Unit 5 Ancient Chinese Education
Warm-up Activity
Read the following small passage and finish the tasks afterwards.
Task 1. How much do you know about China Ancient Academy? Try to fill in the following table.
Notable Ancient China Academies
Names of Academy Chinese 岳麓书院 白鹿洞书院 嵩阳书院 应天府书院 东林书院 2. Open. English Yuelu Academy White Deer Grotto Academy Songyang Academy Ying Tianfu Academy Donglin Academy Changsha, Hunan Lu Shan, Jiangxi Dengfeng, Henan Shangqiu, Henan Wuxi, Jiangsu Song Dynasty Southern-Tang Song Dynasty Hou Jin Ming Dynasty Location Time of Foundation Section A Cultural Treasures
1. Read the following four short stories and try to give titles for each story. a. The Frog in the Shallow Well (井底之蛙) b. Mencius Relocates Three Times (孟母三迁)
c. Yue Fei’s Mother Tatooing on his Back (岳母刺字) d. An Argument about the Sun (小儿辩日)
2. What can we learn from the four short stories? a. Importance of Education
b. Educational environment matters c. Family education
d. No one can know everything including the learned scholars.
Section B Cultural Knowledge Carding
Task 1. Try to guess the Chinese equivalents for the following words or terms underlined in the passage below.
1) Son of Heaven 天子 2) civil servants 官吏 3) Four Books 四书 4) Five Classics 五经
5) eight-legged essay 八股文 6) Rote learning 死记硬背
7) Confucian classics 儒家经典 8) civil service post 一官半职
9) a venerable age 高龄 10) ministerial posts 内阁职务
11) earning Imperial degrees 获取功名 12) literary canon 文学领域 13) poetry and prose 诗词歌赋
14) The Dream of the Red Chamber 红楼梦 15)the exam hall 考场
Task 2.Tell whether the following statements are true or false according to the following passage below. 1. F 2. F 3. T 4. F 5. T 6. F 7. F 8. T 9. F 10. F
Task 3. Fill in the blanks based on your understanding of the passage above.
Imperial Examination System Four Levels ___Local_ or district exams (院试) _Provincial_ exams (乡试) Metropolitan exams (会试) _Palace_ exams (殿试) Corresponding Degrees _Shengyuan__ (生员，又称秀才) _Juren______ (举人) Gongshi (贡士) _Jinshi___ (进士)
Task 4. Questions for thought and discussion Open-ended
Task 5. What are the Chinese versions for the following sentences? Where are they taken
from? What may be implied in each of them? Are they still practical in today’s life?
1)Those who work with their heads will rule, while those who work with their hands will serve.
Chinese version: 劳心者治人，劳力者治于人。
2) Among three persons walking, there ought to be one qualified as my teacher; choose their strong points to learn from, and use their weaknesses to check and correct my own. 三人行, 必有我师焉; 择其善者而从之, 其不善者而改之.
（Education for everyone regardless their social or financial backgrounds、In teaching there should be no distinction of classes）
3) I never refuse to teach those who are self-reflective, conscientious, and eager to learn. Chinese: 自行束修以上,吾未尝无诲焉.
4)The pursuit of knowledge is superior to all other walks of life. 万般皆下品，唯有读书高。（from《五绝 袁冠南》）
Section C Legend Time
Task 1 Translate the underlined part of the passage into Chinese.
1. 道之以政，齐之以刑，民免而无耻；道之以德，齐之以礼，有耻且格。 2. 自行束修以上,吾未尝无诲焉。 3. 子路问：“闻斯行诸？”子曰：“有父兄在，如之何其闻斯行之！”冉有问：“闻斯行诸？”子曰：“闻斯行之！”公西华曰：“由也问‘闻斯行诸？’，子曰：‘有父兄在’；求也问，‘闻斯行诸？’子曰：‘闻斯行之’。赤也感，敢问？”子曰：“求也退，故进之；由也兼人，故退之。”
4. 不愤不启，不悱不发，举一隅不以三隅反，则不复也。 5. 学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆。
6. 吾尝终日不食，终夜不寢，以思，无益，不如学也。 7. 子绝四：毋意，毋必，毋固，毋我。 Task 2 Questions for discussion.
1) The main educational ideas mentioned in the passage include: Education has great impact on politics;
In teaching there should be no distinction of classes;
A teacher should pay attention to students’ different characteristics. Teachers should help students to think.
Learning and thinking should be associated. Teaching is learning.
Teachers and students are equal.
2) Refer to the Chinese translation in task 1. 3) Open.