Study of Institutional Culture in Ancient Tujia Society—Education System Culture (I)
Chapter 4: Education System Culture. Any ethnic group, based on the need for overall survival and development, must establish an education system aimed at cultivating its own cultural subjects and ensuring the continuation of its culture. In the long ancient society of the Tujia, there were both enduring official schools and extensive private schools. In preserving and developing traditional ethnic culture...
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Chapter Four Educational System Culture
Any ethnic group, based on the needs of its overall survival and development, inevitably had to establish an educational system aimed at cultivating the cultural subjects of its own ethnic group and ensuring the continuation of its own culture. In the long ancient society of the Tujia, there were both long-flourishing government-run schools and large numbers of widely distributed private schools. In the process of preserving and developing their own traditional culture, the Tujia attached importance to absorbing Han culture and took Confucian education as an important content of their cultural compatibility and an important direction of educational development.
Section One The Establishment of Educational Institutions
Education appeared along with the emergence of humankind and is a social phenomenon unique to humans. In different historical periods, education took different forms. If we take the main body running the school and the source of funding as the criteria for division, we can divide traditional educational institutions into two major types: official schools and private schools. In Tujia ancient society, official schools, that is, government-run educational institutions, mainly included community schools, Tusi schools, and government prefectural schools; private schools, that is, privately run educational institutions, mainly included old-style private schools, charity schools, and academies.
I. The Rise of Privately Run Educational Institutions
(1) Old-Style Private Schools
The old-style private school, also called the family school, was a form of private folk schooling. The teacher either set up a school in his own home, or borrowed an ancestral hall or temple, or rented someone else's house to establish a school, recruiting nearby schoolchildren to study and charging a certain tuition. Students studying in old-style private schools were called schoolchildren, generally aged between 5 and 13, though some were slightly older. There was no fixed rule for the number of people: as few as three or five, as many as more than ten. In terms of teaching content, it was mainly cultural enlightenment, progressing from the shallow to the deep, first learning characters; through character teaching, it opened the young mind and cultivated uprightness. The textbooks used were mainly traditional enlightenment readers such as the Thousand Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Three Character Classic, and then the Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects, and Mencius were studied. On the basis of literacy, the schoolchildren then learned writing; writing began with composing couplets and then went on to learning to compose poetry. In teaching methods, individual instruction was mainly adopted: the teacher led the reading, and the schoolchildren recited after him, repeating this cycle until they could recite it backward fluently. This educational method of the old-style private school originated from private family education in the Western Zhou period; by the Ming and Qing periods it had spread throughout cities and countryside and penetrated into ethnic minority areas.
In Tujia areas, old-style private schools arose after "replacing native officials with centrally appointed officials." Because the Tusi system was abolished, large numbers of far-sighted people well versed in Confucianism poured into Tujia areas; responding to the Tujia people's call to learn Han culture, they opened schools and served as teachers, taking teaching as their profession. For a time, old-style private schools and study halls spread throughout the entire Tujia area; they long coexisted with public primary schools and church primary schools, constituting the elementary education network in Tujia areas. According to incomplete statistics, during the Yongzheng period, present-day Enshi Prefecture and Wufeng County had 2,439 old-style private schools and 29,029 students. Present-day Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture's Guzhang, Longshan, Baojing, Zhangjiajie, Dayong, and Sangzhi, and Guizhou's Yinjiang County (city), had a total of 1,381 old-style private schools. In relatively densely populated areas of Yongshun County such as Tawo, Wangcun, Shaoha, Shouche, Dajing, Shiti, Kesha, and Liexi, there were three to five old-style private schools year-round, and Lingxi Town had as many as more than ten at times. Among them, Baojing County alone had more than a hundred old-style private schools and more than a thousand students. In the Tujia-concentrated areas of Yinjiang County, the Langxi old-style private school and the Chanxi Street old-style private school, opened in the second year of Zhengde in the Ming dynasty (1507) and the fifth year of Tiancong in the Qing dynasty (1631), were changed into primary schools in the second year of Guangxu in the Qing dynasty (1876) and the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1907), continuing for 369 years and 276 years respectively. The Jiashan Village old-style private school, opened in the twelfth year of Chunyou in the Southern Song dynasty (1252), was changed into a primary school in the second year of Xuantong in the Qing dynasty (1910), amounting to 658 years.
