Chapter 14 Section 2 The School Education System of the Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, but adopted Confucian ideas in education, reaffirmed the role of education in cultivating talents and educating the people, and regarded school education as an important tool for consolidating the unified centralized feudal dynasty. The unification of the country, the development of the economy, and the emergence of new teaching methods—both silk and paper as writing tools—are the three basic social and material conditions for the development of school education in the Han Dynasty.On the basis of these three basic conditions, under the guidance of the policy of "respecting only Confucianism" implemented by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che (156-87 BC), both official and private schools in the Han Dynasty achieved unprecedented development, and the school education system has been established. It began to take shape, and gradually formed a school education system system dominated by Confucianism, which laid a preliminary foundation for the entire ancient Chinese school education system.

The official school of the Han Dynasty was divided into two categories: the central government school and the local government school.The central government schools include the Taixue with a university nature, the Hongdumenxue and the Xiaohouxuexue with special characteristics.According to the administrative divisions, local government schools set up schools, schools, schools, and orders, and their levels have been divided into high and low. In the fifth year of Yuanshuo, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (124 BC), 50 doctoral students (i.e. Taixue students) were established. This was the beginning of the official establishment of Taixue in the Han Dynasty.Taixue is located in the northwest suburb of Chang'an, Kyoto, and has a considerable scale. As the highest institution of learning in the Han Dynasty in China, it is the oldest university on the same level as the University of Athens in Europe and the University of Alexandria in Egypt.

In addition to Taixue, the central official school in the Han Dynasty also had Hongdu school.Hongdumen School was founded in the first year of Emperor Guanghe of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 178). It was named after the school site was Hongdumen in Luoyang.This is the earliest art college in ancient China.It specially recruits students who have the ability to write ruler slips [dudu], Ci Fu, and are good at writing bird seal characters.The establishment, enrollment and appointment of officials of Hongdu school are different from those of Tai school.It was a place for cultivating private forces controlled by the eunuch group at that time, with a background of political struggle.But speaking from the history of school education development, it is the earliest liberal arts college in my country and in the world. Its setting has opened up the way for the establishment of various specialized schools in future generations.Students learn Fu, novels, rulers, calligraphy, calligraphy and painting, etc., which is opposed to learning Confucian classics in Taixue. Graduates are given high-ranking officials, and the appointment of officials is extremely generous.

Xiaohou School with four surnames is an aristocratic school founded by a group of foreign relatives. It was founded in the ninth year of Emperor Yongping of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 66).The so-called "four surnames", that is, the four major clans of Fan, Guo, Yin, and Ma, are not Liehou, so they are named "Xiaohou".This kind of aristocratic school is the product of the privileges of the feudal aristocracy, with good treatment and conditions to hire famous teachers to teach.The Huns also sent their children to study.In addition, there are other aristocratic schools. For example, in the sixth year of Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 119), the Empress Dowager Deng (AD 80-121) opened the "Didi School" to enroll the children of King Jibei and King Hejian, the younger brothers of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty. More than 40 people over the age of 5 recruited more than 30 close relatives and grandchildren of Deng's family to set up in the palace, with teachers and nannies specially assigned to teach scriptures.Every morning and evening, Empress Dowager Deng personally went to the "Didi" to raise and teach the children, and she was extremely favored.This is the earliest early childhood education school in China and in the world.

Local government schools in the Han Dynasty were set up according to administrative divisions."School" is set up in counties, "schools" in counties, "Xiang" in townships, and "order" in Ju (villages).County Guoxue, according to ancient records, was first created by Wen Weng (approximately 180-120 BC), the prefect of Shu County.The culture of Shu (now Sichuan Province) was backward. Weng Wenwen sent small officials to study in Chang'an Taixue, the capital, for the sake of Chunhua folk customs.Wen Weng was still in Chengdu, building a school house and enrolling children from Xia County.A few years later, Shu County has undergone a major change, comparable to the more culturally developed Qilu land.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once rewarded his achievements and ordered that "all counties and countries in the world should establish school officials", and local officials and scholars are increasingly promoted.In the first three years of Emperor Ping of the Han Dynasty (AD 3), he ordered the prefectures to generally set up school officials, stipulating that "Xue" and "School" should have a teacher of classics, and "Xiang" and "Xu" should have a teacher of filial piety. "Xue" and "Xiao" are equivalent to the middle level, and "Xiang" and "Xu" are equivalent to the elementary level.The local official school also used Confucianism as its teaching content, and its main task was to promote enlightenment, which played a positive role in the improvement of local cultural level and the formation of the common psychology of the Chinese nation.

In the Han Dynasty, there was no special education administrative agency, and the chief education officer in the central government called Taichang, who was also in charge of education.Local schools are managed by chief executives at all levels.