Chapter 5 Section 2 The Three Schools Established in the Northern Song Dynasty and Their Influence on the Development of Academy

In the early Song Dynasty, the number of places in the imperial examination was continuously expanded.In the Tang Dynasty, there were no more than 10 candidates for each examination, and no more than 20 or 30 candidates at most.In the third year of Kaibao in the early Song Dynasty (970 A.D.), only eight Jinshi were selected.Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, saw that there were many people who had not reached the ranks, so he decided to "give birth" to 106 people who had passed the 15th or more exams in various subjects, which increased the number of ranks by more than ten times.In the sixth year of Kaibao (973 A.D.), Li Fang made a tribute and took Song Huai and other 11 people.Taizu felt that the quota was too small and was very unhappy, so he personally re-examined the candidates who failed in the Jiangwu Hall. He took 96 candidates from various disciplines and gave them to his younger brother.In the second year of Taiping Xingguo (AD 977), Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, took the reexamination in the Imperial Martial Arts Hall. 190 Jinshi, 107 people from various subjects, and 184 people who finished the 15th and above were awarded the first prize. unprecedented.In the third year of Xianping (1000 A.D.), Zhao Heng, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, took a personal test, and a total of 1,800 people were selected for the ranks of each class.Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi served as emperor for 22 years and took more than 4,500 people.Song Renzong and Zhao Zhen raised tribute a total of 13 times, and more than 14,000 people were awarded the title, with more than 1,000 people in each move.

In the early Song Dynasty, not only the number of candidates who passed the imperial examination increased greatly, but also the treatment for those who passed the imperial examination was very generous.At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the system of the Tang Dynasty that those who passed the imperial examination had to try again with the Ministry of Officials before being awarded an official was abolished.It was changed to the imperial examination of the Ministry of Rites, and then directly awarded the official position. Those who entered the rank of Jinshi within a few years are often impressively dignified, gaining both fame and fortune, and are extremely attractive.Scholars flock to them, immerse themselves in studying hard, and wholeheartedly pursue "fame and fame", and spend a lot of money in order to get in the ranks.

The strengthening of imperial examinations in the early Song Dynasty mobilized the enthusiasm of scholars, promoted the prosperity of the study atmosphere, and indeed solved most of the urgent needs of employing people.However, there are too many quotas, scholars who study the scriptures in pursuit of fame and fame, do not study practically, and cheating is popular, which poisons the social atmosphere and is rare for useful talents.Even the supreme ruler in the early Song Dynasty had to admit that the imperial examination had many disadvantages.In the second year of Jingde (AD 1005), Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty issued an edict, pointing out: "The door of the tribute examination, follow the rules and become disadvantages, the competition is very fierce, and the indiscriminateness is better... The tribute court of the Ministry of Rites is still appointed. Examinations, there is no room for indiscriminate progress, and the wind is poured with leather." ("Song History Zhenzong Ji") Song Renzong issued another edict in the second year of Tiansheng (1024 AD), pointing out: "Study is like breeding, and if you don't breed, you will fall. When you are slow in your ambitions, you are sensitive, and you are here to cultivate. I worry that the people of the world may have leftovers. I compare gains and losses with Linxuan, but I worry that if they fail in the sciences repeatedly, they will grow old and achieve nothing, and they will not be able to return to the interior. , and cannot be given to Lu Shi, so outside of the constant, it is specially selected for it. But Yu [niu twist] Yu Kuanen, and then fell into the industry, decadent and simple, soaked in the trend, it is shameful, from now on It is advisable to study hard, and there is no luck." ("Song History Renzong Ji") That is to say, the imperial court was worried that the number of imperial examinations would be too small, and they would fail to pass the exams repeatedly. Opportunities to get in, but in the end encourage the bad habit of getting lucky.

Despite repeated orders from the imperial court, the social atmosphere was hard to change, and the disadvantages of the imperial examinations became more and more serious.The subjective intentions of the rulers run counter to the objective effects, so they have to try to find a way out of the predicament, re-examine the policy and work priorities of cultural and educational construction, and straighten out the relationship between training talents and selecting talents.People of insight are even more worried, and strongly demand adjustments to the policy and priorities of cultural and educational development. Exploring new measures to develop cultural and educational undertakings has become a common concern inside and outside the ruling and opposition parties.

