Practical Promotion of Basic Education to Reduce Burden and Improve Quality of Thinking and Suggestions

How to effectively implement the work of reducing the burden of basic education has been concerned by people. By using the knowledge of game theory, this paper analyzes the behavioral goals of the relevant subjects in reducing the burden of basic education, and puts forward some suggestions. We should change the "focus" to "characteristics" and guide the diversified development of primary and secondary education. By adjusting the matching degree of various levels of education, the pressure of entering school can be reduced. Through social reform, the interests of different classes were adjusted and the residual negative influence of imperial examination culture was eliminated, so as to successfully remove the stumbling block of "excessive academic burden" in the educational reform of the new era and create conditions for cultivating a large number of outstanding talents needed for national development and national rejuvenation.

Women and language in imperial China

China has an ancient and impressive tradition of philological studies, most notably in the fields connected with the needs of the imperial examination system. The authors as well as the intended readers of this outstanding production of linguistic works were essentially men. Women did not participate to the imperial examinations and were almost completely absent from the landscape of Chinese philology. Nevertheless, Chinese history shows examples of erudite women and their linguistic education should be taken into account. Several textbooks were explicitly conceived for women’s education, and were often written by women. Moreover, women played an important role in the transmission of literacy in the familial context. This chapter investigates the reasons for the almost complete absence of women in Chinese philology, and describes the main examples of women’s contribution to the history of Chinese linguistic studies.

Civil and Military Examination participation of the Que lineage in Shicang village in the Qing Dynasty

The literature on social stratification and mobility in Imperial China reveals that the academic tracking system was one important source of educational inequality. The Imperial Examinations system in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty China was a dual-track structure formed of Civil ( wen) and Military ( wu) Examinations. Earlier scholars have focused on the provincial and national levels of the system, paying little attention to the lowest, county-level shengyuan examination, the starting point of the wen and wu system. This study looks into the Account Books for Imperial Examination participation in Qing Dynasty Shicang, Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, focusing particularly on examination records of the Que lineage. After making a fortune in the iron-smelting business, the Ques first purchased an Imperial Academy studentship ( jiansheng), then later married into local gentry families and began to participate in the Imperial Examinations. The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1865) brought a high mortality rate to the region, which increased the chances of success in the Imperial wu-track, the Military Examination. The Ques made use of this opportunity to participate in both the Civil and Military Examinations. This paper compares two common motivations for taking the examinations—protection of family wealth and status, and pursuit of the highest degree. This study shows that each motivation had a different outcome. Those only interested in safeguarding and enhancing family wealth were able to maintain a balance between pursuit of their degree and the family business, while those aiming at the highest degrees often fell into the trap of repeated attempts and eventual bankruptcy. The dominance of the first motivation among ordinary Chinese demonstrates the self-adjustment of local society to the Imperial Examination tracking system.

Zhu Xi

This volume contains nine chapters of translation focusing on the philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), one of the most influential Chinese thinkers of the later Confucian tradition. Zhu Xi’s philosophy offers the most systematic and comprehensive expression of the Confucian tradition; he sought to demonstrate the connections between the classics, relate them to a range of contemporary philosophical issues, and defend Confucianism against competing traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. He elevated the Four Books—i.e., the Analects, Mengzi, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean—to a new and preeminent position within the Confucian canon, and his edition and interpretation was adopted as the basis for the Imperial Examination System, the pathway to officialdom in traditional Chinese society. Zhu Xi’s interpretation remained the orthodox tradition until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and exerted a profound and enduring influence on how Confucianism was understood in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.