Mural guide
Students listen in an open academy hall while a tutor guides a young learner beneath a venerable tree.
Brush, inkstone, paper and ink, classics and fine editions: a thousand years of learning in objects
Breaking aristocratic monopolies, selecting talent through merit and letters: a classical civil service selection network that sustained societal mobility for a millennium.
Education
Breaking aristocratic monopolies, selecting talent through merit and letters: a classical civil service selection network that sustained societal mobility for a millennium.
Schooling RootsShang dynasty to Spring and Autumn periodShang places where noble youths practised archery and ritual, then Western Zhou state and local schools run by officials.
Six Arts CurriculumWestern Zhou to Warring States periodRitual, music, archery, charioteering, writing and arithmetic: the course that Western Zhou state schools taught to noble youths.
Private AcademiesSpring and Autumn period to presentConfucius taught pupils from about thirty without class distinction; Warring States masters followed with schools of their own.
Jixia AcademyWarring States periodA Qi academy founded by the state but run by its scholars, where Mencius, Zou Yan and Xunzi among others came to debate.
Imperial ExaminationsSui dynasty to late Qing (1905)The Sui chose officials by the jinshi exam and the Northern Song fixed the palace exam, replacing Wei-Jin selection by birth.
Tang Six SchoolsTang dynastyThe Tang Directorate of Education's six schools, among them Law, Calligraphy and Mathematics, plus the Hongwen Academy.
Academy RegulationsSouthern Song to late QingZhu Xi rebuilt White Deer Grotto Academy and drew up its regulations, setting the tradition of academy rules.
Three Halls SystemSong dynastySong students promoted or demoted through outer, inner and upper halls by exam, for a time in local schools too.
Primary EducationNorthern and Southern dynasties to presentRhymed primers such as the Three Character Classic and Thousand Character Classic, teaching children letters, ethics and history.
Western LearningLate Ming to early RepublicFrom Matteo Ricci and Euclid's Elements to the Tongwen Guan, Western mathematics and new subjects reached China.