The rulers in the early Song Dynasty actively encouraged and supported non-government or private schools, so that the academies got good opportunities and conditions for development.However, private or private schools have limited power after all.Although a number of academies have been established, it is difficult to increase the number and scale due to various conditions.There are no more than 20 or 30 academies across the country, and each academie has no more than a hundred students.It is really difficult to meet the requirements for studying and studying, and it is also difficult to meet the talent needs of the imperial court.It has caused a sharp contradiction between the need for talents, the requirements for reading, and the lack of talent training places and conditions.Moreover, the teaching content, training objectives, and teaching methods of non-governmental or private schools are very random, which is difficult to unify and is not conducive to personnel training.

Practice has proved that the policy of the rulers in the early Song Dynasty to strengthen the imperial examination system and encourage and support non-government or private schools fell into a new predicament and necessary adjustments had to be made.People of insight generally believe that the only way to get out of the predicament is to strengthen government-run schools and transfer the imperial court's cultural and educational construction to the track of focusing on the establishment of government schools.Moreover, it is believed that the adjustment of the cultural and educational construction policy and the transfer of the focus of work are not only necessary, but also possible.Xingxue movement has become the general trend.

The adjustment of the cultural and educational construction policy in the Northern Song Dynasty was concentrated in the reform and construction of official schools at all levels.Therefore, the three successive campaigns to establish schools were actually campaigns to establish official schools. The first establishment of the school in the Northern Song Dynasty was presided over by Fan Zhongyan, a political adviser, in the fourth year of Qingli (1044 A.D.) of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. Fan Zhongyan had different opinions on the fact that the imperial court or the government only set up subjects and selected candidates by examination, instead of cultivating educators before the selection.

In the "Shang Governing Book", Fan Zhongyan clearly put forward six major governance programs, including solidifying the foundation of the country, strengthening the power of the people, emphasizing fame, preparing Di Rong, Du Jianxiong, and Ming Guoting.Among them, the method of "duplicating names" is careful election and Dun education.He sharply criticized the imperial examination system that did not educate but only recruited people, just like farmers "seeking truth without farming."He believes that if one chooses but does not teach, there will be a shortage of people for a long time, and it will be difficult for talented people to continue to emerge.Therefore, the imperial court and the government should put educating people in the first place, and then they can be expected to select useful talents.But at that time, he was humble and his reasonable suggestions were not taken seriously. Those in power at the time were all vested interests and strongly opposed his ideas, so his opinions could not be implemented.

