The Exploration Of Chinese Instructors’Education For Ryukyu Students In Qianlong Period (1736-1787)

Ryukyu had connected with China from Sui Dynasty, and the records of Ryukyu students’ coming was beginning in Ming Dynasty.China was prosperous and peaceful, with cultural prosperity in Qianlong period. Ryukyu students who came to China at that time, had been educated with Confucian culture. Through the guidance of Chinese instructors, both the Imperial College teachers and the Fujian teachers, all of those Ryukyu students were well educated, and made great contribution to bringing Confucian culture and Chinese artistry to East Asia.This article uses the first-hand materials, with the Chinese instructors in Qianlong period as the entry point, discusses the influence on the education for Ryukyu students in the educational pattern both the governmental and non-governmental. There are three parts of this article. The first part tells the circumstances of Ryukyu students’ coming to China before Qianlong. The number of students, the year and the contents of their learning, and the arrangement of the Chinese teachers had not been regular. Until the Kangxi period, the Imperial College began to establish Ryukyu College, and allocated teachers for the Ryukyu students. Besides, the Ryukyu students who came to Fujian Province had also been regular. The second part is the core of article, which analyze the situation of the Chinese instructors’ education for Ryukyu students in Qianlong period. The Imperial College took the teachers’ selection seriously. The Imperial College teachers summarized the teaching standard with the educational thoughts and Ryukyu students’ characteristics. Fujian instructors also conformed to the times, taking flexible teaching methods and teaching Ryukyu students knowledge and technology. As a result, the Chinese instructors’ educational attainments promoted Ryukyu progressing indirectly. The third part tells the positive influence on Chinese instructors’ education for Ryukyu students. The teachers taught the Ryukyu students both the governmental and the non-governmental assiduously. Those Ryukyu students contributed to constructing Ryukyu among culture, education, medicine, agriculture, science and technology, established completed Confucian education system.More than that, the Ryukyu students also became the cultural disseminator, boosting the Chinese culture and skills spread to Japan and other part of East Asia.