different schools enrolled the students. The most famous one was the Confucianism and its leader Confucius was seen as the founder of education for the masses. One of his saying was "Provide education for all people without discrimination" (Chinese:有教无类). Another was "Teach according to the student's ability" (Chinese: 因材施教).

The different schools were often organized into political entities to gain social influence.

The Setback of Education

Qin Shi Huang favored Legalism (Chinese philosophy),and regarded others useless,so he carried out burning of books and burying of scholars. It was one major setback for Chinese education.

Confucianism as the education doctrine

Emperor Wu of Han favored Confucianism and made it as the national educational doctrine.The Taixue was setup to turn out civil servant for the empire. Imperial examination began at 605, and the educational system for Chinese Empire was finaled modeled until the abolishment in 1905, and replaced by modern Western Education.

Meanwhile art school Pear Garden appeared in early 8th century, and in 1178 national military school Wu Xue () was set up.

Properties of local schools

Imperial examination required the competitors to pass their local cutting score before the final examination in capitol. So the private school prevailed. White Deer Grotto Academy and Donglin Academy were their models.

The invention of Paper and Movable type greatly boosted the educational industry.

The introduction of modern education

Following the defeat of the Chinese empire in the Opium Wars, modern western education was eagerly sought out in the domains of foreign languages, national defence, and new techniques of industrial production. The Capital Foreign Language House () was set up in 1862. Countless overseas students were sent by the government or by their families to Europe, USA, and Japan. In the late 19th century, several modern universities were founded, such as Peking University and Jiaotong University.

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*Education in the People's Republic of China