History of education in China
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The Chinese education was accompanied with the birth of Chinese civilization. The nobles often set up the educational establishments for their offspring. The Shang Hsiang was a legendary school to teach the youth nobles. It may be the origin of education in China.
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[edit] Zhou Dynasty
The government founded five national schools to educate Six Arts ofr junior nobles
[edit] Hundred Schools of Thought
At that times, numerous different schools enrolled the students. The most famous one was the Confucianism and its leader Confucius was seen as the founder of education for the masses. One of his saying was Provide education for all people without discrimination (Chinese:有教无类). Another was Teach according to the student's ability (Chinese: 因材施教).
The different schools were often organized into political entities to gain social influence.
[edit] The Setback of Education
Qin Shi Huang favored Legalism (Chinese philosophy),and regarded others useless,so he carried out Burning of books and burying of scholars.It was one major setback for Chinese education.
[edit] Confucianism as the education doctrine
Emperor Wu of Han favored Confucianism and made it as the national educational doctrine.The Taixue was setup to turn out Civil servant for the empire.Imperial examination began at 605, and the educational system for Chinese Empire was finaled modeled until the abolishment in 1905,and replaced by modern Western Education.
Meanwhile art school Pear Garden appeared in early 8th century, and in 1178 national military school Wu Xue (zh:武学) was set up.
[edit] Properities of local schools
Imperial examination required the competitors to pass their local cutting score before the final examination in capitol.So the private school(私塾) prevailed. White Deer Grotto Academy and Donglin Academy were their models.
The invention of Paper and Movable type greatly boosted the educational industry.
[edit] The introduction of modern education
Followed the defeat of Chinese empire in the Opium Wars, the modern western education was eagerly needed in the domain of Foreign Language, national defence, and industries. The Capital Foreign Language House (Chinesezh:京师同文馆) was set up in 1862. Countless overseas students were sent by the government or by their families to Europe, USA,and Japan. In the late 19th century, several modern universities were founded, like Peking University and Jiaotong University.