From the "order" and "school" of the Xia Dynasty to the private study of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn period, it can be seen that reading and learning is deeply rooted in the bones of the Chinese. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the establishment of the imperial examination system made more and more scholars seek fame.
So, how many days a year did students in ancient China have classes?
Previously, private schools, social studies, and seowon were the three main types of schools. Among them, the main difference between private schools and social studies is that the former is privately run and the latter is government-run, but both provide education for children under the age of 15.
According to the syllabus of the Ming and Qing dynasties, children would learn the "Sexual Character Training" before the age of 8, and after the age of 8, they would study the Four Books and Five Classics such as the "Annotations on the Analects" and "The Annotations on the Collection of Mencius", as well as some challenging literary works, which were much more difficult and numerous than today's education.
After completing the basic study of private school or social studies, children will enter the college for more in-depth study. Compared with private schools and social studies, the teaching in the academy is stricter, according to the "Xiqiao Mountain University Science and Study Hall Rules", students need to get up at 3 a.m. every day to read until 9 a.m., and from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., they will have evening self-study, and the study time is up to 20 hours a day.
Such an intensity and density of learning can be said to be unimaginable for people nowadays.
In ancient times, students were not as happy as we are now when it came to vacations. They don't have more than one month of vacation each year, and sometimes they only have the opportunity to rest on traditional holidays.
For example, the New Tang Dynasty Book and Election Chronicles records that "one day off is given in October, and there is a field leave in May of each year, and a clothing leave in September." In the Qing Dynasty, the school year was only a short period of time at the end of the year.
In addition to studying, you also have to face the pressure of exams. In ancient times, students needed to pass multiple examinations such as the "Children's Examination", "Township Examination", "Hui Examination" and "Palace Examination", and only after passing the examination of each level could they participate in the next level of examination.
Only by passing the "palace examination" can you become a "jinshi", and "jinshi" is not only the end of the imperial examination, but also the starting point of the official career.
The children of the royal family did not live a life of ease and pleasure, and their study tasks were equally heavy and even more rigorous. In the Confucius Temple and the Guozijian Museum in Beijing, we can see the curriculum of the Guozijian students of the Ming Dynasty, their study time is very tight, only the first and fifteenth years of junior high school can rest, the rest of the time is taught by the teacher, the students repeat the lecture, and the rest of the time is left for the students to endorse.
Even if there are two days off, they cannot be arranged freely, and they need to do a "sacrificial ceremony" to worship Confucius in the Confucian Temple. The place where the princes of the Qing Dynasty studied was called the study, the study duration of a day was about eleven hours, and they had to learn horseback riding and archery after class, and there were only six and a half days off a year, which were their birthdays, the emperor's birthday, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the New Year's Day and the Spring Festival were released early for half a day, 365 days a year, and nearly 359 days of class.
These princes began at the age of six, and this was the case every year. They did it early on, which proved that the "ten-year cold window" that the ancients said was not empty words.