Ancient events organized for schoolchildren at the beginning of the school year

Ancient schoolchildren started their schooling with the opening of the brush ceremony.

The ceremony of the opening of the brush is a form of initiation for schoolchildren in traditional Chinese culture, and it was also an extremely solemn ceremony in ancient times. It is usually held on the day of the first day of school, and is called "breaking the Meng", which is an important ceremony to open the door of knowledge to the schoolchildren.

This form of education first emerged during the Ming and Qing dynasties, mainly to promote traditional culture and develop the basic moral qualities of schoolchildren. During the opening ceremony, teachers would lead schoolchildren in reciting the classics and teach them basic cultural knowledge and moral norms, such as filial piety, respect for parents, respect for teachers and solidarity with classmates.

In addition to this, some traditional ceremonies, such as paying homage to Confucius and writing an open-brush text, are also performed at the ceremony to express the teachers' high expectations and wishes for the schoolchildren.

These traditional ceremonies not only reflect the respect for knowledge and the importance of education, but also convey important values in traditional Chinese culture. As a form of initiation in traditional Chinese culture, the opening of the brush ceremony is not only the beginning of cultural and moral cultivation for schoolchildren, but also the inheritance and promotion of traditional Chinese culture.

Expanded

In ancient times, schoolchildren were enrolled in school with a ceremony called the "Rite of Entry". This ceremony is divided into four steps, including the ceremony of the correct clothing, the ceremony of paying homage to the teacher, the ceremony of purifying the hands and the heart, and the ceremony of the opening of the brush. The ceremony of opening the brush includes opening the mind with vermilion sand, beating the drum to enlighten the mind, and opening the brush with a stroke of red. In some private schools, the ceremony ends with "paying homage to the pen master". Mengtian, the general of Qin, is said to have invented the brush and is regarded as the grandfather of the brush manufacturing industry, which is also honored in some schools.

Correcting their clothes and crowns: schoolchildren must first arrange their own clothes and crowns, and if they are not properly dressed, they will not be allowed to take part in the ceremony. Worship: The schoolchildren bow to Confucius, the most sacred teacher, to express their respect for the teacher; then they bow to the teacher to show their respect for him. Purifying hands and mind: the school children have to wash their hands and mind with water, which implies that they have to get rid of distracting thoughts and meditate on their studies.

In ancient times, there was no set age for students to enter school, but it was usually later than today. Of course, there were individual prodigies who entered school earlier. For example, Liu Yan, a famous minister of finance in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, was seven years old when he took the imperial examination, which was set up specifically for children and adolescents to take the test, "Child Lift". The Book of Rites has a section on schooling, but it does not specify the etiquette of school enrollment.

The old book of Tang Dynasty recorded that Sun Simiao, the "King of Medicine", was "learning at the age of seven and reciting more than a thousand words a day", which also indicates that he was learning at the age of seven and was very smart, able to "recite more than a thousand words a day", so he was praised for his ability to "learn at the age of seven". This also shows that he learned at the age of seven and was so smart that he was able to "recite more than a thousand words a day", which is why some people praised him as "this holy child". Wei school of the Ming Dynasty, "Chuang Ditch Book - Yu Minwen" also mentioned, "Where the father and brother, if the children are six or seven years old to twenty years old not yet crowned, are to be sent to the community school."