Chapter 3 Section 1 The Legend of Xia Dynasty School

According to tradition, Xia was the first dynasty in Chinese history, with a history of more than 400 years, from the beginning of the 21st century BC to the beginning of the 16th century BC.The nobles of the Xia Dynasty established schools to train their children.According to ancient books, such as "Mencius", "Shuowen Jiezi", "Hanshu·Rulin Biography" and so on, "Xia said school", and "Book of Rites·Wangzhi" and "Mingtangwei" also said Xia's school is called "Xu".In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan's commentary on "Yi Li" also said that Xia Hou's study was called "Xiang".These different legends all have certain basis; we can say that the Xia Dynasty may have had three non-specialized educational institutions, "Xiang", "Xu" and "School", which have not yet fully developed into the form of schools. "Xiang" was inherited from the Yushun era. "Preface" and "school" are newly added.Generally speaking, at the end of primitive society, there will be a period of military tribal alliances, and the Xia Dynasty may correspond to this historical stage or later, so it attaches great importance to military training. "Preface" was originally a place for practicing archery and shooting. There were only east and west walls and no houses. It was obviously created for the needs of military training. "Mencius" said: "The preface is also for shooting." This interpretation is in line with the reality at that time. of the situation.Bows and arrows were invented in the clan society period, and the Xia Dynasty needed to train warriors capable of archery in foreign wars, so the existence of "order" is very possible. "School" was originally a "wooden fence", a place for raising horses, and later evolved into a place for drills or wrestling competitions, which was also created for the needs of military training.Although the "Xiang", "Xu" and "School" in the Xia Dynasty cannot be said to be institutions that truly impart cultural knowledge, they should also be said to be a place for ethical education and military training, which is close to the nature of ancient schools.