New perspectives on Chinese primary schooling in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

What is it about?

This article discusses Chinese primary education in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), with a focus on the ‘charity school’. The distinction between charity schools, clan schools, and village schools is not very clear, and the uses of the concepts changed over time. The aim, however, was the same for all these types of school. It was to instruct boys in Confucian moral values, which included being filial and obedient to elder relatives and superiors. Girls seldom attended public schools. If they received any education at all, it was within the family and from a private tutor. My main discovery, when investigating what local gazetteers write about charity schools is that they were a part of a larger welfare project. The concept of ‘the three charitables’, referring to charitable granaries, charitable graveyards and charitable schools, is frequently mentioned. This means that the charitable schools were established for those who could not otherwise afford schooling. Furthermore, charity reached beyond one’s own family and clan. Primary education was closely linked to Neo-Confucian ritual practices. The schools were built within or near Confucian temple compounds. Neo-Confucian rituals were taught and practiced at schools, including burning incense in front of the Confucius tablet. It was also in front of this tablet that disobedient boys were physically punished. In the Ming dynasty, corporal punishment was common, but criticism was also raised against it. Interestingly, the Neo-Confucian thinker Wang Yangming (1472-1529) argued that play could serve as a tool for learning, and over the centuries disagreements as to what counted as good pedagogy clearly increased.

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Why is it important?

We know quite a lot about the higher levels of education and the examination system in late imperial China but far less about the lower levels. We often assume that Confucians did not engage in charity, but focused on clan and family. The charity schools, however, demonstrate that Neo-Confucians were engaged in welfare works at the local level, and that these activities were not exclusive family undertakings. The article furthermore problematizes the view of pedagogy and corporal punishment, arguing that ‘black pedagogy’, i.e. the use of harsh discipline in education, was common in historical China. Simultaneously there existed comparatively early criticism against it, and there were influential proponents for playful learning.

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