In the 21st year of Qianlong (1756), cabinet minister Zhao Yi was sent to Zhang Jing as a military aircraft. During the morning shift, these five drums need to arrive at the duty room. "Those who didn't go to the Ministry of Education, but a few people in Sura, the inner government, stayed awake in the dark and sometimes fell asleep on the post. However, I vaguely saw a white gauze lamp entering Longzongmen and the prince entering the study. " This left a deep impression on Zhao Yi, who failed the exam repeatedly at that time. Later, when he recalled it, he couldn't help sighing that "we poor college students have enough to eat and wear by reading, but we can't get up early, and the golden jade in heaven is like this every day" (Miscellanies on the Roof 1). Until the Guangxu period, He Gangde, who worked in the examination department of the official department, led the entrance to the palace at dawn. When he saw the young prince enter the school, he immediately thought of the phrase "Night lights and chickens" ("Spring Dream").
The Qing people were quite proud of this strict "family law" and its effect. The money given to the prince in Qianlong wrote in a letter at home: "Building a study and gathering a study is easy to settle down, but it cannot be close to other affairs and foreign affairs. Today, the family is good at teaching "(Four Biographies of Lang Qian (volume 10)), which is of course due to.
The formation of reading system in study room
The tradition of attaching importance to the education of princes in the Qing Dynasty began with the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty and should be related to their early experiences. When the Holy Father ascended the throne at the age of six, he did not receive a systematic education. He can only learn to read sentences and calligraphy from two internal supervisors who have little knowledge of words. He didn't have a chance to study hard until after he took office, and he began to study at five o'clock. "From overwork to illness, there is blood in the sputum, and it doesn't stop" ("Court Motto"), and he accepted Confucian scholars and held a banquet to give lectures. Therefore, when the prince approached the school age, the sage had carefully considered the choice of the master and the curriculum setting, and the prototype of reading in the study was hidden in it.
Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty
Because the Kangxi Dynasty still practiced the system of public reserve, compared with other princes, the education of Crown Prince Yin Yong was the most concerned by saints, leaving more detailed historical materials. When Yin Yong was young, he was personally guided by a saint. "Tell him what his ancestors were like, what he should do when defending his position, what he should do when fighting, and teach him history. In the past, whenever he succeeded or failed, the people would turn their backs on him and give detailed instructions on everything (Volume 234 of Records of Qing Sages), which was rare in the Qing Dynasty. After Yin Yong was a little longer, the Holy Father sent Zhang Ying, Xiong Cilv and Li Guangdi to teach him, and ordered him to accompany him when he was an old academician. In the 26th year of Kangxi (1687), Yin Yong was fourteen years old. After reading the five classics, the holy father officially chose to be a lecturer for him. After discussion among cabinet ministers, it was finally decided that Tang Bin, Shang Shu of the Ministry of Industry, Dahata, Shang Shu of the Ministry of Official Affairs, Geng Jie and Shao Zhan would start studying for Yin Yong class on June 9th. The holy father often goes to check.
As for other princes, they can't enjoy this kind of treatment. Often people of similar age study together, and there seems to be no fixed teacher. However, when the Crown Prince and all the princes were in the palace, they studied together, and the place where they studied was the later study.
Secondly, the problem of curriculum. As the Manchu conquering dynasty, the Qing Dynasty should pay attention to balancing Manchu and Han on the one hand, and emphasize "national customs" and Manchu identity on the other hand to avoid assimilation. One of Yin's lecturers, Dahata, is from Zhengbaiqi, Manchuria and doesn't know Chinese characters. The Holy Father specially summoned the instructions: "The instructions mean that Tang Bin and others are here, and I just want to serve the Crown Prince and guide him to be full of manners, not to be infected with China habits." ("Ju Ju Zhu", June 7th, 26th year of Kangxi) shows its profound meaning. According to the book Zhu Zhu, Yin Yong started reading in the morning, first reading the classics, then practicing Manchu calligraphy, then repeatedly reading the classics he learned today, going out to practice riding and shooting at night, and officially checking the day's studies at night, taking a passage for the prince to explain, and then ending the day's course. It is worth mentioning that the sage himself said, "When I was young, I had to study at a speed of 120 times. If I didn't cover it like this, I wouldn't be able to drown out the righteousness" (June 10, 26 th year of Kangxi), so I also asked my ministers to recite it according to this intensity. Yinwa often begins to recite it in the afternoon and doesn't recite it 120 times until the evening.
Sejong acceded to the throne, the third son Hongshi was twenty years old, and the fourth son Li Hong and the fifth son Hongzhi were only thirteen years old. It was the age of studying, which had been given by Jishi Shu to enrich the people. In the first month of the first year of Yongzheng (1723), Sejong appointed, Zhang, Xu and Ji Yun as Prince Taifu, and Qin chose an auspicious day to speak. Later, some younger academicians such as Cai Shiyuan, Liang and Ren appointed E Ertai, Zhang, Fumin and Xu as Taifu in the first month of Qianlong (1736). As the prince's teacher, Huang Yong, the nine-year-old eldest son, and Professor Yong Lian, the seven-year-old second son. At the beginning of the reform, Emperor Sejong and Emperor Gaozong both announced that the prince would become a fu, apparently for the sake of seriousness. However, at this time, the prince did not have a fixed place to study, and he changed several places successively, such as Nanxun Hall, Xichangfang, Zhaoxiang Institute and Xianfu Palace.
The Qianlong dynasty was a crucial period for the institutionalization of study. At the beginning of Qianlong, Emperor Gaozong chose five rooms in the east of Gan Qing Gate as a fixed reading place. According to Zhao Yun, he chose this place because "it is close to the Palace so that he can visit it" (Volume 3 of Xiao Ting), and the emperor can hear the prince reading in Gan Qing Palace. Secondly, the chef in the study came into being. In the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), assistant ministers Fu Jie, Guan Bao and Cai Xin were the chefs of the upper study. Later, more scholars, ministers and other officials were appointed to take charge of and specialize in inspections. The second time is to establish the family law of "the prince enters school at the age of six" and extend it to his descendants. Although it is not clear when this change happened, in an imperial edict in the forty-third year of Qianlong, Emperor Gaozong described it as "China's system", and took this as an example to show that the education of the prince of the Qing Dynasty was far better than that of the previous generation (Record of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty 1067). One year before Emperor Gaozong abdicated, five generations lived under one roof, from the Prince to Sun Yuan, all of them studied in the study room, and the study class reached its peak.
However, it must be noted that there is no seal, no rated vacancy and no official office in the study room. Going to the study room is an errand, and each official has his own duties. Before the fixed address was determined in the early years of Qianlong, the study room was just a general term, and its Manchu language was dergi bithei boo, which means superior, so Chinese characters were written in two different ways: Shang and Shang. The royal version of Wen Qing Jian is interpreted as Doggi Agsaibi Sehalaba, which is an old Manchu language.
Since the late Qing Dynasty, scholars have been controversial about the date of the establishment of the study room. In fact, from the time when emperor Kangxi studied, the palace was generally called the study, and it was not until the Qianlong Dynasty that a perfect reading system was formed, so it was unnecessary and impossible to trace back to an exact starting year.