How did the ancient academies rise and gradually decline?

Academy is a special educational model in ancient China, and it is a cultural and educational institution integrating education, learning and book collection. Because it is between official school and private school, it can be recognized and supported by the government and absorb the advantages of private school. After the appearance of the academy, it kept pace with official and private schools, which promoted the spread of China's ancient thoughts and academic development. This paper mainly introduces the development of ancient academies in China and summarizes its laws.

? I. Tang Dynasty: The Rise of Academy "Academy" first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, but it was not a place to give lectures at that time. At that time, there were mainly two kinds of academies. One is an officially established academy, which is mainly used for collecting, sorting and collating books, such as Lee Jung Soo Academy and Jixian Temple Academy. The other is a place where individuals study. There are many such academies, and many scholars have their own academies, similar to today's study and bookstore. Influenced by the ideas of Zen, such as "meditation" and "rest", these private schools are mainly built in places with beautiful scenery and quiet environment for individuals to study. There are many names and descriptions of academies in Tang poetry, such as Queti by Liu Tuoxu, which describes a private library:

The mountain road is separated from the clouds by dust, and the spring scenery has a long history like Qingxi. Petals falling from time to time drift with the tide, and the fragrance in the water floats far away.

In the quiet city of Jingmen, facing the winding mountain road, there is firewood and copper for reading in the depths of Liu Yin. Every time the sun passes through the quiet Liu Yin, beautiful light shines on my clothes.

In the late Tang dynasty, the function of private schools began to change, and gradually evolved from a personal study to a place where teachers and apprentices gave lectures. This is closely related to the social background of the Tang Dynasty. After the "An Shi Rebellion", the separatist regime in the buffer region became more and more fierce, and the attacks between our ministers in the Tang Dynasty continued. Coupled with political corruption and bureaucratic dictatorship, cultural and educational undertakings have been severely hit. As the saying goes, "there is no way in the world, there must be concealment." In troubled times, many literati began to live in seclusion in the mountains, build houses and collect books, study knowledge and recruit disciples to give lectures. In this way, there appeared an academy with educational function. At that time, the number of such new academies was small and the legal system was not mature. In essence, they are still private schools, similar to Confucius calling disciples to give lectures.

? Second, Song and Yuan Dynasties: Academies in the Song Dynasty were prosperous, local governments were unified, and society was relatively stable. However, the Northern Song Dynasty did not develop education on a large scale, but unilaterally developed the imperial examination system and expanded the number of imperial examinations. This has led to two phenomena: first, the official school has not revived; Second, scholars are more motivated to learn. This promoted the prosperity of private schools, so the academy developed to a prosperous stage. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the state began to attach importance to education and set up official schools on a large scale, which had a certain impact on academies, and some academies went into decline. However, the prosperity and demise of academies have not been interrupted, and many academies have been built. Famous academies in the Northern Song Dynasty include Jiujiang Bailudong Academy, Changsha Yuelu Academy, Shangqiu Yingtianfu Academy, Luoyang Songyang Academy, Hengyang Shigu Academy and Nanjing Maoshan Academy.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, schools in imperial academy, Taixue and Zhouxian were successively established. However, the level of official education is difficult to improve, and scholars "regard orders as passers-by, and their teachers as passers-by;" The monthly exam book is a kind of stationery. "Many of them are dedicated to the college. At the same time, by the Southern Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism had matured and many schools appeared, such as Zhu's Min School, Zhang Qian's Huxiang School, Jiuyuan's Mind School, Yong Kang School, Ye Shi's Yongjia School and Wu School. Universities have given lectures and publicized ideas in the academy, which greatly improved the academic level of the academy and increased its appeal to students. The four famous academies in Southern Song Dynasty are Bailudong Academy, Yuelu Academy, Xiangshan Academy and Lize Academy.

Academies in Song Dynasty were not only numerous and famous, but also formed relatively mature rules and regulations. For example, in management, we should set up positions such as mountain leader, cave owner, dean and provost to be responsible for the management and teaching of the academy. The teaching concept of the academy has also been formed. For example, Zhu promulgated "Revealing the Secret of Bailudong Academy" in Bailudong Academy, which became the purpose of the Academy and had a far-reaching impact.

In addition, academies in this period began to be incorporated into the official learning system. First of all, the state is also very supportive of the development of the academy, and has set up a "research field" as the funding of the academy. In this way, many academies have become officially controlled educational institutions. Second, the owners of some academies donated academies to the state in order to seek a part-time job, making some academies official. In fact, the contents of all academies are basically Confucian classics, so the ideas advocated by academies are also consistent with the official ideas, which is an important factor in the bureaucratization of academies.

