Zhu Jizhong_Pingjiang Private School

Since I was a child, I have heard old people tell stories about private schools: Zhao Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng and Wang, writing poems, composing words, practicing characters, being beaten and punished ...... But I have never seen a real private school, because private schools, an ancient educational institution, have disappeared for nearly a hundred years.

Pingjiang, Hunan province, an old man for decades at home to adhere to the private school education, teaching the Four Books and Five Classics, although there are only a few disciples, but after decades of continuous inheritance, the traditional juku school in this region is still tenaciously continued.

The sound of private school in the digital age

The sound of ignorant children, old-fashioned teachers, and the sound of "snapping" hands - stories of private schools and stern teachers abound in folklore.

In the 21st century, with the Internet and television, private school has become a distant word, and you wouldn't believe it if someone told you there was still an old-fashioned private school somewhere.

Early Sunday morning, the small Zhu Liang of Wujiao Village, Nanjiang Town, Pingjiang County, Hunan Province, got up early. After washing up and breakfast, little Zhu Liang rushed to the school.

"Study hard and listen to the old man!" Zhu Liang's parents urged.

The 11-year-old Zhu Liang, a fifth-grader at the village elementary school, is not going to school today, but to a private school in his village to learn ancient books. With an ink-stained brush, two copies of "Zengguang Xianwen" and "Qionglin," a story of early learning, Zhu Liang goes to the private school run by Mr. Zhu Zhizhong, an old man, to read ancient books all day long every Sunday.

This is a real scene I witnessed last year in Pingjiang, Hunan ......

The ancient Miluo River passes through the territory, and Pingjiang, Hunan, is located at the junction of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, with beautiful scenery.

Old private schools remain fossilized here to this day. Although the dreaded hand-boards no longer exist, the traditional mode of private school, which teaches ancient books, learns poetry and practises calligraphy, still continues in its original form.

Zhu Jizhong's home is located in Nanjiang township, about 45 kilometers northwest of Pingjiang county. I took a public **** bus from Pingjiang to Nanjiang, got off at a place called Pulp Field Village, and then rushed on foot to the Zhu family group in Wujiao Village, where the private school is located.

The dam in front of the house, the green hills behind the house, the dam is densely populated with rice paddies and fishponds, and the green hills are surrounded by green bamboos and pine forests, and the idyllic countryside scenery along the way made me think about the legendary private school.

The Zhu family group is one of the 24 village groups in Wujiao Village,**** there are 25 households with more than 100 people. Mr. Zhu Zhizhong's private school is an old house surrounded by many new homes, with two iron plates on the low eaves, "No. 274, Wujiao Village, Nanjiang Township" and "Five Good Families". In the last part of the earth house to see the classroom, black walls left many traces of scribbling, the corners of the wall is also piled up a lot of miscellaneous objects, the only two west-facing windows are open, the conditions are very simple.

From the outside, Mr. Private School's home is almost no different from an ordinary farmhouse, and even more simple. But according to Mr. Zhu Zhizhong, the house has a history of more than 100 years and has been handed down from generation to generation. The doorway of the old house has been destroyed, leaving only an isolated stone doorframe, and in the winter sunshine, I felt as if it was the symbol of the old house or some kind of spiritual symbol.

The simple and quiet classroom looks a bit dark and damp. On the side near the window, there are desks and chairs built with a few pieces of broken door panels, and on the simple desks, there are pens, ink, paper, and inkstones neatly and simply placed. The surrounding walls were plastered with poems and articles written by the students with brushes. Just as Mr. Lu Xun described in his article "From the Hundred-Clover Garden to the House of Three Flavors", the students in the private school were all talking to each other, each reciting their own articles, which together became a distinctive buzzing sound. Time seems to have stopped here, let people vaguely back to the old days, the click of the camera and these network era of private school reading sound makes people produce in the modern era and a different feeling of a world away.

The famous "old man"

In Pingjiang interview, I always feel a kind of ancient humanistic atmosphere. Private schools are often called "mengguan", or "teachers of old books". Pingjiang "teach the old book of Mr." is mostly orthodox, respected, higher generation of elders in the clan, this year's 80-year-old old school teacher Zhu Zhizhong is a typical representative.

