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Sinking And Permaeation: A Study Of Confician Edification Of Mutal-Cutural Background In Yuan Dynasty

Posted on:2011-07-08Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y Z ZhangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360305499638Subject:History of education
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
From the sense of Confucian edification, the one-hundred-year Yuan Dynasty could not be ignored. In this state which lasted for a hundred years and had a territory twice as much as that in present China, Confucian edification surely took place, and gradually occupied the dominated position of authoritative ideology. Confucian edification in this dynasty possessed distinctive features of the initial stage. It began from the developing tendency of Confucianism in the end of Nan-Song Dynasty, and also led to the beginning of Confucian's penetrating into the common people and exerting great influence on them in Ming and Qing dynasties. Therefore, the word "Confucian edification" in the dissertation can be defined as the process that how Confucian school, the authoritative ideology of the later period of Chinese feudal society, occupied the dominated position of edification and gradually spread among common people in Yuan Dynasty, a regime which was established by military force. The unification of Yuan Dynasty put the separation of the South and the North into an end, which enabled the idea of Confucian school to be transmitted to a much broader place. Later in a short time, it had been introduced into vast areas north of Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and was gradually admitted by the rulers and became the authoritative ideology. In this article, the author regarded the resuming of the Imperial Examination, in which the idea of Confucian school had been used as its only authoritative content, as the symbol that Confucianism had achieved its leading position if edification. This system was succeeded by the rulers of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, which made the idea of Confucian school the leading ideology in Chinese feudal society and exerted far-reaching impact on Chinese society from 13th century to 20th century.Confucian edification in Yuan Dynasty was achieved by using various ways.At that time, while the idea of Confucian school became the authoritative ideology, Law turned out to be one way for edification. Although written Laws in Yuan Dynasty were not so developed, their contents showed the influence of the idea of Confucian school.In practice, lawyers often made peace between both plaintiffs and defendants and persuaded others with ideas of Confucian school to cease lawsuits.Besides, there were many "Xunli" among the local officials, who instructed the common people through many ways such as building schools and temples, facilitating good practices and weeding out corrupt ones, revolutionizing old customs and establishing new ones, ceasing lawsuits and encouraging farming, to extend the idea of Confucian school to the common people.There was no doubt that the official schools of different levels, which were correspondent with the official educational action, naturally became the main channel for popularizing the idea of Confucian school. In both the central official school and local official schools, the idea of Confucian school was the main or even the only teaching content. Cheng Duanli's Study Schedule (Arranges for Learning and Reading) was widely adopted. What' more, official schools tried to teach students and influence common people through offering sacrifices to Confucius and discussing classics of Confucian school, so that people could not only acquire the knowledge of Confucian school, but also became good examples of practicing moralities of it. In terms of Confucian edification, the local academies and private schools certainly played much more important roles.Most of these schools were set up in countryside.They were cautious in selecting teachers, were strict on teaching and had certain freedom, so they usually became the center of local edification and exerted its impact on common people.As the social atmosphere of Confucian school became stronger and stronger,the effect on edification from patriarchal clans and "SHE", two kinds of social basic organization, got to be increasingly obvious. Yuan Dynasty was the transition period when Chinese Patriarch System transformed from the general bureaucrat patriarch system to the multitude patriarch system. The general multitude families often conveyed edification to their members through compiling genealogical trees, building ancestral temples, and establishing clan principles according to the Confucian school scholars'ideas about patriarch system. At the same time, the system of "SHE", possessing the unique characteristics of Yuan Dynasty, was one that had been built by the government to sprawl its control deep into the countryside.It endowed the leaders of "SHE" with the rights of supervising their members, reporting something good or bad of the members to higher authorities, and transmitting orders from higher authorities to the members.They passed edification to their members by setting up local schools, writing something good or bad on the whiteboards in front of their entrance doors. Meanwhile, the local officials often intervened to facilitate the effect of edification in"SHE".At the same time, the effect of edification on social culture appeared gradually. Two previous popular forms of arts, Novel and History Telling, developed into a kind of novel with each chapter headed by a couplet and written in vernacular. Such novels as Water Margins and Romance of Three Kingdoms were prevalent in that dynasty. In addition, Yuan Opera was developed from all kinds of palace tune in Song Dynasty, and its significance of edification began to show up alongside with the increasingly strong atmosphere of Confucian school in society. The masterpiece was The Story of a Couple without any doubt. Meanwhile, various kinds of religion, especially the "Quanzhen" and "jinmingzhongxiao", two branches of Taoism in Yuan Dynasty, had facilitated Confucian edification as well.It had to be pointed out that Confucian scholars were the main body in Confucian edification in Yuan Dynasty. During the reign of Yuan Dynasty, which was established with military force by foreign tribe, only a few of them had the opportunity to access to the government and take part in the management of the government. They made their efforts to "lure" the.ruler-to accept the "Han Law", so that Confucian school could gain the position of authoritative ideology. However, most of them were deprived of the right of getting a position in the government, and usually made their lives on writing and teaching. They gave instruction in the countryside with their morality and knowledge, which led to a result that the moral of Confucian school penetrated into the daily life of common people and became the core moral concepts and values of them. Therefore, under the special circumstance of Yuan Dynasty, Confucian scholars differed greatly from "Gentlemen", the authoritative ideology in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Corresponding with this, the common people, especially women and children, were the object of Confucian edification.In summary, from the whole history of Chinese edification, Confucian edification in the Yuan Dynasty was the "initial stage" with regard to those in Ming and late Qing Dynasties.This was because of its lower level of institutionalization and multi-channel, which would be achieved in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Before closing this paper, with Jinxi County in Jiangxi Province as a case, the author analyzed the special circumstance of Confucian edification in Jinxi elaborately to illustrate the effect of Confucian edification of Yuan Dynasty in this county, south of Yangtze River.
Keywords/Search Tags:Yuan Dynasty, Confucian edification, Confucian school, Confucian scholars
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