Research On Imperial History Education Of Southern Song Dynasty

Imperial history education refers to the historical education activities conducted within the ruling class for the rulers,especially the emperors,and occupies an important position in ancient Chinese history education.However,it is a pity that the research on imperial history education has been little involved in the existing academic circles.Emperors were an extremely special category of people in ancient China,standing at the pinnacle of power and having a great influence on the development of the country with every word and action.For this reason,Chinese emperors have paid special attention to history education and have a strong sense of history as a means to inform government.The Northern Song Dynasty was a prosperous period in which history education for ancient Chinese emperors was well developed.The three basic methods of history education for ancient emperors: self-study,lectures on history at sutra feasts,and ministers’ advice through history all developed significantly during this period.After the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty,history education for the emperors was further developed.The Southern Song emperors continued the family law of their ancestors,valued the role of history as an example,and read history diligently.The reconstruction and improvement of the system of sutra feast ensured that the Southern Song emperors received good history education from the external institutional level.The rulers and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty used history as a guide to seek solutions to current affairs from history,and the wise and famous ministers also compiled historical books for the emperors to better learn from their rise and fall.The history education of the Southern Song emperors discusses the causes of the rise and fall of rule and chaos,the cultivation of ruler’s virtue,and the specific governance of the country,covering a variety of contents and richness,which helps the emperor to use history to inform his administration.The characteristics of imperial history education in the Southern Song Dynasty were closely related to the characteristics of its time.The political tendency of the Southern Song Dynasty to follow the law of the ancestors was obvious,and this made the imperial history education full of the content of revering the law of the ancestors.In addition,the emphasis on the story of revival and the orthodox view of history was also a frequent theme in the history education of the Southern Song emperors in order to strengthen the hearts of the people.The history education for the emperor often needs to be combined with current affairs,not only for the minister’s advice,but also for the lecture at the feast,and the feast officials who could not relate to current affairs would also suffer from the criticism of the people of the time.In the lecture reading,the feast officials also pay much attention to inspiration and education,not all from the text,and a good interaction between the ruler and the minister,which helped the emperor to understand the lessons of history.However,the flourishing imperial history education could not save the declining state of the Southern Song Dynasty.This is not to say that history education was of no benefit.In fact,emperors had something to gain from history in terms of enhancing their personal governing abilities,assisting in the formulation of national policies,and guiding the improvement of national ethos.However,the prosperity of theory and the dilemma of reality inevitably give rise to a strong sense of separation,and the lamentation of "not knowing is difficult,but doing is difficult" becomes more and more profound,and the more brilliant theory is not able to achieve the ideal situation if it is not put into action or even contrary to the way.And the content preference of the Southern Song emperor’s history education,which emphasizes on ancestry,also influenced to a certain extent the conservative approach to national governance and lost the courage and opportunity for self-innovation.