Mr. Zhu is a medium-sized man with a slightly hunched back, wearing an ordinary single hat and an old cotton coat, with a pair of confident and sharp eyes on his white and thin face, and a red mole on the upper end of his nose. About his life experience, speech and demeanor, as well as cultivation and learning local reputation. The old man was very knowledgeable and had an amazing memory, and he could recite all the ancient texts he had learned to this day. I was amazed to meet such a culturally rich elder in this remote township.

Zhu Jizhong early years of private school for more than 10 years, by virtue of the hard work of learning to become recognized as the township "show talent". 30 years old when he set up a school in the family, began his continuation of a lifetime of traditional private school teaching. For more than half a century, the old man became the local private school longest, oldest, training the most students "old man".

"To this year, my private school off and on for more than 50 years, the students collected more than 10 a year, less four or five a year, this year counted a little more, there are 15. Run the school for decades, my students probably have hundreds of people." Hale and hearty old Mr. Zhu said with a bland look.

While the old man is famous, but life is extremely simple and poor, in addition to a double bed in the bedroom and a broken cupboard used for decades, and even a black and white TV and radio is not, can be described as a family of four walls. The only modernization is to wear on the hand of a piece of 8 yuan to buy the electronic watch. The old man eats only two meals a day, each meal is rice fried chili, eat an egg soup even if the improvement of life.

"In fact, I now eat and wear and not worry, teach the old book is not to earn a few dollars, mainly a kind of interest, before the main for the life of the compulsion, is now a kind of spiritual support, because the students can not leave me, I can not leave the students." The old man's temperament is not much of a hobby, cold winter often alone in the room roasting fire, only a big cat and his companion.

The mystery of the "cold window"

"Guan Guan Ju Ju, in the river of the continent, the fair lady, the gentleman is good ......"

Early in the morning, groups of students came to Mr. Zhu's home. students came to Mr. Zhu's house and sat around several desks built with door panels. Before long, the sound of loud reading rang out.

Between classes, students crowd into the teacher's kitchen to roast around a fire. The classroom was particularly cold in late November in the south, and it was this scene that gave people a real sense of what it's like to be "in a cold room".

Private school is not like the current primary and secondary schools, but according to the differences in the content of the students to teach one by one. Starting from "Three Character Classic", "Early Learning" and "Enrichment", the focus is on ancient Confucian classics.

Ancient texts were the main subject of study in private schools. Mr. explained the articles to each student once or twice first, and then let the students read them thoroughly. What they learned on the first day, they had to come to him one by one the next day to recite. Only those who passed successfully were allowed to learn new lessons.

Students each brought paper from home and copied calligraphy under the guidance of the teacher. Calligraphy is another major component of private school teaching, and if a teacher wants to teach students calligraphy, he or she must be good at it. Mr. Zhu was a famous calligrapher in the area.

We used to hear about corporal punishment in the old private schools, so I paid special attention to the teacher-student relationship in Pingjiang's private schools.

"In the past, there was corporal punishment in private schools, because the society recognized that kind of teaching model, and the students enrolled were relatively young, so corporal punishment was very effective. Now it is different, corporal punishment is not only condemned by parents, education and other administrative departments, and even be held legally responsible. Moreover, the students recruited now are older, and the purpose can be fully achieved through reasoning." Mr. Zhu Zhizhong told me. Although I have never seen Mr. Zhu and his students talking and laughing together, let alone students discussing problems with the teacher, I could still see at a glance the reverent and warm teacher-student relationship in the interview. The students are all serious when they see the teacher, with a mouthful of "Mr.", and when the teacher leaves, they play around again, revealing the innocence of a teenager. In front of the students, the teacher's face is serious. When memorizing, the teacher sits on a sofa chair, the students sit on a small bamboo stool, and pull away from the distance of a few feet, appearing to be the teacher's dignity.

The old man is a light businessman, charges are not high, the township, give or not give money do not matter, generally pay 30 yuan a month, plus 1 catty of rice. The family rich give some more also charge, family difficulties can not afford to pay the fee also even if.

Every year Mr. two or three times a home visit, to adults about the child's performance in the private school. Students follow the ancient chapter tradition of giving their teachers a gift (two pounds of pork for each festival) on the Duanyang, Mid-Autumn, and Chinese New Year festivals. "Once a teacher, always a father", some of the nearby students who graduated in earlier years also do not forget their teachers' kindness and often visit them whenever they are at home. In the quiet times of Pingjiang, these exchanges between teachers and students constitute a unique and quaint rural landscape.

