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The trend of teaching tradition
By Xu Wenwen |
April 11, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
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SPECIALIST schools offering the study of traditional Chinese texts and etiquette are gaining favor. Xu Wenwen discovers whether learning such antiquated ways can help children.
After kowtowing to the image of Chinese philosopher Confucius, a group of children wearing hanfu, a traditional national costume of Han people in China, start their class - to learn the Chinese classical text "Di Zi Gui" (Students' Rules).
"The rules for students, are the Sage's teaching… When parents reprimand, one must accept. In winter one keeps warm, in summer one keeps cool…" Children read the book in a rhythmic manner as the text is written in three-character verses.
"In winter, children need to warm parents' bedclothes using his or her body; while in summer, children need to cool his or her parents by waving a fan for them," explains their teacher, also wearing hanfu, by showing cartoon pictures on a TV and having role-play games with the children.
This is a regular class at Hangzhou Tongxue School, a school that gives guoxue lectures to children aged above 12. Guoxue means the study of traditional Chinese philosophy, literature and history.
Guoxue schools like this have recently become quite trendy in China's big cities. For example, the Tongxue School has opened more than a dozen branches across the country.
In Hangzhou, there are around five of this type of schools, either kindergartens or guoxue training centers, which mainly teach traditional classical books and ancient Chinese etiquette. Some schools even ask students to kowtow to Confucius before class and wear hanfu.
But can teaching ancient ceremonies and reading classical texts really educate children to be more clever or polite?
Geng Huiping is a 60-year-old woman who drives her grandson to Tongxue School every weekend, where he can learn traditional etiquette, classical texts, Chinese calligraphy and painting, and even simple qigong (meditation techniques).
She says proudly, "my grandson became really polite after he attended the class, when seeing neighbors, he greets and bows to them."
But another child's mother Wu Jie worries because her son is too polite now. "My child can recite tens of poems, yet it doesn't work in real life at all. He doesn't know how to grab things in kindergarten, and always suffers losses."
While some parents are concerned whether this kind of school puts too much emphasis on manners, some point out the hanfu dress and the kowtow ceremony go too far.
"It is completely unnecessary," says Jiang Zhu, the head teacher of Hangzhou Beyond School, a training center that mainly gives reading classes to students from nine to 15 years old.
"We need to learn the spirit of ancient people, not everything," he adds. "I give guoxue classes as well, but no one needs to kowtow to anyone. I don't want to frustrate them at the beginning of class."
Zheng Jianmei, the director of Mengxue Kindergarten, agrees. "These kids are modern people, and the kindergarten is not going to turn them into ancient people," she says.
But she insists on immersing children into the classical books, such as "Di Zi Gui" and "San Zi Jing" (The Three-Character Classic). Both of these classical Chinese texts served as children's first formal education at home in ancient China.
In 1992, Zheng built Hangzhou's first guoxue kindergarten in Jiande County, "Chinese education, even humanism education, should begin at a very early age," she says.
So the kindergarten not only gives classes that ordinary kindergartens have, it also offers courses in "Di Zi Gui" and "San Zi Jing." It even choreographs a morning exercise for "Di Zi Gui," so children dance while they recite the text.
"'Di Zi Gui' works very well to make children behave," says Zheng, citing some examples.
Everyday before the time for afternoon nap, the teacher quotes "Di Zi Gui:" "For putting hats and clothes, there should be set places," so children arrange the clothes they remove before sleeping.
When children are to play games, the teacher says: "When leaving, one must tell one's parents; upon returning, one must report face-to-face," to remind children to greet parents or teachers when leaving and returning home or to the classroom.
"Children love that," says Zheng. "During lunch time, they tell each other: 'With food and drink, don't be picky'."
But the kindergarten is not so strict to have children learn every verse of "Di Zi Gui," and it has cut nearly half of the book's content.
Nevertheless, Zheng also worries that many parents are "too realistic."
"Many parents say they prefer us to teach arts like singing and dancing more than teaching those texts," she says, "because it may win their kids a prize or something which may help them score more points in a school entrance exam."
Similar confusion bothers almost every guoxue school.
"Some parents asked me, 'even if my child can recite Analects (a record of the words and acts of Confucius and his disciples), so what'?" says Yang Haifeng, the director of Shengsheng School.
