Learn traditional Chinese culture at old-style private school ( 2003-12-14 13:13) (Xinhua)
Liu Zhenhai, a white-collar professional from China's capital Beijing, is
attending "Sishu", an old-style private school, in the central province of
Hunan, to learn traditional Chinese culture.
Liu, 28, had been a teacher in his hometown Zhangjiakou city, Hebei Province,
and an office administrator with a Beijing-based electric appliance company
before he devoted himself to promoting traditional Chinese culture at "Yidan
School", a non-government cultural organization based in Beijing.
He came to Pingjiang County in November, where the traditional tutorial
system began to revive in the 1980s, to learn from Zhu Zhizhong, a reputed
scholar who has been tutoring for over 50 years.
Zhu, more than 80 years old, said Liu was the best educated student he had
ever taught, as most other students were migrant workers and had only finished
junior high school.
Liu said he worked eight hours a day, reading classics, writing poems and
couplets and learning to behave the way a well-educated person was supposed to
behave in the old days.
"I've always dreamed of studying traditional Chinese culture systematically
in an old-style school," he told Xinhua, "it will help establish a unique
corporate image and culture in my own business, and improve the moral standards
of my employees."
Liu said he would like to promote the centuries-old tutorial system in
Beijing in the near future to carry forward the country' s long civilization.
His love for traditional culture was inherited from his father and
grandfather, both intellectuals in his hometown.
China's private tutorial system dates back to the days of Confucius, a
scholar and educator who lived 2,500 years ago. Sishu schools were popular
throughout China's history, until 1949 when most private schools were absorbed
by public schools after the People's Republic was founded.
But what these schools used to teach their students is still considered by
many to be the essence of Chinese culture - classics that embody the wisdom of
Chinese ancestors, as well as courtesy, writing and calligraphic skills that are
essential to cultivating a whole and balanced man.
When sishu schools started to mushroom again in Pingjiang + a county with
about one million population + in the mid 1980s, villages often each had as many
as five of the traditional schools.
