The Disintegration Of Confucian Classics Education

The disintegration of Confucian Classics Education is a sign of the transformation of Chinese traditional education.Multiple factors contributed to this gradual change in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.The promulgation of schooling systems in the late Qing Dynasty,the abolition of the Imperial Examination System,the change of educational purposes and so on have become the important reasons for the transformation and eventual silence of Confucian Classics Education.In the late Qing dynasty,the malpractice of the Imperial Examination system was more prominent,among which the eight-part essay system eight was the most serious,and the rampant donation to officials made the Imperial Examination lose dignity.There were many problems in Chinese government schools,private schools and academies.The emergence of a number of new schools,such as church schools,foreign affairs schools,and reforming schools,is very different from the Chinese traditional education mode.The promulgation of Western-style school system and establishing new schools became the only way.The Confucian Classics Education was forced to reform.The promulgation and implementation of the schooling system in the late Qing Dynasty is a disaster for the traditional education centered on Confucianism.The curriculum of classical studies under the planning of schooling system has new characteristics in course content,teaching methods,educational objectives and so on.Compared with the traditional education,the curriculum of classical studies in Guimao schooling system still occupies an important position,but its proportion is greatly reduced;teaching methods begin to break old methods of rote learning and corporal punishment and bring in new western teaching methods;the purpose of Confucian Classics Education turns to the maintenance of ethics rather than the cultivation of political gentlemen.The introduction of modern western schooling system broke the stable curriculum system of Confucian Classics Education.As the core content of Imperial Examination,Confucianism has formed a symbiotic relationship with Imperial Examination.At the end of the Qing Dynasty,the content and form of Imperial Examination had become rigid,and the voice of reform was growing.The Imperial Examination System was eventually abandoned because it hindered the development of new schools.The way to enter the government was blocked,so the scholars had to find another way out,and the system support of Confucian Classics Education suffered heavy losses.The last effort to save the Confucianism,such as the establishment of the ancient school,didn't achieve the deserved effect,and the curriculum of classical studies Confucian in schools was titular,which led to the further collapse of the Confucian Classics Education.“Loyalty,Respect for Confucius,Public,Martial Spirit,and Practical Spirit”issued by the Ministry of education in the late Qing Dynasty is the earliest educational aim in China,and the purpose of maintaining Confucian Classics Education of is clear.At the beginning of the Republic of China,the educational aim was revised to “Pay Attention to Moral Education,Supplemented by Practical Education and Military Education,and Complete the Morality with Aesthetic Education”.Primary and secondary schools abolished the study of classics,and Confucian Classics Education's purpose of maintaining moral education was weakened.Although Yuan Shikai promulgated educational aim of“Follow the Example of Confucius and Mencius”,the trend of reflecting on traditional culture eventually started a prairie fire.The New Culture Movement began to sort out the national heritage and popularize vernacular by means of fighting down the Confucians,liquidating traditional culture,launching new literature movement and so on,which made Confucianism further away from the people and became historical documents.Confucianism lost its support at the system level and was“stigmatized”at the ideological level,which further drove the disintegration of Confucian Classics Education.Except for Yuan Shikai's brief restoration of reading classics in schools,there was no central level policy of reading classics in the Republic of China.However,the folk activities of reading classics didn't disappear,and they were carried out in Hunan,Guangdong,Shandong,Hebei and other places.After the 1930 s,the trace of Confucian classics in school curriculum gradually disappeared;the proportion of Confucian classics in primary and secondary school textbooks gradually decreased,and the courses such as the history of Confucianism and general theory of Confucianism in universities also decreased or canceled successively.Confucian classics began to be reorganized and researched in the Western way of study,and as the traditional academic center,Confucianism was completely destroyed.Private schools and academies were forced to reform or ban,and the teaching content of Confucian classics was compressed.Because of the frequent wars,the activities of reading classics in a few provinces were also ephemeral,and the discussion on reading classics gradually faded from view.