Confucian Classics and Children’s Education in Han, Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties

Confucian classics were the source and the main content of Chinese ancient children’s education. The enlightenment education of Confucian classics in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was closely related to the change of the recommendatory system. This paper discusses the relationship between the development of Confucian classics and the education of children in this period from the perspectives of the arrangement of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty, the establishment of the Five Classics Doctorate, the rise of Metaphysics in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the change of the split political situation in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The author holds that the Han Dynasty basically established the pattern of children’s education based on the Confucian classics such as Filial Piety and the Analects of Confucius, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties children’s education strengthened the education of the Five Classics and was influenced by metaphysics to a certain extent. In the Southern Dynasty, gentries were strong and Confucianism was prosperous. It was common for children of Gentries families to study the Five Classics. Compared with the Northern Dynasty, they were in a disadvantage. The number of children studying the Five Classics was less and the age was older, which reflected the situation of children studying the Five Classics in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the establishment of the Five Classics Doctorate, family learning level, private lectures and examination system. It is closely related to many factors.