As early as 1 million years ago, primitive people appeared in China; tens of thousands of years ago, primitive people gradually transitioned to matrilineal clan communes; more than 5,000 years ago, some clans in the Yellow River and Yangtze River valleys began to enter patrilineal clan communes.The Chinese nation started from the making and using of rough stone tools by the primitive people, and then there was education with the content of imparting labor experience and primitive etiquette.In the long period of primitive society, generally speaking, education was carried out in the practical process of labor and life, and there was no special organizational form, which appeared as a natural form.

500,000 years ago, the primitive people in Zhoukoudian, Beijing—Peking Man lived in a group of dozens of people and lived in caves. They were able to make a variety of rough stone tools, including scrapers, chopping tools, and pointed tools, and knew how to use them. fire.According to the degree of perfection of the brain development of Peking Man, it is speculated that they already had language.They use language as a communication tool, form a group, and fight against nature to obtain living materials.However, they lived in the prehistoric era, and the struggle against nature was very arduous, so that among the more than 40 individuals of Peking Man found in Zhoukoudian, 1/3 died before the age of 14.But in the face of difficulties, they are not weak, they do not retreat, but strive to gain more freedom in the relationship between man and nature.It is this requirement that prompts them to start the education of the next generation, so that the next generation can quickly grasp the experience of labor and life, so as to increase the ability to fight against nature.

Children of Peking Man belong to a group, and educating children is the common responsibility of the group.Making and using stone tools and using natural fire have become the main content of educating children. Stone tools have gone down in history as the magical powers that created the world and the birth certificate of mankind.The discovery of friction to generate fire contains the germination of the natural scientific principle of converting mechanical motion into heat energy; the role of fire can even be regarded as the real beginning of human history.Although the fangs and claws of ferocious beasts can be powerful for a while, their power is short-lived and limited; while the power of human beings to conquer nature through collective labor to create and use tools is long-lasting and unlimited.In the historical process of human beings infinitely developing their own strength, education is an indispensable and important means.The more advanced society is, the higher the level of production technology will be. If the younger generation wants to inherit their labor experience, they need to rely more on the purposeful and conscious teaching and guidance of adults.

Education in primitive society is not only about imparting labor knowledge and skills, but also about ideology, morality and customs.In primitive society, there was no class antagonism, and no law representing the will of the ruling class. How could people adjust the relationship between productive labor and social life?That is the customs and primitive etiquette of the society. The Banpo site in Xi'an discovered in archeology was a typical matriarchal commune village six or seven thousand years ago.In the center of the village's residential area, there is a large house of 160 square meters, which archaeologists and historians judged to be "the place of the clan's public activities, where clan meetings, festivals and religious activities are held." .These public activities played the role of educating clan customs and primitive etiquette at that time.It is said that in the time of Shennong, "government was governed without punishment" and "the people obeyed without order"; it was also said that Shennong was "sacrificed in Mingtang", and Mingtang was called "the palace of great religion".From these words, we can somewhat see the shadow of historical truth.The "big house" discovered in the archaeology may be the "Mingtang" called the "Palace of Great Religion" in the legend.

Ancient books record: "In the age of the Sui [sui] man, there was a lot of water in the world, so he taught the people to fish", "drilling wood and flint to make fire, and taught the people to cook food"; "hunting"; "Shen Nong plowed and made pottery", "Shen Nong used the time of the sky to share the benefits of the land, and made Lei Si [lei si tired like] to teach the people to farm".From the perspective of content, these legends reflect the history of production and education after the ancient people entered the matrilineal clan commune. As for the legends created and invented during the patrilineal clan commune stage, they are more abundant and concentrated on the Yellow Emperor (the leader of the tribal alliance), such as "The Yellow Emperor made a palace to avoid the cold and warm", "The Yellow Emperor made a chariot to draw weight and far", "The Yellow Emperor picked The first mountain of copper, the tripod was cast at the foot of Jingshan Mountain", "The Yellow Emperor made the crossbow", "The Yellow Emperor was the conqueror of the princes, and fought Chiyou in the field of Zhuolu" and so on.Such legends reflect the development of production and culture in many aspects at the end of primitive society, which further enriches and develops the content of education.At the same time, the production of weapons and combat training have also become new topics in education.

The ancient clan educated the younger generation through productive labor and primitive etiquette activities.The so-called primitive etiquette refers to "totems and taboos". "Totem" is the emblem and patron saint of the clan, and is admired and worshipped. The first article of "Shangshu" recorded a musician's words: "I hit the stone, and the beasts dance together" (I knocked the stone chime, and groups of wild animals danced along with it).How is this going?It turns out that what is recorded here is a kind of masquerade dance in primitive society - "totem dance".Clans in primitive society often use beasts as totems, believing that it can provide the clan's living needs and drive away disasters.Legend has it that the tribe name of the Yellow Emperor is "Youxiong", and the "bear" may be used as a totem.The ancestors of the Xiahou family may use "dragon" as their totem. "Dragon" is an imaginary animal. Its basic form is a snake, and it also has four legs of a beast, the head and tail of a horse, the horns of a deer, the claws of a dog, and the scales and whiskers of a fish. The combination of animal totems may have been formed in the process of tribal mergers and integration, with some clans worshiping snakes as the main body and absorbing some features of other clans' totems.Totem worship and the ceremonies, taboos, songs and dances and myths derived from it are important forms of ideological, cultural and custom education after the formation of clans. "Rituals and taboos" were a set of norms and order laws that could not be violated at that time.In some etiquette activities, there are strict regulations on every movement and every gesture, and no wrong action is allowed, and no detail is allowed to be omitted. Bring disaster to the entire clan and tribe.At that time, children often heard stories from adults about Nuwa refining stones to mend the sky, Jingwei filling the sea, and so on. Such myths and stories were passed down from generation to generation in primitive society, and Nuwa and Jingwei became The image of a hero who fights against the sky and sacrifices for the collective interests that children yearn for.This helps to reinforce the sense of clan community among the younger generations, motivating them to dedicate themselves to the collective good.

From the educational activities in the natural form of primitive society, we can see that education is a unique social phenomenon of human beings.Human beings have been living in groups since their creation, and entered the field of history as soon as they were formed, and began to create their own history, and education plays an important role in this history-creating activity of human beings.The role of education is not only to pass on production experience, but also to cultivate ideology, morality and customs.Therefore, education is not only the reproduction of labor force, but also the reproduction of "social man".Education is an indispensable and important means in the struggle for collective survival, an important means to perpetuate race and improve people's quality, and it is also an important means to develop human society.