In August of the third year of Qingli (1043 A.D.), Fan Zhongyan was appointed as a political adviser, and his long-cherished wish of nearly 20 years had the opportunity to be realized.His first suggestion after he took office was the "Shang Shi Shi Zha", the third of the ten things was "please be good at the imperial examination", and then he suggested building a school. Fan Zhongyan's suggestion was supported by Song Renzong. In March of the fourth year of Qingli (1044 AD), he issued an edict to all prefectures and counties to set up schools, and the envoys of the Tao would select ministers as professors. . The focus of Qingli's establishment of schools is to enable those who take the imperial examination to receive a considerable official education.It is stipulated that all those who take the imperial examination must study in government schools for 300 days, and scholars who have taken the exam must also study in government schools for 100 days.Scholars who are not officials are not allowed to apply. The school movement achieved remarkable results. The imperial court and the government attached great importance to the establishment of government schools. Scholars increased their enthusiasm for studying in government schools, and government schools developed.According to records, shortly after the establishment of the school, the number of students in the Guozijian increased from 70 to 300, and the number of lecturers on the official doctorate also increased by more than ten.Each lecture is divided into professors, and the central government school can be expanded and improved.In order to meet the ever-increasing needs of students, the premises of Guozijian were expanded, and Xiqing Yuan was allocated to Guozijian as a lecture hall.Local government schools also developed rapidly.Hu Yuan, a famous scholar and educator, taught Suzhou Zhouxue and Huzhou Zhouxue successively for more than 20 years during the Qingli Xingxue Movement, and founded the world-famous "Suhu Teaching Method".At the end of Emperor Renzong Huangyou (AD 1049-1054), Hu Yuan was called to Beijing to give lectures directly for the Imperial Academy, introducing the advanced teaching experience of the local official school into the central official school, and applying the "Suhu teaching method" to the teaching of the Imperial Academy.After Hu Yuan presided over the Guozijian, students from all over the world traveled thousands of miles and gathered to study. However, soon, due to the intensification of the internal struggle of the ruling group, Fan Zhongyan failed in the struggle and was dismissed as a crony, and was dismissed from his post. Moreover, because of the establishment of an official school, the funds increased a lot, and the government's financial shortage made it difficult to maintain the school's expenses.As a result, the original public opinion against the establishment of schools and the reform of the imperial examinations resurfaced like dross, "there are many people who are inconvenient at the beginning of the speech."Under this pressure, Song Renzong issued an imperial edict: "The old imperial examination rules were all set by the previous dynasty, and it is better to keep everything as before. The previous ones have been changed, so let's take it now." The admission deadline was cancelled, and Xiqing Academy also took it back .Although the local official school has not been explicitly abolished, some local officials are only in the name of worshiping Confucianism, and they deal with it perfunctorily, and the local official school is mostly in vain.In addition, some local officials used the discipline to amass people's wealth, which ruined the reputation of the official school.It is difficult for scholars to realize their desire to enter government schools to seek promotion, and some people regard entering government schools as a place to earn a living. This is how the first school movement was declared a failure. The second establishment of schools in the Northern Song Dynasty was initiated during the reign of Wang Anshi during the reign of Xining (1068-1077 AD) and Yuanfeng (1078-1085 AD). Wang Anshi saw with his own eyes the internal and external troubles of the Northern Song Dynasty, the exhaustion of national strength and the shortage of talents.Then came the idea of ​​rejuvenating the country through education and saving the country with talents, determined to reform the imperial examination, set up government schools, and cultivate useful talents.On the eve of Fan Zhongyan's failure to start a school in the third year of Jiayou (1058 A.D.), he wrote the "Book of Emperor Renzong's Words and Things" that was as long as ten thousand words. Wang Anshi believes that the chaos in the world lies in the lack of laws and regulations, and the desire for innovation suffers from the lack of talents, and in order to obtain talents, one must cultivate them in the right way.He demonstrated in detail a whole set of methods of teaching it, raising it, taking it, and letting it go.He pointed out that the way of teaching lies in teaching by selecting materials, teaching with practical learning, and opposing mere lectures and test articles; "; the way to take it is to reform the imperial examinations, oppose the selection of scholars by poetry, prose and diction, and replace them with the test of scriptures; The approach of talents advocates that people should make the best use of their talents.The key is to reform the imperial examinations and promote schools. In the second year of Xining (AD 1069), Wang Anshi participated in political affairs, and set out to realize his ideas, change customs, legislate, reform imperial examinations, and revitalize schools. In the fourth year of Xining (AD 1071), the "Sanshe Method" of Taixue was established, which increased the number of Taixue students to 1,000. The "Three Houses Method" divides Taixue into inner houses, outer houses and upper houses.There are 700 students in the outer dormitory, and those with excellent grades in the year-end examination are promoted to the inner dormitory; 200 students in the inner dormitory, who are upgraded every two years, and study in the upper dormitory; 100 students in the upper dormitory, who have excellent academic performance can be directly awarded officials .In fact, the Imperial Examination was replaced by the method of Taixue Shengshe, and the school for educating people and the imperial examination for selecting people were combined.The scale of Taixue was also expanded, and four lecture halls were built in Xiqingyuan and Chaojiyuan, and ten people were added to teach directly from Taixue, and each of them gave a lecture. Xining Xingxue, in addition to reforming Taixue, also set up martial arts, teaching