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The Images of Science in Chinese Science Education

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The Images of Science in Chinese Science Education CHAPTER FOUR THE IMAGES OF SCIENCE IN CHINESE SCIENCE EDUCATION The History and the Contemporary Chapters two and three together provided a cultural history of the changing images of science in Chinese culture. As part of the formation of Chinese people’s images of science, Chinese native knowledge has experienced the process from mainly developing on its own track, to being seriously challenged by Western science. The development of Chinese science education has always echoed the changing images of science in Chinese society. Since education offers a place where it is possible for ideas to be translated into practice and to make real impact on society, education has been one of the major arenas of debate that has seen the development and struggle of Chinese native knowledge, and, the rise and flourishing of Western science. This chapter gives a brief introduction to Chinese science education, in a roughly chronological order. In line with the main concern of this book, the introduction focuses on the cultural background and its influences particularly on science education during each period. As in Chapter 3, traditional Chinese medical education is treated as a typical case in the last section of this chapter. TRADITIONAL CHINESE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION There were three major ways of education in ancient China: Official education, private education and independent education. Native knowledge that was related to science and technology was taught in all three ways. However, the degree to which science and technology were valued varied across periods. Official education was offered and administered by the government. Both the central and local governments were involved. In the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th Century BC – 771 BC), the official education system consisted of ‘Six Skills’. The first one and also the most valued one, ‘Li’, referred to Ethics education. ‘Yue’ covered Art education such as Music, Dancing, and Poems. ‘She’ and ‘Yu’ were military training which included archery and controlling chariots. The fifth skill, ‘Shu’, was roughly equivalent to literacy education. Among the six skills, the last one, which was also pronounced as ‘Shu’ but corresponded to different Chinese characters, can roughly be seen as related to science and technology education. However, the contents of ‘Shu’ were complicated. Except for mathematical and astronomical knowledge, it also contained methods of divination (Lu, 1982). Compared with other skills, it was not valued by the rulers and only offered at junior level. Official education decayed during the Spring and Autumn period (770BC – 476BC?), revived in the Han Dynasty, became highly organised in the Dang 37 CHAPTER 4 Dynasty, kept developing until the end of the last imperial regime in China, the Qing Dynasty. Although the contents taught varied across dynasties, one characteristic was shared almost by all official education system – Humanities were far more valued than science and technology. More developed science and technology education in ancient China was usually in the form of specialised schools. These schools can be seen as a particular form of official education because they usually had administrative support from central government. Subjects systematically taught in various specialised schools mainly included medicine, mathematics, and astronomy (Han, 1985). In general, these particular schools adopted unified textbooks edited by the government and attached great importance to the training of practical skills (Wang, 2004). For example, mathematics was not taught as pure knowledge. It was often related to land surveying, calendar calculating, hydraulics and architectural engineering. The graduates of the specialised schools had chances to enter exceptional institutions after examinations. Until the late 1800s, the main approach to selecting and appointing government officials had been through nationwide examinations primarily containing Confucian literature. As a result, official schools which offered the study of Confucian literature enjoyed a supreme status in the school system. Because the education system as a whole valued Ethics and social study based on Confucianism, the status of the specialised schools was inferior to formal general official schools and the size of the specialised schools was also much smaller. Private education rose during the Spring and Autumn period while official education decayed as a result of the decline of the Zhou Empire. During the early period of private education diverse forms of knowledge had flourished, including different philosophical thinking, political debates, study of law and logic, military science, science and technology, as well as wizardry and divination. Wu (2002) identifies four forms of science and technology education in this period: within a family, through master-apprentice mechanism, hereditary official position, and within a school. In the first form, knowledge and skills were handed down from the older generations of a family, usually from father to son. If someone had unique skills but did not have offspring, they would select an apprentice and pass on their skills through a master-apprentice arrangement. There was also an official institution in charge of some specialised fields such as drafting a calendar. A position in this kind of institution was usually handed down through a hereditary system. The first three forms of education shared a similar training mode – knowledge and skills were passed on from an older generation to a younger generation within a small scale. These were not phenomena that uniquely belonged to the Spring and Autumn period. In fact, across dynasties, they were the main non- official ways of science and technology education existing side by side with specialised schools. Science and technological knowledge and skills inherited in these ways mainly included medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. The fourth form of education was usually seen within various schools of thought as a part of the schools’ academic and political activities. Knowledge and skills were passed on from the leader of a school to his followers. Most schools of 38 .
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