A lecture on :Chinese Academies: Learning and the Pursuit of Moral Perfection by Thomas Lee Friday, May 30, 6:00 pm, at 25 West 43rd Street, 18th floor, between 5th and 6th Avenues. The lecture is sponsored by the Asian Ameri9can / Asian Research Institute. The publication of Zhongguo Shuyuan earlier this year by Shanghai Educational Press is a significant turning point, in the study and appreciation of the educational role academies played in traditional China. Dr. Thomas Lee wrote the English introduction for the book, which is richly illustrated with pictures. Academies dated to the eighth century and have until the early twentieth century remained the mainstay of China's private education. The infusion of Neo-Confucian educational ideals in the twelfth century helped to make it an indispensable vehicle for teaching the moral ideals of a Chinese person. By the end of the Song Dynasty (960-1278), there were already more than 400 academies, largely thanks to the efforts of Neo-Confucian scholars, under particularly the influence of Zhu Xi (1230-1300).. Many academies were founded also by the government, to prepare students for taking the civil service examinations. Successful candidates from the examinations were eligible for office, a career path highly coveted in traditional China. Throughout Chinese history, there were more than 8,000 academies founded in different times. Its sense of mission continues to be cherished by the Chinese today.
Thomas H.C. Lee is a leading interpreter of traditional Chinese education, having recently published a history of the subject, Education in Traditional China,: A History (Leiden: Brill, 2000). He got his Ph. D. degree from Yale University and was appointed as Professor and Chairman of Asian Studies at the City College of New York. Dr. Lee is currently adviser to the CD-Rom Project for Ancient Chinese Texts of China's Ministry of Education, Director of International Project of Chinese and Comparative Historiography, Director of Chinese Historiography Project (Association for Asian Studies, USA), and Overseas Editor of Chinese Academy (Hunan University, China). Professor Lee's other publications include Government Education and Examinations in Sung China, China and Europe, Images and Influences in Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries, and the New and the Multiple, Sung Senses of the Past. He is also the recent recipient of a $ 1.75 million research grant from the Freeman Foundation. (AAARI)