China News Service, Wuyishan, Fujian Province, March 22: How can the revival of academies bloom the beauty of traditional culture?
——Exclusive interview with Zhu Qing, consultant of the Chinese Zhu Xi Society and visiting professor of the Institute of Chinese Studies at Xiamen University
China News Service reporter Long Min
The academy was born in China and has influenced the world.
Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, academies have made significant contributions to the development of education, scholarship, book collection, publishing, architecture and other undertakings in China, as well as to the cultivation of folk customs, habits of thinking and ethics. With the increasing number of two-way exchanges of personnel and culture between China and foreign countries, the academy system has gradually moved overseas, promoting the integration of Chinese civilization and local culture, and helping Asian civilization and even world civilization to move forward.
What kind of cultural symbol is the academy? How to pass it on while protecting it and display China’s excellent traditional culture in the shared beauty of world civilization? Zhu Qing, consultant to the Chinese Zhu Xi Society and visiting professor at the Institute of Chinese Studies at Xiamen University, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" and gave his interpretation.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Service reporter: What kind of cultural symbol is the academy to China? What is the development history and spiritual connotation of academies in China?
Zhu Qing:
As a unique educational organization in Chinese history, academies originated in the Tang Dynasty. Their prototype was a private monastery for Confucian scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty to study the "Five Classics". Most of the early academies were privately run, reflecting Confucius's proposition of "education without distinction" and the common people's rights to study.
Zhu Xi, the representative of "New Confucianism" in the Song Dynasty, created a pattern in which the integration of Confucianism in academies and the institutionalization of academies complement each other. Since then, the academy has focused on teaching the "Four Books", cultivating people with moral integrity, and formed an educational policy aimed at cultivating people who can enrich the people, strengthen the country, and manage the world.
Zhu Xi sculptures in the Zhu Xi Garden in Wuyishan, Fujian. Photo by Wang Dongming
The continuous continuity of Chinese civilization is inseparable from the academy's adherence to Confucian orthodoxy. By the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 7,500 academies in China, spread across China. In the social changes of more than 1,300 years, the academies have risen and fallen, but their educational functions such as collecting books, giving lectures, writings, and enshrining ancestors have remained consistent; their inheritance, dissemination, and innovation of excellent traditional culture have influenced the destiny of China for more than a thousand years.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Neo-Confucianism work together to "carry on the past and open up new learning", jointly shoulder the mission of "governing the country and bringing peace to the world", and play an irreplaceable role in the integrated development of the Chinese nation and the consolidation of China's "great unification." It can be said that academies are not only an important part of Chinese cultural heritage, but also an important carrier of continuing Chinese cultural heritage; they are not only a product of China’s educational development, but also a great creation of Chinese sages.
Taiwanese primary school students visit Zhu Xi’s hometown. Photo by Zhang Bin
China News Service Reporter: Why is Zhu Xi, a thinker and educator in the Song Dynasty, called "the master of academy culture"? What important position does Kaoting Academy, located in Nanping City, Fujian Province, play in Chinese academy culture?
Zhu Qing:
Zhu Xi, the thinker and educator of the Song Dynasty, the World Honored One "Zhu Zi", was the master of Neo-Confucianism and the master of academy culture. From birth to the end of his life, including most of his time as a child, studying, becoming an official, teaching, and writing, he spent most of his time in Fujian.
The collection of academy culture is realized in the integration of academy and science. Zhu Xi founded, repaired, and taught more than 60 academies throughout his life. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to save the nation and protect the country, Zhu Xi formulated the academy's mottos of "loyalty, filial piety and integrity" and "bailudong academy's academic motto" respectively during the "Zhu Zhang Hui Lecture" at Yuelu Academy and on the occasion of rebuilding Bailudong Academy. "The Rules" (also known as the "Bailudong Academy Rules") became the beginning of the establishment of Chinese institutions and the first charter of Chinese education, thus establishing a basically complete set of rules for running colleges with moral education as the first priority. Following the above-mentioned academic disciplines, Zhu Xi established four academies in northern Fujian: Hanquan, Yungu, Wuyi, and Kaoting, leaving behind the historical mark and cultural monument that he and his disciples revived the academies and built Neo-Confucianism.
