Popular science knowledge in private schools: Quanjiao’s private schools and voluntary studies in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, primary education in Quanjiao was dominated by private schools (Mengtong Hall or Mengtong Hall).

Private schools are private schools in the past dynasties. Before the Western Zhou Dynasty, he studied in the government. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius was the first to give private lectures. By the Warring States Period, private schools were flourishing. After the Han Dynasty, private schools became an important part of the school system in China's feudal era. Private school is a type of "private education".

Private schools are divided into one class per year and teach for about ten months each year. There is usually only one teacher, known as the private school teacher. Due to their different identities and knowledge, the teachers of private schools have different ways of setting up schools and different treatment. For some poor scholars from other places or locally, the school teachers asked the directors to contact them to raise funds, and the school they set up was called "Tuan Guan"; famous teachers with good character and great talents were hired by wealthy families, and the school they set up was called "East Hall"; Only those who are knowledgeable, have a high reputation and status, and set up a studio in their own home to teach students are called "menguan". For some poor people who use their leisure time to jointly hire private schools to teach their children, it usually lasts from the tenth month of the lunar calendar to the end of March of the following year, which is called "winter school".

The tuition fees (salary) of private school teachers, students studying in Tuankan and Menguan high schools pay different tuition fees (sometimes calculated in terms of food) according to different ages and content of education. Those who study in the Dongguan are generally the children of wealthy families, and the school founder pays a certain amount of remuneration to the private school teachers; the meals for the private school teachers in the Tuanguan are either self-catered, that is, they take care of their own food, and secondly, they provide meals. That is, meals are provided in turn by one or more families or from house to house.

The teaching materials used in private schools and the number of years of study are not customized. The daily teaching routine of the private school teacher is to teach reading calligraphy squares (character blocks written on square paper) and basic textbooks in the morning. Before school, each student writes a piece of large character writing. The calligraphy process for large characters is imitating and copying. Finally, they learn small regular script and self-study large regular script. . In the afternoon, the Mengtong reviewed the calligraphy prescriptions. The tutor pointed out the calligraphy prescriptions, then shook his head and shook his head and read the poems. The Mengtong recited the poems and proses. On the first and fifteenth day of every month, as well as during the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and the end of the school, Mengtong children must recite and recite the books they read in the previous stage. If they memorize mistakes, they will not only recite them again, but also have to have their palms slapped with a ruler or punished by kneeling. "Learning is achieved through fear" is the basic creed of ordinary private school teachers.

The teaching method of private schools is individual teaching. Arrange different teaching contents and teaching paces for children of different ages and intelligences. Even if they read the same book, the pace will be different and teaching cannot be one-size-fits-all. Enlighten children first to learn Chinese characters, then read "Hundred Family Surnames", "Thousand Character Classic", "Three Character Classic", etc., and then read "Four Books" and "Five Classics". Older students are gradually taught some feudal ethics, social practicality and general knowledge of literature and history. Most of them are based on the "Nv's Classic", "The Classic of Filial Piety", "Longwen Whip Shadow", "Young Learning Qionglin", "Three Hundred Tang Poems", "Poems of Thousands of Families", "Guwen Guanzhi", "Tongjian", "Historical Records" ", "Zuo Zhuan", etc. are used as teaching materials. There are also some other books to choose from, such as "Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "Mencius", "Zengguang Xianwen", etc.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the larger private schools in Quanjiao County were:

Wu (pronunciation: Ji) Classics School

Wu (pronunciation: Ji) Classics School The house is located in Zhilu, which was built as a residence and school by Jiang Penngling in his later years.

Jiang Penngling, a native of this county during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, was given the courtesy name Zhuchen and his later nickname was Jilu Old Man. Gongsheng. Famous private school teacher. In advocating textual research on Confucian classics, a Wu (pronounced: Ji) Confucian classics study house was set up to teach more than a hundred people. Mu Qing's second-grade Huai'an magistrate and Jinshi Wang Wenshou, Ye Yaojie, acting director of the Department of Education of Anhui Province in the Republic of China, Qiu Jingzhang, the first principal of Quanjiao Middle School and Jinshi, Shi Weixiao, consultant to the Shanxi Provincial Government, and painter Wang Wenbi all came from his school.

