tionships, namely, the relationships between sovereign and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and between friends. He also appointed Baron I as minister of religion to direct the three religious ceremonies and Kwei as director of music. These state offices of education having their origin in the time of Yao and Shun were also found during the time of the first two dynasties, Hsia and Shang, not only in the capital of the kingdom but also in the capitals of the various feudal states, at least in the larger ones. This record of public educational offices existing alongside of other ministries of the state is significant in that it reveals the fact that from the earliest time education or the provision for education was recognized in China as a function of the government. This explains in part why China had some sort of consciously organized system of education long before any other Asiatic or European people.

Earliest Schools and Colleges on Record

During the reigns of Yao and Shun there were in existence near the Imperial Palace at least two kinds of educational institutions, one called Shang Hsiang, and the other Hsia Hsiang. The former was a college devoted to higher education or Ta Hsüeh, and the latter was a college for lower education or Siao Hsüeh. These institutions also existed during the dynasties of Hsia and Shang, but were then known by different names. During the Hsia dynasty they were known respectively as Tung Hsü, or College of the East, and Hsi Hsü, or College of the West. The College of the East was situated, as the name indicates, at the east of the Imperial Palace, and the College of the West was in the western precincts of the capital. During the Shang dynasty they were respectively known as Yu Hsüeh, or College of the Right, and Tso Hsüeh, or College of the Left, the former situated in the western precincts of the capital, and the latter to the east of the Imperial Palace, holding positions the reverse of those held by the same institutions during the preceding dynasty. These two kinds of institutions

The three religious ceremonies are all the observances in the of Heaven, the spirit of the earth, and the spirits of the dead. Classics, Vol. III, Part I, p. 47.

Legge: The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV, Part II, p. 301.

worship of the spirit Legge: The Chinese

were devoted to the education of the princes and the sons of nobles and officials, as well as the promising youths of the common people. A custom was in vogue during those early dynasties of supporting or entertaining with feasts the aged of the state in the college for higher education and the aged of the people in the college for lower education. The sovereign made regular visits to these institutions to pay his respects to the aged men gathered there, and to discuss with them the problems of the state. Certain ceremonies were performed during those visits and these gave rise to a system of dances and music.

One finds, also, a record of the existence of other kinds of educational institutions during that early antiquity, such as Hsiao, Hsü, Hsiang Hsüeh, and Ku Tsung. Hsiao, meaning teaching, is a name given to the schools existing during the Hsia dynasty for the education of the children of the common people. Hsü, meaning archery, is the name used to designate the same kind of schools existing during the Shang dynasty. Hsiang Hsüeh is the name given to a kind of educational institution that was in existence in the departments (hsiang) of the feudal states. The last mentioned institution, Ku Tsung, had its origin also in the Shang dynasty. The word Ku, originally meaning blind, is generally understood to mean musician, and the word Tsung signifies honor. Ku Tsung then means the hall where one renders honor to the blind, that is, the musicians. This institution was situated near the Imperial Palace and in it music and ceremonies were at first taught.

Content of Ancient Education

The character of the ancient educational offices and of the earliest schools and colleges reveals the fact that the content of education in early antiquity consisted chiefly of rituals (li), music, and lessons on the duties of the five human relationships or the Five Humanities (Wu-lun). Rituals originally included only the observances in the worship of the spirit of Heaven, the spirit of the earth, and the spirits of the dead. They enabled the individual to become familiar with forms of worship, which

The aged of the state (or Kuo-lau) included officials and others distinguished by their virtues, while the aged of the people (or Shu-lau) included fathers and grandfathers of those who died in public service, as well as those whose only claim was age.

played an important part in the public and private life of the ancient people, since they believed that their happiness and prosperity depended greatly upon the sustaining of a right relationship with the spirits of the dead and that this right relationship was dependent upon proper forms of worship. In course of time, however, the term li came to include all religious and social usages, manners, customs, as well as laws of the land, such as we find embodied in the Book of Rites (Li-chi), Ceremonial Rites of Chou (Chou-li), and Decorum Ritual (I-li). The word ceremony, often regarded as the equivalent of the word li, does not at all convey the true import of the word, for li includes not only the external conduct, but also involves the right principles from which all true etiquette and politeness spring. The policy of the government, the organization of the family, and the rules of society, are all founded on the true li. In explanation of the importance of the three works on the subject of li or ritual, M. Callery shows in a few words what a wide field is covered: "Li epitomizes the entire Chinese mind, and, in my opinion, the Li-chi is per se the most exact and complete monograph that China has been able to give of itself to other nations. Its affections, if it has any, are satisfied by li; its duties are fulfilled by li; its virtues and vices are referred to li; the natural relations of created beings essentially link themselves in li-in a word, to that people li is man as a moral, political, and religious being in his multiplied relations with family, country, society, morality, and religion."