"I couldn't give them an answer," he adds.
"Guoxue cultivates people's minds and wisdom, which is not a quick process," he explains.
After kowtowing to the image of Chinese philosopher Confucius, a group of children wearing hanfu, a traditional national costume of Han people in China, start their class - to learn the Chinese classical text "Di Zi Gui" (Students' Rules).
"The rules for students, are the Sage's teaching… When parents reprimand, one must accept. In winter one keeps warm, in summer one keeps cool…" Children read the book in a rhythmic manner as the text is written in three-character verses.
"In winter, children need to warm parents' bedclothes using his or her body; while in summer, children need to cool his or her parents by waving a fan for them," explains their teacher, also wearing hanfu, by showing cartoon pictures on a TV and having role-play games with the children.
This is a regular class at Hangzhou Tongxue School, a school that gives guoxue lectures to children aged above 12. Guoxue means the study of traditional Chinese philosophy, literature and history.
Guoxue schools like this have recently become quite trendy in China's big cities. For example, the Tongxue School has opened more than a dozen branches across the country.
In Hangzhou, there are around five of this type of schools, either kindergartens or guoxue training centers, which mainly teach traditional classical books and ancient Chinese etiquette. Some schools even ask students to kowtow to Confucius before class and wear hanfu.
But can teaching ancient ceremonies and reading classical texts really educate children to be more clever or polite?
Geng Huiping is a 60-year-old woman who drives her grandson to Tongxue School every weekend, where he can learn traditional etiquette, classical texts, Chinese calligraphy and painting, and even simple qigong (meditation techniques).
She says proudly, "my grandson became really polite after he attended the class, when seeing neighbors, he greets and bows to them."
But another child's mother Wu Jie worries because her son is too polite now. "My child can recite tens of poems, yet it doesn't work in real life at all. He doesn't know how to grab things in kindergarten, and always suffers losses."
While some parents are concerned whether this kind of school puts too much emphasis on manners, some point out the hanfu dress and the kowtow ceremony go too far.
"It is completely unnecessary," says Jiang Zhu, the head teacher of Hangzhou Beyond School, a training center that mainly gives reading classes to students from nine to 15 years old.
"We need to learn the spirit of ancient people, not everything," he adds. "I give guoxue classes as well, but no one needs to kowtow to anyone. I don't want to frustrate them at the beginning of class."
Zheng Jianmei, the director of Mengxue Kindergarten, agrees. "These kids are modern people, and the kindergarten is not going to turn them into ancient people," she says.
But she insists on immersing children into the classical books, such as "Di Zi Gui" and "San Zi Jing" (The Three-Character Classic). Both of these classical Chinese texts served as children's first formal education at home in ancient China.
In 1992, Zheng built Hangzhou's first guoxue kindergarten in Jiande County, "Chinese education, even humanism education, should begin at a very early age," she says.
So the kindergarten not only gives classes that ordinary kindergartens have, it also offers courses in "Di Zi Gui" and "San Zi Jing." It even choreographs a morning exercise for "Di Zi Gui," so children dance while they recite the text.
"'Di Zi Gui' works very well to make children behave," says Zheng, citing some examples.
Everyday before the time for afternoon nap, the teacher quotes "Di Zi Gui:" "For putting hats and clothes, there should be set places," so children arrange the clothes they remove before sleeping.
When children are to play games, the teacher says: "When leaving, one must tell one's parents; upon returning, one must report face-to-face," to remind children to greet parents or teachers when leaving and returning home or to the classroom.
"Children love that," says Zheng. "During lunch time, they tell each other: 'With food and drink, don't be picky'."
But the kindergarten is not so strict to have children learn every verse of "Di Zi Gui," and it has cut nearly half of the book's content.
Nevertheless, Zheng also worries that many parents are "too realistic."
"Many parents say they prefer us to teach arts like singing and dancing more than teaching those texts," she says, "because it may win their kids a prize or something which may help them score more points in a school entrance exam."
Similar confusion bothers almost every guoxue school.
"Some parents asked me, 'even if my child can recite Analects (a record of the words and acts of Confucius and his disciples), so what'?" says Yang Haifeng, the director of Shengsheng School.
"I couldn't give them an answer," he adds.
"Guoxue cultivates people's minds and wisdom, which is not a quick process," he explains.
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