At the age of forty, Jiang Penngling lost his sight due to the loss of his mother. He still taught finger painting to his disciples and wrote the "Collection of Manuscripts for the Garden". There are couplets written by Jiang Peng in the lodge:

? Sweeping the floor and burning incense will bring blessings to others; weaving fences and planting chrysanthemums, the autumn flowers will be more aloof than me. ?

There is Erxian Temple beside the hut, and there is a couplet of Jiang Pengling inside: ? Copy the traces to the deserted ancestral hall, and you will have years at the fingertips! How many enemies are there? 悴悴?, prosperity and decline) are found one after another, and the Russians (instantly) move to different surnames. The wealthy traveler is wild and blind (a blind man who is unruly. Blind, unknown), the god of Qi is in peace?佭 (allowed, let go) lingers, Zhouyi Zhuangjing, Qin Shu and Han history; there are endless mouths and mouths, unique Qi Zhenji. ?

The Book of Changes, also called the "Book of Changes", is a divination book with philosophical thoughts in ancient my country and is one of the main classics of Confucianism. Taoism regards the root of life as "truth" (god). Qishen, the same as "Qi Zhen", means to protect its roots and nourish its soul. Mouth, taste, mostly refers to the appreciation of calligraphy, history and art.

In the spring of 1920, Jiang Penngling died of lung disease at the age of 67. More than 200 people from students and education circles attended his funeral.

Zhu Zhongnai Pupu School

Zhu Zhongnai (1870~?), named Yichen, was born in Xiang in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Revolution of 1911, the Anhui Consultative Bureau was established. Zhu Zhongnai and Ye Yaojie were elected as members of the Anhui Consultative Bureau with their knowledge and reputation. After the Revolution of 1911, he served as deputy director of the local finance bureau and participated in the review of Quanjiao County Chronicle in the ninth year of the Republic of China. It once set up a school to recruit more than a hundred students and apprentices who were preparing to take the scholar examination. Pupu School is known as a high-end private school.

When Zhu Zhongnai passed away due to illness in 1939, there were many people holding whisks, and his students privately nicknamed him "Mr. Zhenhui".

This is Quan Jiao's second private tutor after Jiang Penngling. The scholar Wang Wenbi (Youqing) wrote about it: Thirty years ago, he wandered in the mountains and forests, and visited Fengle Drunkard's Victory. He passed the exam of 60 years old, and slept in his mulberry tree. ?

Kunfu Reformed Private School

?Kunfu Reformed Private School? was organized by Ye Guohuang, the second son of Ye Baiqing. Ye Guohuang, courtesy name Kunfu, helped his father run a private school. Ye Baiqing taught historical records, ancient Chinese prose, and Tang poetry to senior students, while Ye Guohuang taught lower students the Four Books, Five Classics, ancient Chinese prose, and various enlightenment textbooks.

In 1931, after his father Ye Baiqing was hired as a tutor by a family named Zhou in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Ye Guohuang taught at home alone. At this time, it was changed to a "reformed private school". In addition to teaching ancient Chinese, Chinese language, arithmetic, history, and geography are also taught in upper elementary grades. Cheng Jiwu, Tao Jigong, Zhang Huanqiong, etc. were successively hired to assist in teaching. The number of students increased from 30 to 40 to nearly 100, divided into three classes: high, middle and low. Due to the increase in students, Ye Guohuang rented the Jin's Ancestral Hall (today's Nanping Vegetable Market) as a school site. This was the most influential "Kunfu Improved Private School" in Quanjiao County at that time, and it was registered and approved by the education department at that time. In 1937, the Japanese invaded China and the county fell, forcing it to cease operations. Some of the intellectuals with higher literary standards in our county came from Ye's private school. For example, Wang Yong, Tong Suqun, Fu Ming, Zhang Gong, He Ruoren, Huanong, Luo Yingsheng, Lu Manchao, Zhang Da, Han Rong, and Wang Qingsong who participated in the revolution after the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War were all descendants of Yemen.

After Ye Guohuang stopped running private schools, he traveled to the Southwest during the Anti-Japanese War. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he and Mrs. Wan settled at No. 13, Guixianying, Hongwu Road, Nanjing. He died of illness in the late 1980s.

