Chapter 27 Section 1 The Characteristics of Family Education in the Tang and Song Dynasties

After the Sui Dynasty ended the split between the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the national unification and cultural prosperity began to appear, but the national fortune of the Sui Dynasty was not long.Following the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had many developments and innovations in culture, such as completing the summary of Confucian classics since the Han Dynasty, vigorously developing school education, and implementing the system of selecting scholars through imperial examinations, etc., which promoted the entire society to attach importance to education. The atmosphere was formed, and batch after batch of common landlords entered the political stage through education and imperial examinations, and there was a "crazy for studying and becoming an official".The Song Dynasty followed the imperial examination system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and paid special attention to culture and education. As a result, family education was regarded as a part of political activities and family life in the whole society, from the royal family, the aristocratic class to the bureaucratic class and the common people. event.

In a nutshell, tutoring in the Tang and Song dynasties has the following obvious characteristics. First of all, from the perspective of royal tutoring, an independent and complete school system began to form.For example, in the Sui Dynasty, "Menxiafang" and "Dianshufang" were first set up in the East Palace.There are Zuoshuzi, Neisheren, and officials in Menxiafang, and Shuzi, Sheren, and Xima officials are set up in Dianshufang. These officials are mainly engaged in the cultural and moral education of the crown prince.In the Tang Dynasty, apart from the three princes and the three young masters, there were prince guests, and Zhan Shifu was set up to manage the politics and religion of the East Palace, and Zhan Shifu set up left and right officials who were dedicated to admonishing and admonishing the crown prince.In the Tang Dynasty, Menxiafang in the Sui Dynasty was changed to Zuochunfang, and Dianshufang was changed to Youchunfang. During the Zhenguan period, the Chongwen Museum was set up for the crown prince, with academic officers, and the East Palace Library was built. A large number of books were collected. "Secretary" is exclusively used for the education of royal children.In the Song Dynasty, in order to strengthen the education of the crown prince, Zhanshi lecturers, prince attendants, and prince attendants were added, and Zishantang was set up as a place for the crown prince and other princes to study.Zishantang's instructors include Yishan, Zandu, Straight Talk, Storytelling, etc.At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was also an academy built in the East Palace Gate. Because the academy was a civilized cultural and educational institution and could not reflect the particularity of royal education, the name of the academy was later abandoned and changed to "Xuexintang".

Secondly, due to the implementation of the imperial examination system, the interest in reading was stimulated among the landlord class of common people and a small number of ordinary families, which made family education more and more closely integrated with the imperial examination.In one interest, so the ethos of extending teachers to teach children is always prosperous.Some rich and powerful families also set up "family schools" one after another, or united several families or clans to establish private schools, and hired local or foreign famous teachers to teach.In this way, family education is also increasingly linked to school education, so that there is a tendency for family education to be schooled.

In addition, family education in the Tang and Song dynasties has another notable feature, that is, the feudal code of ethics occupies an important position in family education.Etiquette appeared in the specific content and form of the Three Cardinal Guidelines and Five Constant Principles in the Han Dynasty, and was implemented in all kinds of school education.After the Tang Dynasty, especially after the scholars of the Song Dynasty interpreted "ritual" as the "law of heaven" opposed to "human desires", ritual education not only had a complete set of theoretical and practical requirements, but also gradually penetrated into the society with the schoolization of family education. In the practical activities of family education.In the Tang and Song dynasties, the content of etiquette and education such as "Family Model" and "Family Governance" began to be enriched and perfected. It also had a great influence on the formation of family traditions in the late feudal society.