On Songxue and Education in Academies of Classical Learning of the Early Qing Dynasty

In the early Qing Dynasty, Cheng's and Zhu's Songxue, a Confucian school of the idealist philosophy of the Song and Ming dynasties, was advocated when the problem of emptiness with the philosophy of the mind in the late Ming Dynasty was identified and seriously considered. The prevalence of Songxue was mainly to be realized by means of education in schools and academies of classical learning and therefore in most of the academies, Songxue was the main goal for learning. Besides, oral instruction, a traditional method, was carried forward and thus the aim of training in good manners was emphasized, which was followed by learning for examinations. Some famous feudal officials such as Tang Bin, Chen Hongmou, Zhang Boxing and others who were also scholars of Songxue were deeply interested in the establishment of academies of classical learning where education was provided. Among many of the established academies, Aofeng Academy in Fujian and Ziyang Academy in Suzhou, founded by Zhang Boxing, made remarkable achievements. In the years of Qianlong, however, the academies advocating Songxue and those emphasizing examinations merged day by day into one kind that, in fact, became an appendage of the imperial examinations and then they faded out of the circle of academia. Instead, the academies that upheld the study of Confucian classics came into being and prevailed.