After the elegance of the diverse opinions

"Mr. Ying" He Ying stood on the back side of the casket, holding a small bowl with black ash, while reciting the words of sacrifice, while the hand will be black ash into the air, which is doing a ghost-expelling ceremony ......

The funeral was done warmly and grandly, on a grand scale. Throughout the funeral period condolences flowed, the sound of mourning music, firecrackers in a row.

He Ying, 76, was mainly responsible for writing eulogies, couplets, hosting ceremonies and exorcising ghosts during the funeral. The pay was one to two hundred dollars. An important result of private schooling is the training of "Mr. Payroll". The so-called "Mr. Payable" sings the rituals at weddings, funerals, and festivals, presides over the ceremonies, and writes all the couplets, accounts, and announcements. "In Pingjiang, this is a very elegant and enviable profession.

In order for his son to read the old book, when "Mr. Payroll", Pingjiang County, Daping Township, Fan Yueqiao will be "Mr. Old Book" received at home, food, clothing and laundry care should be all inclusive, and then give 300 pounds of rice each year, so that his son, Fan Gejun withdrew from school and stayed at home to learn the whole 7 years! Private school. Fan Gejun was reading the first year, the math competition is the township one or two, his teachers were very sorry to see him quit school.

Fan Gejun in his 30s is now not admitted to university as a cadre, but often invited to serve as emcee for weddings and celebrations, because he is proficient in writing and ink, familiar with the etiquette, fame is growing, often across the provincial border to Jiangxi to walk the field, in the local area is a "full of characters running the stage", highly respected.

"The university does not assign work in the future, as farming, and what is the use? How about going to private school, when the days of the Mr. Yingxue is good." A parent of a student named Chen Qiping told us bluntly.

Chen Qiping's words are representative. Although the students are too shy to say what they will do in the future, their parents have already locked in their goals for the rest of their lives.

Society has evolved into the digital age, so why are there still fossilized private schools in Pingjiang? This is indeed intriguing and thought-provoking. There are various views on this special phenomenon of private schools in Pingjiang.

Pingjiang, despite its remote location, has always been a place of literary prosperity, with a unique geographical and cultural environment. In the countryside of Pingjiang, no matter where you go, you can see all kinds of beautiful couplets and plaques. Every New Year's Eve, all the houses and homes are plastered with ancient, elegant and amazing spring couplets. Whenever there is a happy occasion, sacrifices to the gods must be made according to the ancient rituals, and all ceremonies need a "Mr. Entertainment" like He Ying. The students who have studied in private schools for two or three years can not only write essays, but can also be fluent in entertainment, which is enough to solve the problem of food and clothing in the countryside.

Some people think that private school is a carrier of old ideas and culture. But there are also some people who think that for a country with a strong cultural tradition like ours, we cannot ignore the inheritance of traditional civilization, and private schools still have the need to exist.

With the gradual disintegration of the authoritarian society, a pluralistic "civil society" has begun to emerge, and the private school in Pingjiang is just one of the discourse expressions, which rejects excessive subjectivity and artificiality, and fosters the spontaneous order of the civil society. We need this kind of objective attitude based on the countryside.

Ouyang Liyi, director of the Pingjiang County Office of Private Education, believes that private schools should be viewed in two ways. The existence of private schools reflects the rural people's thirst for culture and knowledge, and in a sense helps to maintain a good social climate in the countryside. Although it is not in line with the private education regulations, but objectively speaking, the private school on the countryside more or less positive effect, you can take a tolerant attitude towards it, to give the private school a space to survive, let it survive.

Returning from Pingjiang, although after a long period of time, but the image of the private school in my mind still can not be waved away, as if a fading away, old hobbling back, although more and more fuzzy, but still has a thousand links with us.

While private school is a carrier of traditional civilization, it is sad that it is unable to cultivate a scientific mechanism of education for all, and the modern society is too far away from the ambitious goals. The inspiration given by Pingjiang private school should be multi-faceted, but one thing is certain: the modern education system must fully incorporate the traditional culture, give new life to the tradition, so that it can be carried forward together with modern culture.