Bailudong Academy. Photo by Chu Fuyi
Among the academies founded by Zhu Xi, Kaoting Academy has historical significance. Zhu Xi compiled the "Collected Commentary on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books" here, completed the construction of the Neo-Confucian system, trained "hundreds and thousands" of Neo-Confucian elites, and formed the Kaoting School that shines in the history of Chinese civilization.
On October 18, 2020, the Zhu Xi Sacrifice Ceremony was held at Kaoting Academy in Jianyang District, Nanping City, Fujian Province. Photo by Chen Qihui
Kaoting Academy, formerly known as Cangzhou Jingshe, was built in 1192 and is located in the "Wangkaoting" area of Jianyang in northern Fujian. In 1244, the Song Dynasty gave it the name "Kaoting Academy". Kaoting Academy was the last academy founded by Zhu Xi, and it was also the place where he settled in his later years. During this period, Zhu Xi was falsely accused by the court's sycophants as the "leader of pseudo-study" and suffered political persecution. However, he persisted in lecturing and writing in adversity, resisted evil and protected Taoism, and was unswervingly determined. On his deathbed, he was still ill and revised "University·Sincerity" and "Collected Commentary on Songs of Chu", and issued a masterpiece to protect the country and benefit the people. Xin Qiji offered sacrifices and said: "Those who are immortal will be famous for eternity. Which one is called dead? The majestic one is still alive."
Although the architectural scale of the Kaoting School at that time was far from comparable to that of the four major academies of the Northern Song Dynasty, academic circles believed that its influence on the history of Chinese education was comparable to any famous academies in Chinese history.
Kaoting Academy occupies an important position in Chinese culture. The first is its own value, which is an important symbol of Zhu Xi’s comprehensive collection of Neo-Confucianism and the Kaoting School entering its mature period, and an important milestone in the history of Neo-Confucianism; the second is its social appeal, as it was the center of Chinese Neo-Confucianism research in the Southern Song Dynasty, thus driving the development of Neo-Confucianism and academies in various places. prosper and promote the unprecedented development of culture and education throughout China.
In the upsurge of inheriting the excellent traditional Chinese culture, Kaoting Academy has regained its vitality. In the autumn of 2019, Kaoting Academy carried out overall planning and reconstruction, covering a total area of 300 acres after reconstruction. In recent years, the Kaoting Forum has been held annually to explore new ways of "revival of the Chinese Academy and its contemporary value."
Reporter from China News Service: Why is the craze for academies rising in China now? In the craze for academies, how can we better promote the academies’ culture and promote their revival and global expansion?
Zhu Qing:
The academy is the spiritual home of the Chinese ancestors. Nowadays, this traditional education form is rising again in people's field of vision. In 2015, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage conducted a general survey of academies to promote the overall protection and utilization of academies. In the past ten years, more than 3,000 academies of various types belonging to educational organizations have been rebuilt or newly built across China, and the number is increasing day by day and is in the ascendant.
In Fujian, a number of traditional academies that were historically influential and made great cultural contributions have been restored, expanded or rebuilt, and a large number of modern academies have sprung up. Among them, Wuyi Jingshe, Kaoting Academy, Zhuzi Academy in Nanping, Yuandang Academy in Xiamen, Aofeng Academy and Zhengyi Academy in Fuzhou, Nanxi Academy in Sanming, Songzhou Academy and Minnan Academy in Zhangzhou, and Lantian Academy in Ningde etc., to pursue history, connect with traditions, and recreate the new culture of the academy.
The four characters "Lantian Academy" written by Zhu Xi of Lantian Academy have been preserved to this day. Zhu Xi, a famous Neo-Confucian scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, once came here to give lectures. Photo by Lu Ming
In the development process of Chinese civilization, the academy has had its glory days and also gone through hardships. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial system came to an end, the imperial examination was abolished, and "academies were transformed into schools." This was the fate of ancient academies growing up under the feudal system. However, the academy’s humanistic education spirit and guiding principles emerged from the body of the old society and continue the fine traditions of the past in the new era and new education. Facts have proved that China can set a new stage for the revival of academies.