(2) Charity Schools
Charity schools, also known as charity academies, were a form of private education. They generally referred to free elementary schools established with private donations or founded using public property such as ancestral halls and temples, targeting poor children as the objects of education. The establishment of charity schools began during the Northern Song Dynasty, and saw little significant development during the subsequent Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In the early Qing Dynasty, as the Manchu nobility took control of the Central Plains, the Qing court sought to achieve a high degree of political unity and centralization by strengthening control over thought and culture. Based on this need, the Qing government vigorously advocated and actively established charity schools. "In the twenty-first year of Kangxi (1682), by order of the provincial and departmental authorities, all prefectures, counties, and garrisons were instructed to establish charity schools and select persons to oversee instruction." "In the fifty-third year of Kangxi (1713), it was approved that all provinces, prefectures, and counties should establish many charity schools and invite renowned teachers. Gather orphaned and impoverished students and encourage them to study diligently." "In the first year of Yongzheng (1723), by order of the higher authorities, incumbent officials in all provinces were required to convert their self-established shrines and academies into charity schools, inviting teachers to instruct students in order to broaden cultural education." Due to government support and encouragement, a wave of establishing charity schools swept through the southern ethnic minority regions, and charity schools once developed to a considerable scale. The charity schools in the Tujia region developed under such social circumstances.
During the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty (1723–1735), the Tujia region underwent "replacing hereditary chieftains with appointed officials," establishing prefectures and counties. The imperial court believed that the Tujia inhabited areas were extremely "barren" in reputation and culture, and that "charity schools should first be established, selecting tribute students and government-funded students from the province, ordering them to teach earnestly, and granting them stipends as appropriate." From then on, charity schools were universally established in the Tujia region. According to statistics, from the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730) to the third year of Xuantong (1911), the 8 counties and cities under the present-day Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture established a total of 19 charity schools; Yongshun, Longshan, Baojing, and Dayong and Sangzhi of Zhangjiajie Municipality under the present-day Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture established a total of 12 charity schools; the present-day Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County of Yichang Municipality established a total of 4 charity schools; Yinjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County established a total of 8 charity schools. In just the 20 years from 1755 to 1775, the Tujia inhabited areas of Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing, Sangzhi, and Dayong counties established a total of 18 charity schools on their own initiative. Because official regulations required charity schools to hire "renowned teachers" "to fill the gaps in charity schools and extend the benefits of schools," teachers were mostly brought in from elsewhere. They not only brought advanced educational ideas but also advanced educational methods, which undoubtedly helped promote the development of education in the relatively backward and closed Tujia region.
In the tenth year of Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1732), Yongshun established one charity school each in the city, Laosi City, and Shaoha. By the forty-fourth year of Qianlong (1779), charity schools were successively added in Fuping, Lijiaping, Jiashutang, and Wangcun. From the early Kangxi period to the end of the Qing Dynasty, approximately more than 600 charity schools were established by the people in Guizhou, among which "Sinan Prefecture had 31; Shiqian Prefecture had 5; Sizhou Prefecture had 4." Charity schools, as a type of private educational institution, mostly enrolled children from poor families and had the nature of charitable undertakings. At the same time, they played a certain positive role in enlightening the people and improving the overall cultural quality of ethnic minorities. Of course, when evaluating the historical role of charity school education, we should not overlook the class nature of this educational form, as it was, after all, an important means used by the ruling class to ease ethnic conflicts and "civilize" ethnic minorities.
(III) Academies
Academies, as a form of education, began in the Tang Dynasty, gained some development during the Song and Ming Dynasties, and by the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty were gradually controlled by the imperial court, thereby gradually losing the independence of academic freedom. Academies, in terms of their funding sources and management systems, belonged to a type of private educational institution. The most prominent feature of academies as educational institutions was the integration of academic research into teaching activities. Academies were both teaching bases and research venues. The main lecturers were mostly local renowned scholars, with a few being accomplished students, and the content of their lectures was often their research results. Academies allowed debates and contention among different schools of thought, encouraged rebuttals and discussions between teachers and students, and advocated a spirit of free academic contention. In addition to imparting Confucian culture such as the Four Books and Five Classics to students, academy teaching also emphasized the cultivation of students' moral norms and practical abilities, requiring students to cultivate themselves and perfect their character through studying the Four Books and Five Classics; to care about national affairs and people's livelihood, and to emphasize field investigations. Undoubtedly, as important venues of ancient Chinese cultural education, academies explored special ways of talent cultivation, advocated the spirit of academic freedom, achieved a perfect combination of talent cultivation and academic research, and played a positive role in preserving and developing Chinese national culture.
