The Hsueh Chi, an Old Chinese Document on Education

Abstract

THIS SAYING captures the essence of the Chinese concern for education. China's greatest early thinker, Confucius, is known for his life as a teacher and scholar. But for him, and for the continuation of his tradition, learning alone was not enough. One had to practice what was learned. There is here no refuge into art or learning for art's and learning's sake. The intellectual in China was charged with the mission to use his learning not only to cultivate himself but to order society. During the French discovery of China in the 18th century, the philosophes were envious of China's ruling class-an elite, a literati, which based their status and authority on their knowledge and not upon their blood line or their military power. No other long lasting civilization has produced a ruling class with so much stress on learning. It is thus significant to look at the first major document which details the organization, principles, and purpose of that learning. The Hsueh Chi or Record of Learning is the eighteenth chapter of the Li Chi or Book of Rites. This book was considered a major Confucian Classic in traditional China. It was probably compiled in the first century B.C. from early Confucian texts which dated from the fourth to first century B.C. The origins of the Record of Learning are still unclear. Although there is no doubt that it was written by a follower of Confucius, the debate centers on which follower-Mencius (372-289 B.C.) or Hsun Tzu (340-245 B.C.) influenced it. First let us place the Record of Learning in the historical context of the