In the face of the new craze for academies, we must also answer the realistic proposition of “where will the revival of academies go?” The most important thing is that the revitalization of academies must adhere to ideological and moral education as the soul, so that "inheriting tradition" and "transformation and innovation" can go hand in hand.
Qiushi Academy, West District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University. Photo by Xu Kangping
Reporter from China News Service: In the shared beauty of world civilizations, what role can the academy play to better showcase China’s excellent traditional culture to the world, spread Chinese civilization, and promote the integrated development of Chinese civilization and local culture?
Zhu Qing:
Chinese academies had spread overseas at the end of the 12th century and were established in East and Southeast Asia. They were most prosperous in Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries. In recent years, the academy has also played a role in exchanges between China and foreign countries, becoming a new standard for integrating ancient and modern times and for dialogue between China and foreign countries.
Since its opening in 2009, Xiamen Yuandang Academy has adhered to the concept of "discussing old learning and cultivating new knowledge", focusing on the application of ancient Chinese excellent traditional culture to the present and the dialogue between Chinese and foreign civilizations. We carry out lectures, lectures, trainings, study tours and other activities around the "Chinese Studies Forum", with rich and diverse content and formats all year round, attracting domestic and foreign scholars to come and give lectures. Professor Tian Hao, a sinologist at Arizona State University in the United States, said here: "I like to understand the thoughts of ancient Chinese and their way of thinking."
In October 2015, Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University was officially established as the fruit of cultural exchanges and educational cooperation between China and the United States. In September of the following year, the first opening ceremony of Schwarzman College was held, welcoming 110 students from 31 countries.
Central Asian students from Gansu colleges and universities who participated in the study enjoyed ancient music at Guanzhong Academy in Xi'an. Photo by Jiumei Danzeng
In September 2017, the ninth BRICS leaders’ meeting was held in Xiamen. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly visited the tangible cultural heritage of Fujian and South Africa on display in Yuandang Academy. The "Yundang Meeting" put the academy on the stage of major diplomatic events and also brought China's excellent traditional culture into the eyes of foreign heads of state.
China creates academies, and academies go global. At present, it is necessary to deeply explore the valuable cultural resources of the academy, summarize and promote good experiences and practices in the revitalization of the academy, and further leverage the role of the academy as a window and platform in the beauty and beauty of world civilization. This includes regularly holding international academy forums and forums to normalize Chinese and foreign scholars’ teaching and lectures in Chinese academies; guiding the academy’s revival to align with the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, and promoting study tours such as “Zhu Xi’s Road” and “Academy Tour” Bring in and go out; encourage and support influential academies to jointly organize Chinese and foreign cultural exchange activities with local cultural organizations and societies overseas, and continuously enhance the mutual learning and sharing of the achievements of world civilization. (over)
Interviewee profile:
Zhu Qing, consultant of the Chinese Zhu Xi Society, visiting professor of the Institute of Chinese Studies of Xiamen University, consultant of the humanities and history documentary "The Great Confucian Zhu Xi", special researcher of the Fujian Provincial Min Studies Research Association, special researcher of the Zhengyi Academy of the Fujian Provincial Library, and served as the Fujian Provincial Committee and Provincial Committee He serves as executive deputy secretary of the working committee of the direct government agencies, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, and director of the Information Office of the Fujian Provincial Government. He has long studied Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism, academy culture and Chinese family mottos, and published relevant theoretical articles in national and provincial mainstream media and academic journals. Among them, since 2021, he has published "The Revitalization of Academy Culture Is Transformation and Innovation" and "Songzhou Academy: Chinese Academy" "An Important Source" and "Kaoting Academy: The Place where Zhu Xi collected his Neo-Confucianism" and other series of articles.