Chinese Education

By+staff+reporter+SéBASTTEN+ROUSSILLAT

Learning is a part of Chinese culture. Lets review Chinese education from Confucius to today.

The word 學(xué)習(xí) （xué xí）， study， in Chinese is composed of two characters： 學(xué) （xué）， learn， and 習(xí) （xí）， practice. In ancient Chinese， 學(xué)（學(xué)） refers to a child learning calculation at home， and 習(xí)（習(xí)） to a bird learning to fly. Together they mean “exercise， practice.” Learning in Chinese culture is practical and useful， hence the proverb 學(xué)以致用 （xué yǐ zhì yòng）， learn to meet practical needs， opposed to the encyclopedic spirit of學(xué)以致知 （xué yǐ zhì zhī）， learn to know. Knowledge in China comes from 苦讀 （kǔ dú）， hard study， and inquiry， so it is called 學(xué)問(wèn) （xué wen）， learning. As Voltaire said， “Do not judge a man by his answers， but by his questions.”The highest state of study should be practice， just as Confucius said， “學(xué)而時(shí)習(xí)之，不亦樂(lè)乎？” （xuéér shí xí zhī， bú yì yuè hū）， Is it not a great delight to learn and put knowledge into practice？

The character 學(xué) can form a network of vocabulary related to learning， such as 學(xué)生 （xué sheng）， student， which can also be called 學(xué)子（xué zǐ）， and 學(xué)徒 （xué tú）， apprentice. More examples include 學(xué)童 （xué tóng）， schoolchild， 學(xué)齡 （xué líng）， school age， 學(xué)期（xué qī）， semester， 學(xué)年 （xué nián）， school year，開(kāi)學(xué) （kāi xué）， school starts， and 學(xué)位 （xué wèi）， degree. In ancient China， students were also called 書生 （shū shēng）， which literally means someone who makes a living by study. Teachers are 師傅 （shī fu） or， with the same pronunciation， 師父 （shī fu） and they are metaphorically regarded as 第二父母 （dì èr fù mǔ）， the students second parents.

However， learning does not necessarily mean that we learn good things： besides 學(xué)好 （xué hǎo）， we can also learn bad things， 學(xué)壞 （xuéhuài）. This is why Confucius speaks of 良師益友 （liáng shī yì yǒu）， good teachers and beneficial friends， who believed that 三人行必有我?guī)熝?（sān rén xíng bì yǒu wǒ shī yān）， “If three men are walking together， one of them is bound to be good enough to be my teacher.” In other words， everyone around you can teach you something.

Because of Confucianism， 老師 （lǎo shī）， teacher， is almost a deified character in China. 老師 consists of the characters 老 （lǎo）， old， a word indicating respect， and 師 （shī）， teacher. Han Yu， a precursor of NeoConfucianism as well as an essayist and poet during the Tang Dynasty， explained the meaning of 師 with the phrase 師者所以傳道授業(yè)解惑也 （shī zhě suǒ yǐ chuán dào shòu yè jiě huò yě）， the teacher is one who enlightens students， imparts knowledge and answers questions. From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China， 老師 had been called先生 （xiān sheng）， literally meaning “people born before me，” which is used to respectfully address knowledgeable people. At present， 老師can also be used to address colleagues with senior experience.endprint