In addition, during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the following larger private schools in Quanjiao County were:

Ma Daokuan Private School, located in Qiu Zhi’an Cocoon Farm, east gate of the county, had four students. , fifty people; Chen Fengchun’s private school on Dongmen Street (the former site of the old Procuratorate); Tian Jifeng’s private school on Ximen Middle Street (the former site of the old county printing factory); The Zhoumen Private School near the Wang Ancestral Hall; the Pan Chengbing Private School near the former Dongmen Food Factory, which was an enlightenment private school; and the Zhu Yimin Private School on Fenghuang Street today.

Private schools in rural areas include: Zhang Ying and Tao Jigong from Guheji; Wang Jiazhi from Damachang; Zhang Jiansujie, Yu Keqing, Shi Yuquan and Sunzi Yibaoti from Chengjia City; Liu Zhaozhang was the one who gathered in Liuzhen; Ruan Zhenbo, Zhang Huanqiong and others in Chizhenbu (Page 559 of "Quanjiao County Chronicle").

After 1940, some of the larger private schools opened in Zhoujiagang Anti-Japanese Democratic Base Area include: Yao Shuyong Private School in Jade Emperor Temple, Luo Benzheng Private School in Western Wei Dynasty, Zhang Biyan Private School in Huangli Shu, Wang Ainong and Chu Jie Private School in Wang Ying, Xu Derong's private school in Guozhuang, Tang Zhaolong's private school in Zhenying, Hu Chengzu's private school in Neizhuang, etc. These private schools have as few as a dozen students and as many as more than thirty students. The private schools have been improved, abolished corporal punishment, and adopted textbooks compiled and printed by the Luxi Base Area Primary School Textbook Editing Committee, mainly covering Mandarin and arithmetic. Some higher-grade private schools also added geography, history, nature and other subjects. By the end of 1948, there were 28 private schools in the county (Page 12 of Quanjiao Education Chronicle).

The teaching form, teaching methods, and teaching content of free schools are the same as those of private schools, so they are also called free schools. It is a free education established by private funds or local public welfare funds in the old days of China. Slightly different from private schools, students have to give "boxing gifts" to their teachers during three festivals a year (Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Spring Festival). Moreover, most volunteer schools have a certain amount of land, and they use land rent to maintain their schools. Some volunteer schools are funded by local governments. According to the Records of Quanjiao County in the 9th year of the Republic of China: Wu Xianshu of the Qing Dynasty lived in Xianggong and lived in Beixiang. During the great famine in the 19th year of Jiaqing (1814), he generously donated 200 stones of grain to set up a porridge factory in Xiaoyin Temple, Yuanjin Township. Neighbors, there are many people alive. Recreate the righteous school to lure those who are behind. ? In the early years of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1875), Jiang Penngling's Wu (pronunciation: Ji) Confucian Classics School was the largest free school in the late Qing Dynasty.

When some local celebrities and local gentry donated money to run free schools, they also stipulated a number of rules for free schools: For example, a certain rural free school stipulated:

1. It is discretionary for students to earn money. Forty thousand fen is used as a measure every year, and 1,000 fen is paid each time on Dragon Boat Festival and New Year's Eve. Students are admitted to a class of forty people. If the number is reached, no further comers will be accepted.

2. The gentleman must recruit people who are between forty and sixty years old and of good character. If the teacher who has been postponed interferes in foreign affairs and causes failure in his studies, or is careless and delays his disciples, he will be dismissed and postponed.

3. Students must bring all pens, ink, paper and inkstones by themselves, except tables and stools.

4. If a student is naughty in the library, Mr. Xiao Ze will punish him more. The number of punishments will be recorded. If he does not change his behavior five times, he will be expelled and will not be admitted again the following year.

5. The students are specially designed for those who are poor and unable to learn from the local children. If they have a business and can raise money to study, they can choose another famous teacher. There is no need to send them to a volunteer school to support the poor.

6. Students are from six to fifteen years old. If they are sixteen or above, they are adults and can support themselves, so there is no need to send them to free schools.

7. Sir, you must cultivate gold every year and withdraw it according to the four seasons. In addition, you are not allowed to ask for additional disciples.

8. The school is a place for students to study, and no idlers are allowed to intrude. Gentleman shall not delay either.

If someone drinks alcohol and disrupts the school without any reason, or if he is my father or brother, in addition to expelling me, his father and brother will also be punished by local officials.

More complete local school regulations.

Public account: Tianfu Prose