点击蓝字 关注我们
教师节快乐 Happy Teachers' Day!
What is Teachers’ Day?
Due to the traditional importance of education in China, Teachers’ Day is an especially significant holiday that symbolizes the profound respect that Chinese society has for educators and scholarship.
During this holiday, many Chinese schools host customary ceremonies honoring teachers that are reminiscent of ancient Confucian rituals. Teachers also often receive gifts from school administrators, parents, and current and former students. Some educators even get the day off.
In China, Teachers’ Day takes place every year on September 10th.
Teachers' Day
1
Is Teachers’ Day an international holiday?
China isn’t the only country that celebrates Teachers’ Day, however. In fact, almost every nation around the world celebrates some variation of Teachers’ Day, whether it is the international World Teachers' Day or a regional version.
Although celebrating educators is a global phenomenon these days, Teachers’ Day in China is distinct due to its Confucian roots as well as the many transformations this holiday has undergone over the course of China’s long and sometimes tumultuous history.
Before diving into the ins and outs of this important holiday as it is celebrated now, let’s first explore its historical evolution.
2
Teachers’ Day in ancient China
Although not designated as an official holiday until the end of the twentieth century, Teachers’ Day in China has a long and fascinating history.
The earliest celebration that resembles the modern holiday first took place, albeit informally, over 2,000 years ago during the Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE). At that time, Teachers’ Day festivities were generally held on the 27th day of the eighth lunar month, a date widely believed to be the birthday of China’s most influential educator and philosopher, Confucius.
Confucius, China’s first teacher
Confucius (551-479 BCE), known as 孔子in Chinese, was born in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-481 BCE) in modern day Shandong Province. His parents were neither peasants nor aristocrats, but belonged to a middle class of common gentry called.
During this period, formal education was generally available only to children from elite families and consisted of a curriculum in the six arts, that is, rituals, music, archery, chariot driving, literacy and mathematics .
Confucius’ ideas about education have had an outsized impact on Chinese society since ancient times.
After ascending through the ranks of various labor and government positions, Confucius quickly earned a reputation as a skilled educator and righteous advisor. In addition to serving as Minister of Crime in his home state of Lu, he dedicated his life to educating others by establishing private academies that centered around Confucian ideology and were accessible to students of all social classes.
Confucius believed in the importance of education at the individual and collective level and taught that the construction of effective societies relied upon the accumulation of knowledge by individuals.
“I have never grown tired of learning, nor weary in teaching others what I have learned,” Confucius stated in his work, The Analects. The doctrines contained in The Analects, as well as the teachings put forth by Confucius and consolidated by his disciples in The Four Books and The Five Classics (四书五经), would underpin attitudes towards education in China for centuries to come.
Confucius taught that education was an important element in the construction of an effective society.
The status of teachers in ancient China
Confucius is often called the father of all educators, and his emphasis on the importance of education meant that teachers in ancient China were also generally held in high esteem.
In ancient China, comprehensive training in the classics was crucial to passing the Imperial Examinations (科举考试), a rigorous test that guaranteed successful male candidates a coveted bureaucratic job. Therefore, many families sought to hire a tutor to help prepare for the exam.
Parents of prospective exam candidates often sent invitation letters to certain teachers, and accepting or denying the invitation was at the discretion of the educator.