The earliest academy in the Tujia region was the Luantang Academy, established during the Shaoxing period of the Song Dynasty (1131–1162), followed by the Tianmenshan Foot Academy advocated by Tian Xilü, a Tujia person from Yongding, Dayong, in the eighth year of Dade of the Yuan Dynasty (1304). The former was located in Daqi Township, 50 li east of the present-day Shanghe Tujia Autonomous County seat in Guizhou Province, named after the place name Luantang, and the academy site still exists today. The latter was located east of the foot of Tianmen Mountain in Dayong, with the site in the present-day Shuiyangchi Village, Sancha Township. In between, in the nineteenth year of Shaoxing of the Southern Song Dynasty (1149), the jinshi Wang Tinggui, together with the prefect of Chenzhou and the magistrate of Luxi Commandery, jointly founded the Dongzhou Academy in Wukouzhou, Luxi County. Thereafter, academies in the Tujia region developed. These included: Ruoyun Academy (1573–1620), built in Fushi Ping, Laosi City, Yongshun County; Fengyi Academy (1731–1940), located in the northeast corner of Zunhua Gate of Sinan Prefecture, Guizhou, now within the Sinan County Experimental Primary School; Longxiang Academy (Longtan Town, Youyang County, first built in 1736); Yousi Academy (1510–1956), located in present-day Shimen County; Fengming Academy (present-day Zhonghe Town, Xiushan Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, first built in 1818); Zhongling Academy (1807–1905), located on the north bank of the Qingjiang River in present-day Lichuan City; Yupu Academy (1883–1917), located in present-day Yuanli, Dayong City; Guilin Academy (1785–1949), located in present-day Baifusi Town, Laifeng County. In addition, at that time the Tujia inhabited areas had four academies in Yongshun Prefecture, namely: Guixiang Academy, Chongwen Academy, Lingxi Academy, and Daxiang Academy; Fenghuang Ting had Jingxiu Academy; Qianzhou Ting had Licheng Academy, Fuxi Academy, and Zhenxi Academy; Yongsui Ting had Suiji Academy and Suiyang Academy; Baojing County had Chongwen Academy, Bingwen Academy, Liantang Academy, Wenchang Academy, and Yali Academy; Longshan County had Yuncong Academy; Sangzhi County had Liyuan Academy; Dayong County had Songliang Academy; Luxi County had Nanxi Academy, Chongwen Academy, Guanlan Academy, and others. The Shinan region had the prefectural Nanjun Academy, Chonghua Academy, and Chengshan Academy; Badong County had Wenchang Academy and Xinling Academy; Enshi County had Linxi Academy and Fengshan Academy; Lichuan County had Shuangjiang Academy, Bifeng Academy, and Rugao Academy; Xianfeng County had Peiying Academy and Weiweng Academy; Jianshi County had Wuyang Academy; Laifeng County had Chaoyang Academy; Hefeng County had Heming Academy. In just the period from the Qianlong to the early Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, Shinan Prefecture successively established more than 20 academies. In the present-day Yinjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, there were also Youjin Academy, Zhengben Academy, and Yucai Academy. The entire Tujia region was dotted with academies.
