Liberal Arts Education in the Chinese Context

CHAPTER 2 Liberal Arts Education in the Chinese Context Numerous books and articles have been dedicated to the study of Chinese higher education, but liberal arts education is still a little-researched subject. This is due, in part, to the effort and emphasis placed on specialized or profes- sional education since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 (Gan 2006). Since the early 1990s the reemergence of liberal arts education in China has drawn the attention of Chinese universities, and the Chinese government has realized that this is an important part of “comprehensive quality education” (i.e., a well-rounded education). This chapter provides the academic and historical context for understanding the current state of liberal arts education in Chinese universities. It begins with a focus on liberal arts education in its historical context and variations in the way the liberal arts have been defined. It then introduces the development of Chinese higher education over the past three decades, following China’s institution of its Open Door policy and its undertaking of reform in its social, economic, political, and educational sectors. Special emphasis is placed on the last fifteen years, when liberal arts education emerged. This chapter also reviews the history of Chinese education and the development of liberal arts education. The last section of the chapter examines how the Chinese Ministry of Education’s policy initiatives have impacted liberal arts education reform at the university level in China. Confucian Tradition The emergence of liberal arts education in China in the last two decades is a new phenomenon (M.L. Li 2006). Nevertheless, higher learning and liberal arts education have a long history dating back more than 2,500 years to the Confucian era. For example, in the Analects (2:15), “the Master said: ‘To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.’ ” Hayhoe (1989, 54) states that “traditional Chinese higher education can be traced back as early as the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771–221 ce). By the Tang Dynasty (618–907 ad), there was a whole range of higher institutions, headed by the Guo Zixue (school for the sons of the emperor) and the Tai Xue (often translated university or greatest learning and study) which took major classical texts of the Confucian school as their curricular content.” Around the tenth century ce, during the Tang dynasty, the Shu Yuan (書院, academy of classical learning), a system of © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004�8�3�5_003 Liberal Arts Education in the Chinese Context 29 schools, was set up in China. With government support, it was the main institution of the Chinese higher education system for the next one thousand years. The Four Books and the Five Classics had a great impact on Chinese educational development in the following two thousand years. The famous Four Books (The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects, and The Mencius), collections of sayings and teachings of Confucius and his disciples, defined the purpose of education as the personal advancement of one’s own self (T. Lee, 2000). The Five Classics consist of the Yijing (Classic of Changes), the Shujing (Classic of History), the Classic of Poetry, the Collection of Rituals, and the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals). The Five Classics were taught from 136 bce (when Confucianism became the state ideology of China) until the early twentieth century. Confucius often emphasized moral advancement and self-cultivation through education and reflection. His teaching is centered on personal enrichment, righteousness, benevolence, empathy, filial piety, loy- alty, virtue, universal love, etiquette, faithfulness, self-cultivation, and emula- tion of moral exemplars. Indeed, his teachings influenced the entire Chinese education system and still do today. Fundamentally, Confucius taught that social harmony could be achieved only if humans were free from deprivation and given proper education, with a sage-king governing the nation. Confucianism emphasizes that the value of education is first of all for individual fulfillment, and then for the purpose of social development. Although Confucius was interested in building an ideal society under the sage-king’s leadership, he also believed that personal moral perfection was the foundation of a good society (Y.X. Zhang 2006). Personal education and cultivation were at the very core of Confucian think- ing. The intrinsic value of education for personal development has remained the most essential idea in the Confucian tradition, and it exerted a domi- nant influence on the Chinese educational system until the 1920s. In ancient Chinese culture and Confucian tradition, to promote all-around development, students were required to master six practical disciplines called the Six Arts (六藝 liù yì): rites, music, archery, chariot racing, calligraphy, and mathemat- ics. Men who excelled in these six arts were thought to have reached the state of perfection: the level of the sage or gentleman. Y.X. Zhang (2006) observes that the elements of moral education, academic study, physical education, and social training that are present in the Six Arts are also considered valuable in the modern world and are the Chinese equivalent of the modern idea of liberal arts education. Confucius clearly defined the role of education in the development of society. He developed the most comprehensive curriculum of his time, centered on the Six Arts, and a highly innovative and flexible pedagogy that deeply influenced the formation of ancient Chinese culture. Confucius .

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