Next to li or rituals comes music, which includes poetry and songs as well as dancing and instrumental music. The book of odes (Shi-ching), which is a collection of rhymed ballads in various metres, composed between the reign of the Great Yü, the founder of the Hsia dynasty, and the beginning of the sixth century B.C., throws much light upon the character of music in the period under consideration. A number of musical instruments are mentioned in the odes. Among them are the flute, the drum, the bell, the lute, and the Pandean pipes. The ballads or odes are arranged under the following heads: (a) ballads commonly sung by the people in the various feudal states and forwarded periodically by the nobles to their suzerain,

Legge: The Chinese Classics, Vol. III, Part I, p. 47.

the Son of Heaven'; (b) odes sung at ordinary entertainments given by the suzerain; (c) odes sung on grand occasions when the feudal nobles were gathered together; (d) panegyrics and sacrificial odes. Many of the ballads and odes deal with warfare, and with the separation of wives from husbands; others, with agriculture and the chase, with marriage and feasting. To these may be added those containing complaints against the harshness of officials, as well as against the ordinary sorrows of life. Of dancing, the Book of Rites mentions at least four kinds which had to be performed in the great ceremonies. They are called dances with the shield, with the lance, with the plume, and with the flute, each named after the nature of the object which the dancer holds in his hand.10

The function of music was to mold the temper and the character of the individual, enabling him to be in harmony with his fellow-beings and with the spirits." Thus in the appointment of Kwei as director of music, Shun is recorded to have enjoined him to teach music to the youth of the land, so that "the straightforward may yet be mild, the gentle may yet be dignified, the strong not tyrannical, and the impetuous not arrogant." To the same ruler is credited the following conception of the function of music: "Poetry is the expression of earnest thought; singing is the prolonged utterance of that expression. The notes accompany that utterance, and they are harmonized by the pitch pipes. In this way the eight different kinds of instruments can all be adjusted so that one shall not take from or interfere with another, and spirits and men will thereby be brought into harmony."12

The Five Humanities as already observed deal with the duties belonging to the relationships between parent and child, sovereign and subject, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, friend and friend. These relationships, according

The ballads so forwarded were then submitted to the imperial musicians, who were able to judge from the nature of such compositions what would be the manners and customs prevailing in the state, and to advise the suzerain accordingly as to the good or bad administration of each vassal ruler.

10 Li Chi Chu Shu, Vol. XX, p. 5.

"Gütslaff, in his history of China, speaking of music as a means of inspiring the softer feelings of nature, and of promoting harmony amongst the nations, suggests that the music of the ancient Chinese must have been far superior to that of their posterity, for the Chinese music of modern times is not productive of the effect which it seems once to having exercised.

1 Legge: The Chinese Classics, Vol. III, Part I, p. 48.

V

to Mencius, should be guided respectively by the principles of love, righteousness, propriety, deference, and sincerity.13 The belief was that with these principles inculcated in the minds of the people they would live at peace with one another and social stability would thus be secured.

It seems clear that the content of education during the time of Yao and Shun and the first two dynasties, Hsia and Shang, was essentially moral and religious in character, dealing as it does with the relationship between man and man and between man and spirits. The existence of the institution known as Hsü, where archery was practiced and taught, seems to indicate that some form of physical or military training was also given. Literary education, as we understand it to-day, hardly existed at that early epoch, when the art of printing was not yet discovered. It is recorded, however, that in the Shang Hsiang, or college for higher education, the study of bamboo books and the tracing of characters on bamboo tablets were among the occupations of its students.14

Method of Ancient Education

The method of education of the ancient Chinese, like that used by the ancients of other nations, was simple in character. As yet there was no large body of knowledge or organized subjects of study through which the aims of education could be realized. Although bamboo books are recorded to have existed at that time, their use was confined, as we have seen, to the Shang Hsiang, or college of higher education, and their number must have been very small, owing to the difficulties involved in their preparation. The moral training and the training in ceremonials and music were given chiefly in two ways, by word of mouth and by example. In the description of the training of a boy given in the Regulations of the Interior, in the Book of Rites, we read that in the performance of ceremonials and usages of the school the master commences and the children follow his movements. Again, history conveys to us the idea that the ancient rulers and teachers ruled and influenced the people not so much by their teachings as by their personal character and conduct. It appears from these instances that

13 Mencius, Book IV, Pt. I, Chap. 4, Sec. 8.

14 Li Chi Chu Shu, Vol. XX, p. 5.