Chapter 13 Section 1 School Education in the Qin Dynasty

In 221 BC, Qin Wang Yingzheng annexed the six kingdoms and established the first unified feudal dynasty in Chinese history with centralized absolutism.In order to meet the political needs of a unified feudal country, the Qin Dynasty took many major measures in terms of culture and education. Chinese characters came into being very early. Painted pottery inscriptions appeared in the Neolithic period of the primitive society. The mature characters——Oracle Bone Inscriptions appeared in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and seal scripts, also known as Zhenwen, appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty.During the Warring States period, due to the long period of feudal separatism, the characters of various countries were influenced by dialects, and many borrowed characters with different dialects appeared. In addition, the calligraphy shapes of countries were also very different, which was extremely unfavorable for the implementation of unified government orders in the Qin Dynasty.In 221 B.C., Qin Shihuang ordered to sort out and unify the characters, stipulating that the small seal script (that is, Qin seal script) that unified the pre-Qin state should be the unified calligraphy style, so as to change the chaotic phenomenon of "character irregularities".In this way, not only cleared the obstacles for the smooth implementation of the policies and decrees of the Qin Dynasty, but also created extremely favorable conditions for the spread of culture and the popularization of school education.After reforming the text, Prime Minister Li Si compiled Cangjie Pian, CRRC Fu ordered Zhao Gao to compile Yuan Li Pian, and Taishi ordered Hu Wujing to compile Bo Xue Pian, which were used as a model of standard text and promoted in the society. , and for the literacy of schoolchildren.These textbooks, four characters into sentences, rhyme, easy to memorize, became the pioneer of literacy textbooks after the Han Dynasty.After sorting and unifying the characters, the strokes should be simple and concise, and the shape should be standardized. The copies of "Taishan Carved Stone", "Langyatai Carved Stone" and Yi (yiyi) Mountain and Kuaiji (kuai ji Kuaiji) , its appearance can be seen.Later, Cheng Miao, a jailer, worked hard for ten years to create a script with more convenient strokes, called Lishu.On the basis of Xiaozhuan, the official script changed the curved pen to a straight pen, changed the circle to a square, and simplified the complicated painting to make writing more convenient.Most of the Qin bamboo slips unearthed today use official script.Sorting out and unifying characters is a major achievement of the Qin Dynasty in the education of ancient Chinese culture.

In the prefectures and counties of the Qin Dynasty, there were generally official schools - "schools". The students in the "school room" are called "disciples". The source of "disciple" has certain restrictions, and it is stipulated that at least it must be the son of "Shi".The so-called "history" refers to low-level civil officials such as clerks, secretaries, and archivists of government agencies at all levels.In order to facilitate management, there is a roster of "school disciples", and government officials can not only order them at any time, but also beat them.Of course, the government also gave some preferential treatment to disciples, exempting them from military service and corvee service, which was considered a great consideration at the time.Because the military service and corvee service in the Qin Dynasty were very heavy.

The educational content of "Xueshi" has two aspects: one is to learn culture, write names, recognize famous objects, and recite "Cang Jie Pian", "Yan Li Pian" and "Bo Xue Pian"; the other is to study laws and regulations clearly.Because the purpose of learning is to become an official in the future, the Qin Dynasty advocated the rule of law, so it is very important to learn the laws and regulations, and the requirements are very strict. After the "students of the school" have completed their studies, the names of the disciples can be removed from the roster, indicating that they have graduated and can be officials.However, before being appointed, disciples must conduct a certain period of investigation and practice. After passing the qualifications, they can be appointed as officials, and they are initially appointed as lower-level officials such as "history".

The doctoral system in ancient China originated from the Qilu countries during the Warring States Period.After Qin Shihuang unified the country, he inherited the doctoral system in the Warring States period, and the central court successively recruited more than 70 doctors from the six countries.Doctors in ancient times were different from modern doctors in that they were not degrees, but a kind of civil servant whose duty was to "discuss political affairs, prepare for consultation, and learn old books."That is to say, in addition to participating in political affairs and serving as government consultants, doctors also master ancient and modern history and culture.Precisely because doctors have mastered ancient and modern history and culture and have rich knowledge and knowledge, some doctors pass on their careers and teach students in their own names.According to "Historical Records", Qin had "doctoral students", that is, doctors had private students. It can be seen that private schools still existed after Qin Shihuang unified the country. At that time, they were called "learning from a hundred schools of thought". Mohists, famous scholars, strategists, yin-yang schools, immortal schools, miscellaneous schools, etc. all have private schools.However, the scale of this kind of private schools is still relatively small, because the Qin Dynasty mainly implemented the rule of law, and only allowed a small amount of private schools to exist when it did not deviate from the rule of law. only within certain limits.

The guiding ideology of the Qin Dynasty was Legalism, which believed that the "learning of a hundred schools of thought" was not conducive to the unity of the country.Prime Minister Li Si (? - 208 BC) said: "All students today do not learn from the present but learn from the past. If they are not in the present, they will confuse the leaders of Guizhou [before]." It means that nowadays private school students do not learn from the present but only from the past. , using ancient times to oppose today's policies and confuse the people.He also said: "Private learning and illegal teaching. When people hear the order, they will discuss it based on their own learning. If they enter, they will be wrong, and if they go out, they will discuss it." Slandering the government, these people hear the court decrees announced, and they use what they have learned to discuss. When they enter the government office, they say what they mean, and when they get out of the government office, they participate in the street talk.Li Si said that if private schools are not banned, the emperor's power will be reduced and the following party members will be formed.Prohibition is convenient and stable.So Qin Shihuang accepted Li Si's suggestion of "banning private education" and issued an order of "banning private education".

The specific implementation method is: a All history books other than the Qin Dynasty, poetry books and works of hundreds of schools that are not in the hands of doctoral officials will be sent to the government to be burned, except for medicine, divination and agricultural books.Those who fail to burn the books that should be burned within 30 days from the date of the order will be punished with tattoo (qingqing) and sentenced to four years of hard labour. b Those who dare to talk about poetry and books will be executed, and those who regard the past as the present will be exterminated.Officials who know but do not report are guilty of the same crime.

c Those who want to learn laws and regulations should take government officials as their teachers.This is the "book burning" incident in history. In his later years, Qin Shihuang was superstitious about immortals and wanted "the medicine of immortality".In 219 BC, Xu Fu and others were sent to the sea to seek immortality.Xu Fu and others were gone forever.In 215 B.C., alchemists Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng were dispatched again to find medicine.Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng couldn't seek immortality, and they fled one after another for fear of being executed.Qin Shihuang was furious. In 212 BC, he ordered the arrest and interrogation of alchemists and Confucian scholars who were involved. Finally, more than 460 "offenders" were personally designated and buried alive in Xianyang.This is the "pitting Confucianism" incident in history.

The rulers of the Qin Dynasty replaced education with laws and teachers with officials, and adopted a negative attitude towards school education. In fact, they denied the role of education in maintaining the country and society. This is not in line with objective reality and violates objective laws. Yes, this is one of the reasons for accelerating the demise of the Qin Dynasty.