The development of education cannot escape the constraints of the social environment. The rise of private schools in the Tujia region was mainly influenced by the following factors. First, official schools could not meet the educational needs of Tujia social members, thus providing broad space for the development of private schools. The government schools and tusi schools in the Tujia region were too small in scale, with strict restrictions on student sources. For example, in the early Qing Dynasty, the student quotas for the three levels of government schools—prefecture, department, and county—in the Tujia region were 40, 30, and 20 respectively. Therefore, those approved to enter government schools were mostly tusi descendants, and only a small number of outstanding commoners, whether Tujia or Han, could enter government schools. Historical records state: "Yongshun Prefecture city built one examination shed, with the usual two annual and biennial examinations, the prefectural school admitting 12 each, and the county school admitting 8 each." "During the Yongzheng period, school quotas were set; during the Qianlong period, student quotas were set; from then on, people knew to aspire to learning. Wealthy families took poetry and books as their constant occupation, while poor children vied to polish themselves." Second, the ruling class's recognition and encouragement of private schools promoted the development of private schools in the Tujia region. After the Yuan Dynasty took control of the Central Plains, it ordered the preservation of academies and encouraged private schools. In the twenty-eighth year of Zhiyuan (1291), the Yuan court ordered that "all circuit schools and county schools in Jiangnan establish elementary schools, selecting mature scholars to teach. Those who voluntarily recruited teachers, or who received family education from fathers and elder brothers, were also permitted." At the same time, it was explicitly stipulated that "places where former Confucian scholars had exerted their influence, places where famous worthies had traveled, and households that donated money and grain to support scholars, were all to establish academies." So much so that "the establishment of academies was nowhere more flourishing than in the Yuan, with mountain chiefs appointed to head them and stipends provided to support them, nearly throughout the realm." During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Peng Yuanjin established the "Ruoyun Academy" in Laosi City, Yongshun. In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), Yongshun and Sangzhi each established 3 charity schools, and Baojing established 4 charity schools. In the eleventh year of Yongzheng (1733), Yongshun established the Guixiang Academy. Third, the ruling class's ethnic policy of "Confucianization" toward ethnic minorities was an important reason for the development of private schools in the Tujia region. When governing border and ethnic minority regions, the Ming and Qing dynasties, based on summing up the successes and failures of previous ruling classes' policies in governing ethnic minority regions, formulated ethnic policies centered on Confucian ideological education, so that they would "know the rites of ruler and minister" and consciously accept the administration of the central dynasty. While establishing a large number of public schools in the Tujia region, the Ming and Qing dynasties also allowed and advocated private organizations and individuals to establish private schools to spread Confucian culture. During the Yongle period, the Tujia Youyang tusi Ran Xingbang applied to establish a school. Emperor Chengzu of Ming not only approved the request but also transferred one professor and one education commissioner from the Han region to assist the Youyang tusi in preparing the school. Because the Maodong tusi Xiang Lanuo of western Hubei was meritorious in establishing schools, Emperor Chengzu of Ming "in recognition of his diligent governance and promotion of learning, and his principled nurturing of talents, additionally granted him the title of General Who Pacifies the Yi, and bestowed upon him a letter and a set of books." At the same time, the educational form of private tutoring began to rise in the Tujia region. The Rongmei tusi Tian Chuchan "established schools for the children of official residences and common folk alike, hiring teachers to instruct them." "The Rongmei tusi Tian Peilin, in the aftermath of decline, founded a school palace."
II. Changes in Government-Run Educational Institutions
(I) Community Schools
Community schools were local government schools established at the township and grassroots level by feudal dynasties, created in the twenty-third year of Zhiyuan of the Yuan Dynasty (1286). According to the "New History of Yuan · Treatise on Food and Money," in that year the Yuan Dynasty stipulated that "in the villages under each county, fifty households form one community, and an elder who understands farming matters is selected as community head. ... Each community establishes one school, selecting those who understand the classics as teachers, and allowing children to enter school during the slack farming season. Those who achieve success in learning shall report to the authorities for verification." At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was ordered that "all prefectures and counties throughout the realm establish schools to cultivate scholars." In the eighth year of Hongwu of Emperor Taizu of Ming (1475), an edict was again issued to establish community schools throughout the realm, stating: "The people of rural communities have not yet seen civilization. Let the authorities establish community schools, invite teachers and scholars to instruct the children of the common people, guide the people toward goodness and custom, and satisfy Our intentions." Thereupon, government schools at all levels were established from the central to local levels, and government-run community schools were also established in the most grassroots villages. Community schools of the Qing Dynasty developed on the basis of inheriting the community school system of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In the ninth year of Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1652), it was ordered that community schools be established throughout the country: "Each township shall establish one community school, selecting those who understand literary meaning and conduct themselves with prudence and sincerity to serve as community teachers, exempting them from corvée and providing them with stipends as appropriate." In the first year of Yongzheng (1723), the Qing court again issued an edict requiring all localities to "follow the precedent of the ninth year of Shunzhi, with prefectures and counties establishing community schools in large townships and great fortresses, selecting students of excellent learning and upright conduct to serve as community teachers, exempting them from corvée and providing them with stipends as appropriate." This enabled children of farming families aged 12 to 20 in rural areas, who aspired to study literature, to enter community schools. From the first year of Yongzheng onward, community schools were universally established in townships throughout the country (including remote ethnic minority areas).