Yuelu academy

In the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan and others adopted a protection policy for the academy, which kept the academy prosperous. According to statistics, there were 408 academies in the Yuan Dynasty, including newly built 134, represented by Taiji Academy. While protecting the academy, it also strengthened the control of the academy, mainly in three aspects: first, the official appointment of the main positions of the academy, and its assessment must also go through the official; Second, the source and destination of students are controlled by the state and brought into the imperial examination system; Third, increasing the funding for "learning areas" has strengthened the dependence of the academy on the government. The teaching content of academies in Yuan Dynasty is mainly Neo-Confucianism, which is related to the fact that Neo-Confucianism is regarded as official knowledge in Yuan Dynasty.

? Third, the tortuous development of academies in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early Ming Dynasty 130 years, the academy education declined. The main reasons are as follows: first, the Ming government strengthened its control over ideas and repeatedly pushed the literary prison, resulting in the decline of folk academic activities; Second, the Ming Dynasty strengthened the construction of official learning and imperial examination system, making it a very strict system. The Ming dynasty also stipulated that "the imperial examination must be conducted by the school", so a scholar must pass the official school if he wants to enter the official career. Third, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty did not attach importance to, advocate or encourage academy education. For example, Bailudong Academy was destroyed by the war at the end of Yuan Dynasty, and it was not rebuilt until 1438, and it was abandoned for 87 years. Of course, the number of academies in the early Ming Dynasty was still increasing, but the academic level of academies had greatly declined.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, academy education was revived. The main reasons are as follows: First, the Ming Dynasty was politically corrupt and eunuch was autocratic, so many scholars set up academies to discuss state affairs. This also led to a particularly strong political color of academies in this period. Second, due to long-term adherence to stereotyped writing, the imperial examination system became rigid. Coupled with political corruption, official schools are also corrupt, and the academic level has seriously declined. Many scholars only regard learning for officials as a way to obtain examination qualifications. Thirdly, scholars such as Zhan Ruoshui and Wang Yangming in the late Ming Dynasty strongly advocated and established academies. The most prosperous period of academy in Ming Dynasty was Jiajing period and Wanli period.

However, the academies in Ming Dynasty did not really develop healthily, and their fate was very tortuous. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were four incidents that prohibited the destruction of academies: the first time was in 1537, and the academy founded by Zhan Ruoshui was ordered to be destroyed; The second time was 1538 "Destroying the World College"; The third time was1579 when Zhang was a "extinct academy"; The fourth time was 1625 "Destroying Lindong Lecturing Academy in the world", and many academies were destroyed as places for Lindong Party to give lectures. These four acts of destroying the academy are the manifestations of strengthening ideological control in the Ming Dynasty, which shows that in the era of increasing absolute monarchy, people's thoughts have been more strictly bound.

Wuxi Donglin Academy

In Qing dynasty, the development of academy was also tortuous. In the early period (1644- 16 1), the rule of the Qing dynasty in the whole country was not stable, so the control of private schools was very strict and academies were strictly established. Of course, famous academies such as Bailudong, Goose Lake, Bailuzhou and Shigu were allowed to resume. From Kangxi to the early years of Yongzheng (1662- 1722), the rule of the Qing Dynasty remained relatively stable. In order to win over the Han literati, the Qing Dynasty took measures to encourage the restoration and establishment of academies. So the upsurge of setting up academies rose all over the country. From the late Yongzheng period to the Opium War, on the one hand, the Qing Dynasty encouraged the establishment of academies, strengthened their control and management, and brought them into the official learning system.

There were four kinds of academies in the middle of Qing Dynasty. The first is mainly to teach science. The second category is imperial examination training; The third category is "practical" subjects, similar to the current professional and technical colleges; The fourth category is to teach classics and historical chapters, similar to the College of Literature and History. Among them, the fourth category has the greatest influence, represented by Jingjing Jingshe and Tang. The emergence of the classification of academies shows that private schools have diversified, which is one of the reasons why the academic circle in Qing Dynasty is relatively developed. However, on the whole, private schools in the Qing Dynasty were controlled by the government and it was difficult to get rid of the barriers of traditional Confucianism. After the late Qing Dynasty, due to the impact of new schools, traditional academies finally declined.

? Conclusion When Chinese academies flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, medieval universities also appeared in western European countries. They have some similarities, for example, their rise is related to the commodity economy, and they were all privately founded at the beginning, which had a certain impact on the monopoly of government-run schools at that time. However, in the long-term development process, western universities have gradually become the highest institutions of learning in society, while academies have become vassals of imperial examinations. The reasons behind it are worth pondering. One of the important reasons is that China is a traditional autocratic country with strict control over private schools. However, the academic activities of universities in western European countries are relatively free. They were originally established with the approval of the church, but later became the center of anti-church thought and the position of "Renaissance". Only when society allows "a hundred schools of thought contend" can there be a situation of "a hundred flowers blossom".