Chapter 4 Section 2 Schools of the Shang Dynasty——Embryo of Ancient Official Schools

The Shang Dynasty was undoubtedly a slavery country with a history of more than 600 years, from the beginning of the 16th century BC to the 11th century BC.In the late Shang Dynasty, the capital was moved to Yin (now in Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan), so the Shang Dynasty was also called the Yin Dynasty, or Yin Shang.Yin Shang had a school education system, which was confirmed by archaeological unearthed cultural relics.According to ancient books, such as "Mencius" said: "Yin said the preface", "Shuowen Jiezi" and "Han Shu Rulin Biography" said: "Yin said Xiang", "Book of Rites King Zhi" said: Yin There are "right learning" and "left learning", and "Ming Tang Wei" also says that Yin learning is called "Gu [gu drum] sect".That is to say, in the Shang Dynasty, there were already four schools of "Xu", "Xiang", "Xue" and "Guzong". "Xiang" and "Xu" were inherited and developed from the Xia Dynasty, and its teaching content is more expanded.At that time, there were two major events in the country: one was sacrifice (sacrifice to ancestors), and the other was "Rong" (military conquest).Learning rituals and music in sacrificial activities and learning techniques in military activities became the main content of schools at that time. Both "Xiang" and "Xu" have become schools for training military talents. "Xiang" was originally a place for the elderly, and it still had the function of providing for the elderly in the Shang Dynasty. At the same time, it also provided moral and ethical education for the younger generation, such as filial piety to parents, respect for elder brothers, etc.; but at the same time, "Xiang" was also a place to learn archery.Among the oracle bone inscriptions excavated from the ground, there is a record about archery coached by "Xiang", which shows that the educational function of "Xiang" expanded in the Shang Dynasty. "Preface" is not only to learn archery, but also to learn martial arts; not only to learn archery skills, but also to learn "shooting ceremony". The children of nobles should understand the etiquette and etiquette of archery, and then clarify the rules for the senior and junior of the monarch and his ministers.

The "Gu Zong" and "You Xue" in the Shang Dynasty were schools for learning ritual and music, with a relatively high level, and they were ancient institutions of higher learning.According to textual research, the Shang Dynasty advocated the right, and the west was the right, so the universities were set up in the western suburbs. In this way, the universities in the western suburbs were also called "right learning". "Guzong" was originally the ancestral temple.There, choose moral civil servants who are proficient in rites and music to teach noble children.Later generations used "Gu Zong" to represent the schools of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, which were located in the west, so they were called "Western Learning".It can be seen that "Youxue", "Western Learning" and "Guzong" are the same kind of school, that is, the university of the Shang Dynasty.Later generations also called the university of the Shang Dynasty "Biyong", also known as "Xiyong", which is another name for the university of the Shang Dynasty.

The oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Yin Ruins have not yet found "Preface" and "Gu Zong", but the words "teaching" and "learning" are often seen. For example, there is an inscription on oracle bone inscriptions that says: Bingzi asked God: "When the children come back from school, what will they do?" Will there be heavy rain?" Divination is a matter for the royal family, and only when there are major events, divination is performed. The children of nobles go to school to become the content of divination, which shows that the Shang Dynasty attached great importance to the education of noble schools.Another inscription said: The king of Shang ordered a certain official to educate the members of the royal family seriously and responsibly.What's more interesting is that there is a piece of oracle that says: "Ding Youbu, it is called Duofang boy and minister, and it teaches warnings." "Teaching and precepts" refers to practicing martial arts and dancing, which is consistent with the theory that Yin Xu practiced archery and Gu Zong practiced rites and music.This piece of inscriptions reflects that during the Yin period, many students from neighboring countries were sent to study abroad, which shows that there were already students from neighboring countries studying ritual and music here in Yin's university at that time, which shows that the schools in the Shang Dynasty were quite developed.Some people say that this is the origin of China's "study abroad system".

The inscriptions on oracle bones also indicate that the Shang Dynasty had taught reading, writing, and arithmetic.The unearthed oracle bone inscriptions have reached about 4,500 characters, and advanced methods such as phonetics, knowing, and borrowing have been widely used.This shows that the development of writing in the Shang Dynasty was very mature, and long written records would naturally appear.The oracle bone inscriptions have book characters, written as The Shang Dynasty has made great progress in astronomy and calendar, which is related to the development of mathematics.The largest number in oracle bone inscriptions has reached 30,000.Unearthed cultural relics also show that at that time, general arithmetic operations and some geometric figures could be drawn, so mathematics has become the main content of teaching.

It can be seen that the aristocrats of the Shang Dynasty attached great importance to school education and established aristocratic schools-Xu, Xiang, Xue, and Guzong.Teachers are state officials.The content of education includes religious, ethical, military and general cultural knowledge.This is the embryonic form of the earliest official school in China.