What was the original meaning of Guoxue, the study of traditional Chinese culture?

Guoxue originally meant the official school established in the state capital during the Zhou Dynasty.

I. Initial Meaning of Guoxue

Guoxue as a word firstly referred to the official school established in the capital of the state during the Zhou Dynasty. According to the relevant documents, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, official schools were set up in the capital cities of the Zhou kings and vassal states, which were called state schools, and the state here means the capital city.

The state school was divided into two levels, elementary school and university, according to the age of students' enrollment, and later referred to the official schools in the capital city in general, such as the Guozixue, the Taixue, and the Si Menxue in the North and South Dynasties. In ancient times, the state school was also used as an alternative name for the state school and the state prison. In addition, during the Xixia period, another kind of state school was established for teaching Chinese studies, just like the Confucius Institutes we have established overseas today.

II. Traditional Culture--Guoxue

Guoxue is the study of traditional Chinese culture. In terms of time, it is the ancient learning, different from the modern new learning; in terms of geography, it is the Chinese learning, different from the western learning in Europe and America; in terms of content, it is the traditional Chinese culture with Confucianism as the main body, including Daoism, Buddhism and other diversified doctrines.

The term "nationalism" is used to refer to the learning of traditional Chinese culture, which first appeared in the Qing Dynasty during the Guangxu period, when Liu Shipei, Zhang Taiyan and Deng Shi organized the "Nationalism Journal", which contained Deng Shi's "Nationalism Essence" article to distinguish the nationalism from the "Western learning". Later, Zhang Taiyan wrote the "Discourse on National History" and gave a lecture on "Introduction to National Studies", which made the name of National Studies popular soon.

The emergence of Guoxue is the result of the reflection of Chinese scholars after the introduction of Western learning into China. In this process of reflection, two schools of thought emerged: one was represented by Liu Shipei and Zhang Taiyan, The School of Nationalism; the other was represented by Hu Shi, Fusnian, Mao Zishui, and Gu Jiegang, with scientific method as the means of research. "Organize the National Historical School".

In short, today's national studies are roughly divided into these categories: first, by the connotation of canonical literature, which basically refers to "Jing" in the four categories of scriptures, histories, sons, and collections; second, by the division of righteousness, words and chapters, koans, and scriptures and worlds, which refers to the study of righteousness among them; and, third, by the classification of Chinese and Western studies, which refers to the "middle school ", i.e. traditional Chinese culture.