Chapter 20 Section 1 School Education Reform in the Song Dynasty

In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin launched the "Chenqiao Mutiny" and established the Song Dynasty.The Song Dynasty was divided into the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 AD) and the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 AD).At the same time, the Khitan and Jurchens in the north also successively established the Liao (916-1125 AD) and Jin (1115-1234 AD).Later, the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, and established a unified national regime - the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271-1368). The Song and Yuan Dynasties belonged to the late period of feudal society in Chinese history. During this period, the establishment of schools was more common, the types of schools increased, and a new form of teaching organization appeared—academies. The ancient school education system still showed a trend of continuous development.

The Song Dynasty inherited the school education system of the Tang Dynasty and continued to develop it.At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, the imperial court paid too much attention to the imperial examination system and neglected school education.However, it was the consensus of some people of insight at that time to cultivate talents through school education and was valued.Therefore, since the fourth year of Qingli (AD 1044), the Song Dynasty launched three famous school education reforms. The first school education reform was called "Qingli Xingxue" in history books, and it took place during the Qingli period of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. The moderator was Fan Zhongyan (989-1052 A.D.).Fan Zhongyan served as a political adviser, implemented the "Qingli New Deal", put forward 10 reform plans, required the development of schools and education, and reformed the practice of not emphasizing school education but only emphasizing the selection of candidates through imperial examinations.Fan Zhongyan's education reform mainly has three contents: one is to cultivate talents by setting up schools, order prefectures and counties to set up schools, and improve Taixue and Guozixue. Generally, candidates must study in school for more than 300 days before they are allowed to take the imperial examination.The second is to reform the imperial examination system, stipulating that "policy" should be tested first in the imperial examination, followed by "theory", and then "poetry and Fu", abolishing "tiejing" and "moyi", and changing the previous examination method that focused on rote memorization .The third is to establish Taixue and reform the teaching system of Taixue, and promote the "Suhu teaching method" founded by the famous educator Hu Yuan (993-1059 AD).The method is to set up two fastings of "Jingyi" and "Governing Affairs", and divide the teaching into two fastings.Students who enter the "Jingyi" Zhai mainly study the "Six Classics" and other Confucian classics.Students who enter the "Zhishi" Zhai mainly study military affairs, civil affairs, farmland water conservancy, surveying and calculation, etc. Students can first determine a major subject, and then choose a minor subject, one major and one deputy, so that students can learn broadly and deeply. , new, live, expand knowledge.This method of emphasizing both classics and practice, teaching students according to their aptitude and learning from each other greatly improved the teaching quality of Taixue, and changed the sparse educational content and formalistic style of study at that time.

The second school education reform, known in history as "Xining Xingxue", took place during the reign of Song Shenzong Xining, and the moderator was Wang Anshi (1021-1086 A.D.).Wang Anshi served as a political adviser, and later worshiped Tong Zhongshu's disciples. With the support of Shenzong, he implemented the "Xining New Law". He believed that cultivating talents and unifying ideas were important conditions for implementing the new law.This requires the reform of school education and the imperial examination system to adapt to the goal of cultivating talents.Wang Anshi's education reform mainly has four contents: one is to reform Taixue and establish the "Sanshe Law".The so-called "three houses method" is to divide Tai Xue into three grades of different degrees, namely outer house, inner house and upper house. Once a year, a promotion exam is held every year, and those who get the first and second grades will be promoted to the inner house to study and become the inner house students.The entrance examination is held every two years in the inner house, and those who get excellent grades and average grades will be admitted to the upper house to study and become students in the upper house.Shangshe holds an examination every two years. The examination method is the same as the "provincial examination method" of the imperial examination. Taixue officials cannot participate, and the imperial court appoints another examiner to preside over it.The grades are divided into three grades: both the usual arts and the academic examinations are excellent for the upper class, one excellent and one fair for the medium, all equal or one excellent and one not for the low class.Those of the highest class are exempted from the palace examination and are directly appointed officials; those of the middle class are exempt from the examination of the Ministry of Rites and directly participate in the examination of the Ministry of Rites; The "Sanshe Method" is to establish a strict examination system for promotion within Taixue. The inspection and selection of students strives to combine the usual skills with the test results, and combine the merits of their academic performance with their appointment. This is conducive to mobilizing students' enthusiasm for learning and improving the teaching quality of Taixue.At the same time, the Shangshe Examination and the Imperial Examination were combined to integrate the training and selection of talents into Taixue, which improved the status of Taixue.This is an innovation in the management system of ancient Chinese Taixue.The second is to restore and develop local schools in prefectures and counties.The third is to restore and establish specialized schools of martial arts, law, and medicine.The fourth is to compile the "Three Classics and New Meanings", which re-examines the Confucian classics, "Shangshu" and "Zhouli". and standard answers.In addition, Wang Anshi also reformed the imperial examinations. He ordered the abolition of Mingjing subjects; Jinshi examinations were based on classics, theory, and policy, and poetry, Fu, posting, and Moyi were no longer tested.

The third school education reform, known in history as "Chongning Xingxue", took place during the Chongning period of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, and the moderator was Cai Jing (1047-1126 A.D.).Cai Jing served as Shangshu Youpushe, adhering to the purpose of Huizong, hoping to inherit the new law of Xining to save the ruling crisis of the Northern Song Dynasty, and restored and developed some measures of "Xining Xingxue". There are three main contents: first, the establishment of local schools throughout the country .Second, establish a three-level educational system that links county schools, state schools, and imperial schools.It is stipulated that students from the county will be admitted to the state school, and the state students will be admitted to different houses of the Taixue every three years according to the test results.Those with the highest grades were promoted to the upper class, the middle class were promoted to the lower class, the lower class were promoted to the inner class, and the rest were promoted to the outer class. This school system has had a certain impact on later generations.Third, build Piyong and develop Taixue.Piyong is also called "outside school", as the foreign house of Taixue.Fourth, restore medicine and create mathematics, calligraphy, and painting.Fifth, the imperial examinations were discontinued and schools were used to select scholars. This is a major reform of the system of obtaining scholars.

Although the above-mentioned three school education reforms in the Northern Song Dynasty failed to achieve the expected results, they all took a big step forward in the school education in the Northern Song Dynasty to varying degrees.The host of the third school education reform was Cai Jing. In the name of the Restoration Law, he rejected dissidents, aggravated exploitation, built large-scale construction projects, and wasted money. He was called the head of the "six thieves".However, during his tenure in power, he advocated major events and started schools, and advocated the reform of school education, which played a role in promoting the development of school education in the Song Dynasty.