Community schools were educational institutions established in villages during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. In all three dynasties, every fifty households in the villages under each county formed one community, with one community head appointed to encourage farming and sericulture, and one school established. The school selected those who understood the classics as teachers, specifically enrolling students under 15 years of age, and during the slack farming season had children enter school to read the "Classic of Filial Piety," "Great Learning," "Analects," and "Mencius." During the Ming Dynasty, they also studied the imperially composed Great Warnings and the laws and decrees of the current dynasty, and practiced the rituals of capping, clothing, marriage, and mourning. The history of educational development in the Tujia region also had a brief period of community schools. The earlier community school was the Yinjiang Community School established in the tenth year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1531) at the foot of Taiyang Mountain in Yinjiang County seat. When the Yinjiang Community School was first founded, it had more than 30 students, with lights burning brightly and reading voices resounding every evening. Later, the Langxi Man Yi Chief's Office also allocated 3 rooms at the seat of the office and established the Langxi Community School, with more than 20 students studying there, which ceased operation at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
In Guizhou, after the Hongzhi period, community schools began to develop toward remote mountainous areas in southern, southeastern, northeastern, and northwestern Guizhou where Miao, Dong, Bouyei, Tujia, and Yi peoples lived in concentrated communities. According to the Republican-era "Guizhou General Gazetteer · Schools Gazetteer": "Beyond academies there are community schools and charity schools. All schools for Han people in the countryside are collectively called community schools, so as to distinguish them from schools in the prefectural and county cities. The distances of townships from the city vary; how could everyone carry their registration to the city? Therefore, in large townships and great fortresses, community schools are separately established... Schools established by the court for the Yi caves (a general reference to the various ethnic minorities of Guizhou) and schools established by prefectures and counties through donations for the Yi caves are called charity schools. This takes the meaning of reforming the old and guiding toward uniform customs. For example, when Guzhou was newly opened, the Chezhai Charity School and Yueshai Charity School were established." During the Wanli period, community schools in northern Guizhou developed by leaps and bounds. According to statistics from various local gazetteers, approximately several hundred community schools were established in that region. Beginning in the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), the Qing court implemented "replacing hereditary chieftains with appointed officials" and militarily opened the "Miao frontier" in Guizhou, and community schools developed from "large townships and great fortresses" to remote villages. By the fifth year of Qianlong (1740), the Qing court approved the memorial of Guizhou Education Commissioner Zou Yigui regarding the establishment of community schools in Guizhou Province, deciding that in Changzhai of Guiyang Prefecture, Datang under Dingfan Prefecture, Shuicheng under Dading Prefecture, Dujiang under Duyun Prefecture, Sanjiaotun under Dushan Prefecture, Libo County which was transferred from Guangdong to Guizhou Province, Kaili under Qingping County, Songtao under Tongren Prefecture, Bingmei under Yongcong County, Langdong under Kaizhai County, Taigong under Zhenyuan Prefecture, and also Qiongshui under Zhenyuan Prefecture and Liuji under Tianzhu County, one community school each was permitted to be established. In Yongcong County, both in the city and in the countryside, two community schools were permitted to be established. Although feudal rulers of successive dynasties all emphasized establishing community schools in the countryside, community schools never flourished like academies and charity schools, and were ultimately replaced by Confucian schools (county schools).
