Higher Education

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Higher Education

• Goals promoted Confucian values, trained
  Confucian scholars and made them ruling elites,
  and strengthened imperial power.

• Two forms of institutional Education
• Religious
• Secular

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• Religious
• Temples or monasteries taught Buddhist and Daoist
  texts Recitation of sutras was basic task,
  understanding sutras through exegesis secondary.
• Secular
• Public schools capital and provinces
  (prefectures)
• Confucian and Daoist classics
• Private village schools
• Instructors choices, but primarily Confucian
  texts

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Public Schools

• National schools Run by central government
• Capital colleges (1)
• the Colleges for Sons of State ???
• Grand Learning ??
• Four Gates ???

Confucius and His Disciples
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• These capital colleges were for sons whose
  fathers held offices from ranks (grades) 1-3,
  4-5, and 6-7 respectively
• Four Gates later opened for sons of officials of
  8th and 9th grades (ranks)
• And later opened for talented commoners
• Young men between the ages 14-19 were accepted
• The state provided stipend and housing
• They taught Confucian and Daoist classics,
  medicinal texts
• Lectures, memorization, and examinations

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• Capital colleges (2) Schools for specialized
  fields
• Laws (? ?) Tang Code, statutes
• Math (? ?) text math textbooks to master in 14
  years
• Calligraphy (? ?) three styles and two
  dictionaries to be completed in 6 years
• Other special schools in the capital
• Astronomy
• Calendrical science,
• Divination
• Ritual

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Hand-copied Buddhist Scripture, Tang Dynasty
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Provincial schools

• Provincial Schools prefectual and county schools
  
• Senior officials selected students between 18 and
  25 for admission to these schools
• Confucian and Daoist classics were the major
  curriculum
• Requirements included the study of marriage and
  funeral rites
• The masters gave an exam every ten days
• On materials covered during the week

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• Format of exams
• One fill-in question for every 1,000 words of
  text memorized
• Students had to supply from memory a passage of
  which they received only the beginning sentence
• One interpretive question for every 2,000 words
  of text covered in lectures
• A year-end exam consisting 10 oral questions was
  given to determine whether a student could pass
  the class
• A student would be dismissed and sent home if he
  failed that exam three years in a row or had been
  in school for nine years without graduating

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Paths to Official Career

• One could become an official through these
  channels
• Recommended by schools
• Recommend by village head of gentry, if
  candidates were not in school
• Recommended oneself without going through the
  authorities could sign up for special imperial
  examinations

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• Benefits of official career
• provided one with opportunities to secure power
  and wealth,
• Could hold a high office in Changan,
• Could become a prestigious ranking official

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Hand-copied Buddhist Scritpture, Tang Dynasty
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Schools and Students

• Tang government encountered difficulties running
  public schools
• Couldnt supply enough qualified teachers
• Couldnt support teachers and students
  financially
• students numbered from 63,570 to130,000 in
  different time periods
• Performance of students in capital colleges was
  less than desirable
• Some hired substitutes to take their exams
• Many were shiftless they gambled, drank too
  much, quarreled, and showed no respect for
  authority.
• More and more slack in class work, vilified
  teachers, and thrashed them in the streets

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• Public schools lost its appeal
• Youths from privileged families had priority to
  enroll in schools
• Good teachers went to private schools
• Students from schools outperformed by those from
  private schools in the civil services
  examinations
• Schools discontinued in later Tang

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The Civil Service Examinations

• A meritocratic system aimed to embody Confucian
  ideal of selecting men of talent and ability to
  help rule the state .
• Talented men, after passing examinations, became
  public officials
• Major examinations
• Law, math, history, classical masters, advanced
  scholars, elevated warriors

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Most Important Examinations

• Classical masters (Mingjing) 3 tests
• 1st test On classical knowledge
• Major (large) classics Rites, Spring Autumn
  Annals
• Middle classics Poetry, Rites of Zhou,
• Lesser classics Changes, History
• Other classics Filial Piety, the Analects
• 2nd test On commentaries on classics
• 3rd test On policy discussion/essays3 questions
  (A 3/3 B 2/3)
• Advanced scholars (Jinshi) 3 tests
• On classical knowledge major, middle, lesser
  classics
• On belles lettres poetry in shi and fu forms
• On policy discussion/essays5 questions (A 5/5 B
  4/5)

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Classical Master emphasized memorization
candidate passed the first text if he could
answer 5 out of 10 fill-in questions
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Jinshi (Chin-shih) Examination

• Advanced Scholars
• 10 fill-in questions on one major (large)
  classics with a commentary, five essays on policy
  discussion, and compositions of poetry and
  prose-poems
• Degree holders more respected and prestigious
  than scholars passing other examinations
• Became the most reliable route to upward mobility
  within government
• Influences
• Poets highly admired ability to write poetry and
  prose much emphasized

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Before and After the Examinations

• Before Scroll presentation
• Candidate presented his works in scrolls to
  examiners
• In spring, candidates congregated in the capital
  to take the examinations

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• After Successful candidates
• Given a reception by examiners
• Toured the scenic parts of the capital
• Waiting for selection examination to receive
  appointments

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--20 to 30 passed exams and received appointments
per year --Degree holders and examiners formed a
permanent master-disciple bond of union and
fellowship
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Tang Art
Song reproduction of Tang painting, Songzi
Tianwang, Originally done by Wu Daozi, now
preserved in Japan
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(No Transcript)
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Wei Yan, A Hundred Horses, Tang, National
Palace Museum in Beijing
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Han Gan, Night-shinning White, High Tang, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
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Han Gan, Herding Horse, High Tang, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY