Chinese Confucianism

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During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States period（770-221 BC），private education developed rapidly It was very pc opular for scholars to give private lessonsto groups of selected isciples.Confucius（551-479 BC see Figure 35）who is regarded as a great thinker and educa tor of ancient China，was a pioneer in running private schools.

Confucius made great contributions to education in ancient China.He invented the elicitation method nearly one hundred years earlier than the Socratic dialogue and was the first to challenge the spoon-feeding method of teaching . He advocated equality between teacher and student and encour aged students to form opinions of their own.his idea of teaching according to the student’s aptitude is still regarded as an important educational principle in China .

The analects

The sayings of Confucius were remembered by his fol lowers and were later compiled in a book of Analects（sayings）perhaps having been expanded on in the meantime.Through them we discover Confucius notions of the virtues，1.e，the positive character traits，to which we should aspire Foremost among these is Filial Piety（3），the respect which children owe to parents-and by extension，wives owe to husbands，sisters to brothers，and everyone to ancestors When such virtue is cultivated in the home，it is supposed to carry over into ones relations in affairs of state as well.He asked people to”hold back themselves and restore the rites .which was put forward by Zhougongdan at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty Confucius is undoubtedly the great teacher He gives many valuable advice on education The followings are just a few examples

（1）Anyone learning without thought is lost；anyone thinking but not learning is in peril.

（2）What knowledge is？When you know a thing，say that you know it；and when you do not know a thing，admit that you don’t：this is knowledge.

（3）Whenever there are three people including me my teacher must be here.i shall find to learn the man who behaves well and draw a lesson from the man who behaves boor ly.

However，he showed contempt to working people and discriminated against women：

（4 You（the ruler）should always make people obey but never let them know.

（5）The King is the King while the Subject is the Subect；the father is the father and the son is the son.

（6）The toughest persons to eal with are women an snobs，Xiao Ren（】\A），（meaning people of lower social status）If you are close to them，they will show disobedience otherwise they will resent you.”

Mengzi

Mencius（372–289Bc）（see Figure 36），the numbertwo sage concerned himself entirely with political theory and political practice.He spent his life bouncing from one feudal court to another trying to find some ruler who would follow his teachings.Finally he was largely unsuccessful in his endeavor Figure 36 Mengzi

In fact，China had degenerated sharply in Mencius’time individual states were preying on and conquering others and the rulers of the time had no patience for what they considered prattling about the ancients and their ways.Also，rival schools of thought began to appear.This period is called”A Hundred of Schools Contesting”

As a Confucian，mencius based his entire system of thought on the concept of Ren ：“Humaneness or”Humanity or Benevolence etc.To this basic doctrine he added the concept of Yi ：“Righteousness or duty.What does this mean？Mencius believed that the “Humaneness”or“Benevolence”that you show to individ uals should in some way be influenced by the type of personalrelationship you have to that person.In turn，the harmoniousSociety is formed.Later his ideas were collected into a book by others entitled The Mencius，from which the fo lowings are taken.Some ideas are quite similar to his teacher Confucius and even clearer

（1）If a ruler acts the right way，he will be supported by many but if he does the wrong way，he will be supported by few.

（2）Enjoy what people enjoy，worry what people worry.

（3）Those who work with their minds shall rule，and those with their hands-be ruled.

（4）If there are no masters,who will rule the slaves?To slaves,who will feed the masters?