(II) Tusi Schools
Tusi schools were official schools successively established by feudal dynasties at the seats of tusi in ethnic minority regions during the period of tusi rule, in order to cultivate the children of tusi nobility. They were an important component of the government official school education system of feudal dynasties. In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (1395), Emperor Taizu of Ming promulgated the regulation that "all tusi shall establish county schools." In the fourth year of Yongle (1406), the Xuanfu Commissioner of Youyang, Huguang, Ran Bangxing, "memorialized requesting the establishment of schools according to the precedent of prefectures and counties in the Han region," and Emperor Yongle gladly approved his request. In the fifth year of Yongle (1407), "Bangxing sent tribal leaders to present local products and thanked the emperor for the grace of establishing Confucian schools." In the sixth year of Yongle (1408), the Youyang Xuanfu Commissioner's School was established, which was the first tusi school established in the Tujia region. After the establishment of the Youyang Commissioner's School, it had a great impact on the Tujia region, and many tusi followed suit, submitting memorials to the court requesting the establishment of tusi schools. During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, the Maodong tusi Xiang Dongting of Huguang, attracted by its reputation, inspected the Youyang tusi school and greatly approved of its method of establishing school buildings and recruiting companions for study to cultivate talents. After returning to Maodong Commissioner's Office, he immediately issued a proclamation ordering the "extensive construction of school buildings," "establishing schools in more than ten places including Xinjiang within the office," and "summoning the children of officials and commoners, hiring teachers and companions for study." He required that "all fathers and elder brothers should earnestly supervise education; and all sons and younger brothers should especially devote themselves to study." During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1573–1620), the Fenghuang Wuzhai Chief's Office under the Baojing Prefecture Military and Civilian Xuanwei Commissioner's Office established the Fenghuang Tusi School. In the seventeenth year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1753), the Yongshun tusi Peng Yuanjin established a school in Laosi City for the children of Yongshun tusi and tusi officials to study Han culture. The establishment of tusi schools in the Tujia region during the tusi period further developed the central dynasty's official school education in ethnic minority regions, thereby promoting cultural exchange between different ethnic groups. However, the establishment of tusi schools only served the children of tusi nobility in receiving Han cultural education. For the lower-class Tujia people who yearned for school education, receiving tusi school education remained beyond their reach.
(III) Government Schools
Official government schools were local official schools established by the Qing court at the seats of administrative offices at the fu (prefecture), zhou (department), and xian (county) levels after the implementation of "gaitu guiliu" (the replacement of native chieftains with appointed officials). The general arrangement of official government schools was one official school each at the fu, zhou, and xian levels, with certain places permitted to establish ting schools or wei schools according to their administrative organization. The fu schools, zhou schools, and xian schools had an administrative subordinate relationship among them. The fu school was the highest administrative body of local official schools, with one xundao (instructor) in charge of education work in the various zhou and xian; and one xuezheng (education commissioner) responsible for examination selection and examination affairs throughout the province. The establishment of the school education system with fu, zhou, and xian schools as its main body perfected the Qing court's mechanisms for talent cultivation and talent selection.
After "gaitu guiliu" in the Tujia areas, the official government schools established mainly included Shinan Fu School, Yongshun Fu School, and Kuizhou Fu School; Enshi Xian School, Jianshi Xian School, Badong Xian School, Longshan Xian School, Sangzhi Xian School, Baojing Xian School, and Qianjiang Xian School; Qianzhou Ting established a ting school, and Yongding Wei established a wei school. By the mid-Qianlong period, official government schools had been universally established in the fu, zhou, and xian of the Tujia areas. The Qing court made clear regulations on the teaching content and management methods of official government schools. In terms of teaching content, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and Confucianism served as the main content. In terms of student management, strict school rules were formulated, emphasizing the cultivation of students' moral character: "Only when a shengyuan (government-funded student) has a loyal and upright heart can his reading be of practical use, and when he enters official service he will surely be a good official. If he is at all inclined to wickedness and harshness, his reading will surely come to nothing, and in whatever he does he will surely invite disaster." Shengyuan were required to observe social norms: "A shengyuan should cherish his reputation and restrain his temper. He must not lightly enter the yamen of any official; even in matters that concern him personally, he may only have a family member lodge the complaint on his behalf. He is not permitted to engage in litigation with others, nor are others permitted to implicate a shengyuan as a witness." "A shengyuan is not permitted to gather many people in a hall, form alliances and societies, manipulate the government, or tyrannize the countryside. Writings he produces may not be arbitrarily printed and published; violators shall be punished by the tidiao official upon being reported."
