Western Zhou Education And Social Mobility

The education of the Western Zhou Dynasty has had a profound influence on Chinese history,but on some key issues,scholars' understanding of Western Zhou education is still ambiguous.This paper explores several issues such as the educational form of the Western Zhou Dynasty,the content of DaXue education,and the social mobility of the Western Zhou Dynasty.It is found that:The Western Zhou's educational book on the Western Zhou school system is basically reliable,the national studies and the local school system does exist in the Western Zhou Dynasty.However,the identity of teachers and students in the school is not as uniform as the book description.For example,the identity of DaXue students is very complicated,involving aristocrats of all levels;and teachers are also served by the officers of various arts.In addition to school education,some nobles also accept the internal education of the official family and the exercise within the bureaucracy,which plays an important role in the flow of aristocratic promotion;in addition,civilians can also receive possible education through official education and singing.As for the educational content of the DaXue,the so-called six arts of "Zhou Li" is not necessarily the real teaching content of the Western Zhou Dynasty.For example,the so-called "Yu Art" in the Six Arts does not exist in the Western Zhou Dynasty,but should be "Yu Art";in addition to the so-called six art,there are other types of educational content in the Western Zhou Dynasty,such as "Zou Art".Therefore,although the six arts may partially coincide with the real educational content of the Western Zhou Dynasty,the educational content of Western Zhou DaXue is not equivalent to the six arts.In the DaXue teaching,the arts are not divided into separate teachings,but they are infiltrated into each other in some subjects and taught at the same time.Furthermore,we can find that the Western Zhou society is not the rigid situation in which the hereditary system dominates the world,but has the rich social mobility realized by education.This source of social mobility can be derived from the various arts education in the Western Zhou school system;from the inheritance education within the noble family;and directly from the exercise in the bureaucracy.The social mobility of the Western Zhou Dynasty is diverse in its direction,and can be up and down,and can also move in parallel;it is widely found in the system of royal officials,the system of nobles and the princes.