the art of war of various schools; law, teaching laws and regulations; medicine, teaching medical pathology.In short, it is to cultivate more applied talents. In the eighth year of Xining (AD 1075), it was stipulated that official schools at all levels must use the "New Meanings of the Three Classics" revised by him as a compulsory textbook. In the first year of Yuanfeng (AD 1078), an order was issued to all states, roads, and prefectures to set up 53 academic officials to strengthen the establishment of full-time institutions and personnel for local official schools.Push the Xingxue movement to all states, roads, and governments across the country. In the second year of Yuanfeng (AD 1079), more than 140 "Tai Xue Orders" were officially promulgated, and the number of Tai Xue students increased to more than 2,400. There are 80 rooms in the school, and each room accommodates 30 students.The funds for the establishment of the school have also increased. "The money is given to 25,000 at the age of the year, and the county and county land rent, house tax, interest money, etc. are added to the tuition." These measures are all for the development of official education.In Xining and Yuanfeng years, Taixue, various specialized schools, and local government schools at all levels were indeed improved and developed to a great extent.In particular, the bold implementation of Taixue's "three homes" and the integration of school education and imperial examinations, this bold attempt, its success and failure are worth summarizing. With the failure of Wang Anshi's reform, his education reform also failed.From Yuanyou (1086-1094 A.D.) to the end of Yuanfu (1098-1100 A.D.), the old system was restored one by one, and the second school-building movement went bankrupt. The third establishment of schools in the Northern Song Dynasty was initiated in the first year of Chongning (AD 1102) when Cai Jing was in power. In August of the first year of Chongning, Cai Jing ordered the establishment of schools across the country, and built Piyong in October, which can accommodate 3,000 students.In the third year of Chongning (AD 1104), the number of students in prefectures and counties continued to increase, and it was stipulated that there would be 50 students from large counties, 40 students from middle counties, and 30 students from small counties.In some counties there are as many as 1,000 people.Local officials who have contributed to the establishment of schools will be awarded.For example, there are thousands of students in Pucheng County, Jianzhou, and Xu Bingzhe, the county magistrate, received an award for this and was promoted to a higher level.Those who fail to run the school will be punished, so there have been many incidents of forcibly allocating enrollment places to the public, which is called "gathering food for students".Lu You recorded in the second volume of "Laoxuean Notes": "The school was first established in Chongning, and the prefectures and counties built schools. They gathered learning and food, and there was no time to give them. Scholars who entered Piyong were all given coupons. They could not be delayed for a day. It is said to be harmful to academic administration, and a lot of fines are discussed and punished." Chongning Xingxue basically followed Wang Anshi's Taixue "Sanshe Method" in the central government school, further expanded the scale of the central government school, and increased the number of students.The focus of Chongning Xingxue was on the development of local government schools.Governmental, prefectural and county schools are generally established, and have formed a relatively stable system and scale.However, due to lack of seriousness and inefficiency in the handling of local officials, and due to limited funds, many local officials used the name of starting schools to collect money from the people, forcibly apportioning school places and asking for food money, which met strong opposition. form. From the Qingli period of the Northern Song Dynasty to the southward movement of the Song Dynasty, that is, from 1043 AD to 1126 AD, three large-scale education movements were launched successively in more than 80 years. From the imperial court to the government, road, state, and county governments at all levels, they were committed to the revitalization of official education and the construction of culture and education. The policy and focus of work turned to the establishment of official schools.From the central government to the local government schools have been developed to a certain extent.However, all the funds for the establishment of education are borne by the imperial court and local governments, and it is difficult to guarantee them.Therefore, in addition to the internal struggle of the ruling group, economic inability is also the reason for the failure of the school. The three school-building movements focused on resolving the contradiction between cultivating talents and selecting talents, and resolving the relationship between imperial examinations and schools, but they ignored the relationship between official schools and non-governmental or private schools.This is also a lesson worth paying attention to in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, schools were established three times. Governments at all levels from the central government to the local government were committed to the development of official schools, and paid little attention to private or private schools.As a result, the academies, which were once thriving at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, gradually became quiet during the Xingxue Movement. In the early Song Dynasty, in order to express its support and encouragement to the academy, the imperial court continued to give books, quotas, land, and houses.Famous academies in the early Song Dynasty, such as: Bailudong Academy, Yuelu Academy, Songyang Academy, Yingtianfu (Suiyang) Academy, Shigu Academy, Maoshan (Jinshan) Academy, etc., almost all won this honor successively. As a result, it became famous all over the world and expanded its social influence.These measures of the imperial court also inspired more people to be enthusiastic about establishing academies.However, from the establishment of the school in Qingli to the southward movement of the Song Dynasty, for more than 80 years, there was almost no act of a generation of emperors granting books, quotas, land, or houses to any academies.Although no measures have been taken to limit or restrict the development of the academies, in fact, ignoring them is tantamount to ignoring private or private schools and academies, which objectively affects the development of academies and weakens the social influence of academies. In order to ensure