Education profoundly shaped Song Dynasty society. It provided a vehicle for social mobility, allowing individuals from diverse backgrounds to ascend bureaucratic ranks through the civil service examination.
Mastery of classical texts was a crucial prerequisite for success in these exams. They also promoted a scholarly culture that emphasized Confucian values.
Life of a Scholar
In the Song dynasty, education reached into villages for the first time through the examination system. Families invested financial and cultural resources to send sons to schools that taught classical Chinese and prepared them for the civil service exam. The goal of the system was to ensure that men with literary educations gained positions in government that countered the dominance of military men.
Scholar-officials were expected to promote Confucian values in their communities and to participate in the life of society. They also promoted the idea that social status and appointments should be based on ability rather than birth or family lineage. Nevertheless, the system was flawed. It was difficult to train enough scholars to fill the positions available, and even educated families could find that careerism trumped idealism when it came to selecting candidates for civil service.
While promoting the idea that merit should determine appointments, the emperors sought to expand the scope of the civil service exams to include subjects such as astronomy, calendrical precision, mathematical harmonics, and natural anomalies. This wider range of questions reflected the dynasty’s interest in advancing science and technology. The goal was to build a knowledge base that would help China compete with its northern conquest dynasties and beyond.
Private academies and scholars’ guilds proliferated. Some favored the learning of traditional Chinese history, medical traditions, literary style, and poetry. Others emphasized classical erudition, which offered a repertoire of linguistic and conceptual categories that assured elite status in culture and politics. Some academies and scholarly associations emphasized morally motivated study while advocating for the independence of education from political or economic pressures.
By the end of the Song era, intellectuals across China were increasingly concerned that the examination system was warping its classical goals into a path to success that required a narrow set of personal character traits, and they appealed to the emperor to reform the process. This pressure from the right wing was countered by pressure from left wing forces, which tended to favor a more utilitarian view of educational purposes and to emphasize the value of teaching practical skills.
Studying Literature
During the Song, local traditions of learning informally complemented and reinforced a centrally controlled system of academic training. This facilitated a dynamism that is reflected in the variety of artistic and literary forms created during this period.
At the same time, Song rulers refocused their efforts on promoting civil governance that was rooted in Confucian principles of humaneness and righteousness. This required a rethinking of the way in which education was organized. Historically, dynastic officials had relied on written examinations to select men for office. However, such examinations acted only as a supplement to sage recommendations and hereditary privilege. After the collapse of the Tang Dynasty, Song rulers developed a national civil service exam that was designed to evaluate a man’s mastery of Confucian classics.
Although the new civil service exam was open to all literate Chinese, social distinctions continued to prevent many peasants and artisans from translating their commercial wealth into elite status through official appointments. At the same time, occupational restrictions prevented women from competing for a place in the civil service exams.
Amid the growing emphasis on civic values, literati reacted against the regimentation of their education and sought to revive local traditions of learning. Private academies were popular venues for dissenting views and the exchange of information. Moreover, the new invention of moveable-type printing made books on a multitude of topics cheap and accessible, allowing a greater diversity of intellectual ideas to reach broader audiences than ever before.
The Song era also witnessed the resurgence of native Chinese philosophies, with Confucianism and Daoism enjoying renewed popularity. This development was accompanied by an interest in ancient culture, or antiquarianism. The emergence of Song aristocrats as collectors and connoisseurs contributed to the development of a “golden age” for Chinese art.
Paintings of the era were characterized by a sense of lightness and airiness, exemplified by the painting Scholar in a Meadow (
Studying the Sciences
The Song Dynasty saw a flourishing of science, literature, arts and philosophy. Widespread printed editions of texts-previously transmitted as handwritten manuscripts-helped to spread literacy and knowledge throughout the realm. In the 12th century the new technology of movable type brought the Confucian classics to a mass audience. Private academies of learning, such as Donglin and White Deer Grotto, trained increasing numbers of candidates for civil service exams. Commerce developed to an unprecedented extent; paper currency was introduced, and cities of over 1 million people emerged along the waterways and southeast coast.
The literati, however, remained dissatisfied with the cultural and social status of their society. Although they trained a highly literate elite, and socialized the far less literate or even illiterate common people through exhortations, they also conceived of education as a form of indoctrination from above. A classical curriculum forged the linguistic and conceptual categories that ensured elite power and prestige, and shaped the forms of argument and rhetoric that prevailed in official written texts.
Some scholars embraced foreign philosophies, including humanism, but many closed their minds to them and set about defining Chinese canons of morality and politics. The philosophies of Confucianism, Mohism and Taoism all enjoyed a resurgence. The 12th-century philosopher Zhu Xi established a systematized doctrine known as Neo-Confucianism.
In addition to dynastic schools and state examination halls, charity, temple and private academies taught the classics and the practical skills needed to pass local civil service or trade exams. These schools were often associated with local classical, medical and statecraft traditions or lineages of teaching that traced back to a particular master.
The number of men preparing for the civil service exam dramatically increased by Song times, and success in these competitions carried such prestige that families were increasingly willing to devote their resources and time to prepare sons. This led to a culture of rising expectations among young men, and a frustration that shattered when hopes were dashed.
The civil services, in fact, were more competitive than ever as rivals vied for the same posts. Disagreements on policy and ideology within ministers of state sparked political factions, and the once unified scholar-official class fractured into rival groups whose primary interest was competing for official appointments. This weakened the position of the central government and gave the power of regional warlords a chance to rise.
Studying History
The Song Dynasty was a period of cultural consolidation and reform. Confucianism was reconfirmed as the guiding philosophy of Chinese civilization, and Buddhism and Daoism were recognized as state religions. In addition, the reintroduction of civil service examinations allowed men with academic credentials to rise into government positions, bypassing the hereditary privileges that had long dominated official appointments in previous dynasties. This centralized bureaucracy was staffed by civilian scholar-officials, and regional military governors were replaced with centrally appointed officials, giving the emperor much more control over his empire than had been possible in Tang Dynasty times.
Song culture was enriched by the invention of moveable-type printing, making it possible to make books affordable and widely available to the public. This encouraged the study of a wide variety of topics, including history, which became an important part of the social curriculum. The Song people were also very active in science and technology. Gunpowder weapons were invented during this time, and advances in forensic science were made, with careful recording of autopsy results and witness testimony aiding law enforcement.
Along with these scientific advances, the Song era saw a blossoming of the arts and literature. Poetry was very popular, as were paintings and the performing arts. Religious studies remained popular as well, with scholars studying the major deities of Taoism and Buddhism, as well as Chinese folk religion.
As the Song era progressed, women gained new legal rights. They could inherit their fathers' undivided property and participate in family businesses, and were encouraged to receive higher education. This led to the emergence of women's academies.
In contrast to the rigid and closed society of previous dynasties, academies provided a space for debate and dissent. Private academies often served as forums for teaching the classics, but they could also become centers for religious studies and political discussion. In this way, they acted as an antidote to the stifling atmosphere that had characterized imperial educational policy and to the corruption that plagued some official schools. The academies helped to reinforce the importance of education for all people, regardless of class or status, as a key to improving society and civilization.
No comments:
Post a Comment