The Status Change Of Culture And Education In Changsha Prefecture During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

The educational building is one of the most important building type among Chinese traditional cities.It includes schools,the academy and education facilities such as Wenchang Pavilion,Kuixing Tower,the temple,Vinta,Words Pagoda and monumental gateway.The traditional Chinese city has been decided by the ruler’s intention since ancient times.In the traditional city,the center of the city was often occupied by the primary administrative building(palace and government office).However,some previous studies showed that during the Ming and Qing dynasties,the importance level of educational buildings’ position had been improved in the city landscape sequence.In some small cities,schools even replaced the government offices and obtained the dominant position in the city.This special phenomenon we call“the status change of culture and education”.This article takes Changsha prefecture in Ming and Qing dynasties as the object of the study.By studying the social and cultural background of Changsha prefecture in these two dynasties,and starting with related records in local chronicles to analysis changes in position,quantity and form of different types of educational buildings in Changsha prefecture.In addition,by discussing the impact of “the statu change of culture and education” on urban landscape preliminarily and analysing reasons,the article explain changes of urban landscape in Changsha prefecture in the Ming and Qing dynasties systematically.After studying,we found that the related records in local chronicles of Educational buildings were pretty detail,and the edcational buildings have occupied more central positions in the city,and the size or scale have been larger than before,at the same time the recognition of the urban landscape have become more obvisouly.All of above evidences prove the basis of “the status change of culture and education” happened in the Changsha prefecture during the Ming and Qing dynasties.Furthermore it existed common ground and differences between four local cities of Changsha prefecture,Chaling state,Xiangtan county and Liuyang county.The main reason for the arising of "the status change of culture and education" was due to the deep social influence of the imperial examination.Thus,in local cities,the construction of educational buildings gained attention from the official to the civilian.And the development of regional economy and culture also provided support for educational buildings’ prosperity.Moreover,"the status change of culture and education" also happened in Gannan area and Nanyang prefecture during the Ming and Qing dynasties,is not the particular phenomenon of Changsha prefecture.It shows this phenomenon has certain universality.Therefore,we should consider "the status change of culture and education" as one aspect when we research the other city’s changes of urban landscape in the Ming and Qing dynasties.