The establishment of official government schools had two important purposes. First, to vigorously promote Confucian culture, so that the Tujia people "might also hear of the great principles of loyalty and filial piety, and the fundamentals of conducting oneself and acting in the world. Over time, as this becomes habitual, people's hearts will be upright, customs will be generous, and propriety and righteousness may flourish." Second, to supply talent for the imperial examinations. With the rise of fu, zhou, and xian schools, the Qing court established examination sheds in the Tujia areas and held imperial examinations at regular intervals. During the Qianlong period, "although Yongshun was newly opened territory, Han and Tujia sons who studied and took examinations were no different from those in the interior," and those coming forward to take the examinations numbered "no fewer than a thousand and more than a hundred." At the same time, school quotas were increased and enrollment expanded. The Qing court not only approved petitions from various places to increase school quotas, but also, on the principle of "three Tujia to one guest," required that more "Tujia youths" be selected and fewer "guest youths," in order to encourage Tujia schoolchildren to enroll. Regarding the allocation of school quotas, the Qing court gave appropriate consideration to Tujia candidates, clearly stipulating the number of "Tujia youths" to be admitted: "each fu school shall admit 12, and each xian school shall admit 8." According to the Qianlong edition of the Youyang Zhou Zhi, in Youyang Zhou, "at each of the two examinations held in the sui and ke cycles, the annual quota was 8 civil shengyuan and 8 military shengyuan... 20 linsheng and 20 zengsheng, with one sui gong every two years." Qianjiang, Pengshui, and Xiushan counties each had "8 civil and military shengyuan, 20 linsheng and 20 zengsheng, with one gong every two years." Shizhu Ting had "6 each in the sui and ke examinations, 14 linsheng and 14 zengsheng, and 6 military shengyuan."
In order to strengthen control over minority areas and maintain a centralized and unified state power, the feudal dynasties gradually established a system of official school education in the Tujia areas and implemented an educational system for learning Han culture. There is no doubt that the establishment of official school educational institutions promoted the development and progress of Tujia society. First, it promoted the spread of Confucianism in the Tujia areas. The establishment of official schools at all levels provided opportunities for the upper class of the Tujia and their children, and even for many children of ordinary Tujia commoners, to learn Han culture. Some of them gradually grew into intellectuals thoroughly versed in Han culture; they studied and accepted the Confucian classics and in turn became the main force in instilling and spreading the Confucian classics, so that Confucianism was passed down from generation to generation in the Tujia areas and took deep root in people's hearts. Therefore, the changes in Tujia ethnic culture bore the deep imprint of Confucian culture. Second, it produced a group of famous Tujia cultural figures. Official school education cultivated a group of literati and scholars with relatively high artistic attainments; they both studied and absorbed the traditional style of Han ethnic literary and artistic works and preserved and developed the ethnic characteristics of Tujia artistic creation. For example, Ran Chongwen, Ran Guangli, Ran Zhengwei, Ran Zhengyue, Ran Ruidai, and Ran Duansong of the Ran clan of Youyang; Chen Jingxing of Qianjiang; and Ran Wentao of Shizhu were all cultural celebrities of great renown in Tujia history. In particular, Chen Ruxie "obtained its orthodox method and formed a school of his own," composing more than 900 poems, all collected in the Da Yuan Shi Ji. Third, it trained large numbers of feudal imperial examination talents. The fundamental purpose of the feudal dynasties in establishing official schools and promoting the imperial examination system in the Tujia areas was to attempt to effectively control the Tujia areas through civil governance. However, the implementation of these educational measures not only spread Confucian cultural values such as loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and righteousness, but also strengthened the ideological consciousness of Tujia literati and students regarding entering official service. Whether children of powerful and prominent clans or poor commoner scholars, they were keen on imperial examination education for only one purpose: to study and become officials. Therefore, official school education produced large numbers of Tujia imperial examination talents who served the rule of the feudal dynasties. For example, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the total number of talents recruited through imperial examinations in Youyang Zhou was 110, including 9 civil jinshi, 11 civil juren, 3 military juren, 2 fubang, 9 bagong, 2 yougong, 21 engong, and 53 suigong.
By examining the establishment of educational institutions in traditional Tujia society, we may gain a deeper understanding of the essential function of the education system in feudal society. Out of the need for autocratic rule, the feudal dynasties of successive ages either directly established official schools in the Tujia areas or encouraged the founding of private schools. Their fundamental purpose was to establish through education the position of Confucianism as the dominant culture of "revering only Confucian doctrine," and to ensure that officials of all ranks entering the ruling group were Confucian scholars thoroughly versed in the cardinal principles and ethics of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and trustworthiness, and obedient without violation to the feudal political system. After obtaining official rank, emolument, and fame, they were willing to become guardians of the feudal order. "In feudal society, education in whatever form was entirely used to maintain the rule of the feudal landlord class."