the development of government schools for three times, a series of measures were adopted to facilitate the development of government schools. For example, the first school establishment stipulated that applicants for the imperial examination must study in government schools for 300 days; The examination of the official school replaced the imperial examination; the third time the school was established, the local officials were rewarded for their meritorious service, and those who failed to start the school were punished.These measures not only attracted the attention of governments at all levels to the establishment of government schools, but more importantly, they drew scholars to study in government schools.Only those who are enthusiastic about officials and scholars can receive awards, and those who are enthusiastic about private schools or academies not only rarely receive rewards, but may be suspected of not doing enough to establish official schools.Governments at all levels naturally have no intention of caring about private schools or academies.Scholars can only be qualified to apply for the examination and have the opportunity to be promoted only if they enter the official school to study, so naturally they don't want to stay in the mountains and forests to study in colleges for self-study.This is also the reason for the long-term silence of the academy. During the three school-promoting movements, a group of famous masters and scholars were successively hired by the central or local government schools to preside over or teach at all levels of government schools, such as: Hu Yuan, Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Li Gou [gougou], Zhang Zai They all worked successively as teachers in central government schools or local government schools, which also expanded the influence of government schools, improved the reputation of government schools, and attracted more scholars to study and be taught in government schools. The origin and purpose of the three establishments of schools was to revitalize official schools, correct or make up for the shortcomings and deficiencies of the imperial examinations, and did not intentionally restrain the development of academies.However, the imperial court focused on the establishment of official schools and reduced its attention to academies.The development of official studies to a certain extent alleviated the contradiction of "nowhere to learn" among scholars, and the academies were left to fend for themselves, with few people intervening, which led to the long-term silence of the academies in the Northern Song Dynasty.Wang Yi [huihui] actually said in his article "Youludong Ji": "The academy was completely abandoned until the end of Chongning." This is Wang Yi's lament in the face of the silence of the Academy in the Northern Song Dynasty.The three establishments of schools did not necessarily lead to the abolition of the academies, and some academies were not necessarily all related to the establishment of schools. However, during the three times of the movement for more than 80 years, the academies were indeed silent. The Xingxue movement and the silence of the academies are educational issues of great contemplation value in the history of educational development in the Northern Song Dynasty.It reminds people, especially the government that presides over educational decision-making and guiding responsibilities, how to properly handle the relationship between government and private schools, especially how to avoid focusing on one and losing the other when cultural and educational construction policies and work priorities shift, are worthy of consideration by future generations. The school movement objectively caused the silence of the academy, but the silence cannot be said to be "completely abolished".Similarly, the academies in the Northern Song Dynasty were not "completely abolished", and it cannot be said that the academies during and after the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty were more developed and prosperous than those in the early Song Dynasty. From the perspective of the number of academies in the Northern Song Dynasty, the number of academies from Qingli to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty still increased compared with the beginning of the Song Dynasty, and the number of increased numbers in some areas was not small. It accounts for about 3/5; there are more than 30 academies in Zhejiang, about 80% of which were built after the establishment of Qingli; there are more than ten academies in Hunan, about 60% of which were built after Qingli.However, the early Song Dynasty only lasted for more than 40 years, and the Northern Song Dynasty after Qingli lasted for more than 120 years, which is three times that of the early Song Dynasty. Moreover, the wars in the early Song Dynasty have not yet subsided, and social and economic life has suffered long-term damage. , The academies have developed to nearly 40, which is indeed a prosperous trend.In the more than one hundred years since Qingli established the school, the society was relatively stable, the economy developed, and the development of academies had better ideological and cultural conditions and economic and material foundations, but only less than a hundred academies were built.The key lies in the policy orientation of the imperial court, which paid more attention to official schools and ignored academies. Compared with official schools, academies in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty were obviously quieter than those in the early Song Dynasty. To investigate the development trend of academies, we should not only look at their number, but mainly look at their status and influence in society.Qinglixing Preschool Academy and other forms of non-government or private schools had a great influence and almost became the dominant form of education at that time, playing a dominant role in the development of education.However, after Qingli established schools, government schools at all levels became the main body of education, and the status and influence of academies declined greatly.The so-called silence of the academy just means that its status and influence are not as prominent as in the early Song Dynasty. There were also some academies established during the Northern Song Dynasty and after the Xuexue Movement, but they did not have too many characteristics and influences, and they were not as famous as the academies in the early Song Dynasty.The well-known academies in the early Song Dynasty did not show their brilliant performance after the school movement, and some were even abandoned many times.This also reflects that people's attention to the academy has been greatly reduced.