Education in Traditional China: A History (review)

The term "traditional Chinese education" conjures up a vision of young boys rote memorizing thousands of characters, their lives dominated by dreary rooms, scrolls, brushes, and ink away from sunshine, fresh air, and joy. The young men are trying to please parents by passing a series of difficult exams in stultifying essay forms that mold and shape their minds to orthodox views devoid of creative thinking. Girls are conspicuous by their absence. Learning is less important than parroting the ideas necessary to achieve preferential appointment to office and thereby secure income and prestige. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising that Thomas Lee begins his monumental survey of Chinese education by stating that "self-enjoyment of learning is a central belief in Confucian education" (p. viii). Lee presents us with a clearly stated, almost exhaustive history of the development of traditional education in China up to the later years of the Ming dynasty in lucid, succinct prose.

Lee tells us that "Confucian thinking is chameleon-like, forever changing its color and shape" (p. 40), and proceeds to develop this motif through the history of educational institutions and intellectual thought through the successive dynasties. While this is a bit repetitious, it is necessary in order to follow the developing changes and influences that have shaped the understanding of education in Chinese culture and the lives of the Chinese people. Two themes run clearly throughout the book: (1) "China's educational history is a product of the combined influence of many intellectual forces, including popular religious practices," and (2) "education as such has an intrinsic value and is considered enjoyable" (p. viii).

The author offers five key arguments. First, the development of Confucian classical learning and its impact on Chinese history is the most important aspect of the Chinese educational experience; second, the Chinese constantly oscillated between education for service and education for good government; third, Confucian and Neo-Confucian thinkers embraced the important goal of learning as self-enjoyment; fourth, the "pre-eminence of civil service examinations created a situation in which age and academic progression were considered to be unrelated"; and fifth, Neo-Confucianism and its ideal of personhood were the foremost influence in the latter part of the period Lee identifies as traditional China (pp. 38-39). Lee demonstrates how the goals of self-enjoyment, personal moral perfection, and staffing the bureaucracy were dealt with in each successive historical period. He contends that for Confucius a "moral meritocracy is his principle" (p. 10). And Lee is successful in his "attempt to explain how Confucian orthodoxy became the leading force that shaped the Chinese person over the past several centuries" (p. ix).

At 762 pages, this is not a simple afternoon's reading and will probably appeal only to scholars intensely interested in the process of creating a dynamic educational system. But neither is it a cure for insomnia. Lee's mastery of diverse areas of knowledge is clearly evident in this well-organized and clearly explained work. He precisely demonstrates the processes by which Confucian values and practices were influenced by and in turn influenced the development of Taoism and Buddhism. It is interesting to see the way in which ideas of community and academy in the religious and secular worlds contributed to a definition of both teacher and student, particularly with regard to the nature of the master-disciple relationship and to the importance of environment to the process of learning. "For the first time to retreat to an isolated, tranquil and even eerie, mountainous area was believed to be the most effective way to complete one's intellectual growth" (p. 217). Lee shows how ideas on the nature of human beings as either all good, all bad, or both contributed to the enhancement of the role of education in developing a sense of humanity. The relationship of the individual to the state and family is also explained...