Unlocking the Treasury: Elementary Learning for Boys in Qing China
Unlocking the Treasury: Elementary Learning for Boys in Qing China
by Katherine Ngo
Lever Press, 2025
ISBNs
Paper: 978-1-64315-074-1
eISBN: 978-1-64315-075-8
About the Book
In recent years, the renewed interest in traditional Chinese elementary educational material has led to an increased use of these texts as teaching materials in Chinese schools, as well as popular literature and in academic research. Unlocking the Treasury: Elementary Learning for Boys in Qing China seeks to address the existing gap in Western scholarship regarding pre-modern Chinese primary education, its theories, and textbooks. With a focus on the Qing dynasty textbook, Treasury of Elementary Learning (Youxue qionglin 幼學瓊林), this volume is the first major study of the Treasury in English and reveals a rich tradition of education through close and critical readings of the text.
Unlocking the Treasury grounds its study of primary education in the intellectual history of the period. Using the concept of interpretive communities, Katherine Ngo explores the impact of socio-political influences and differences in Qing schools of thought, including the school of principle, the school of heart-mind, and practical learning. As such, this volume examines the Treasury through three critical readings of the text: as a handbook for practical learning, a child-oriented reading of the school of heart-mind, and the instrumental perspective of education as examination training.
Ngo reframes the curricular content, skills, learning approaches, and teaching strategies of Chinese pre-modern elementary education with the goal of facilitating a broader transcultural dialogue in contemporary education. Far from the notion of traditional Chinese elementary education being monolithic and “rote learning,” Unlocking the Treasury reveals that elementary learning in the Qing dynasty offered a sophisticated and complex educational agenda with diverse learning goals of examination, preparation, moral development, and textual scholarship training that were shaped by intellectual trends of the time. An engaging text for scholars of Qing China and historians of education alike, Katherine Ngo’s Unlocking the Treasury is essential to understanding the philosophical, historical, literary, and psychological dimensions of education and educational theory in the Qing era.
Unlocking the Treasury grounds its study of primary education in the intellectual history of the period. Using the concept of interpretive communities, Katherine Ngo explores the impact of socio-political influences and differences in Qing schools of thought, including the school of principle, the school of heart-mind, and practical learning. As such, this volume examines the Treasury through three critical readings of the text: as a handbook for practical learning, a child-oriented reading of the school of heart-mind, and the instrumental perspective of education as examination training.
Ngo reframes the curricular content, skills, learning approaches, and teaching strategies of Chinese pre-modern elementary education with the goal of facilitating a broader transcultural dialogue in contemporary education. Far from the notion of traditional Chinese elementary education being monolithic and “rote learning,” Unlocking the Treasury reveals that elementary learning in the Qing dynasty offered a sophisticated and complex educational agenda with diverse learning goals of examination, preparation, moral development, and textual scholarship training that were shaped by intellectual trends of the time. An engaging text for scholars of Qing China and historians of education alike, Katherine Ngo’s Unlocking the Treasury is essential to understanding the philosophical, historical, literary, and psychological dimensions of education and educational theory in the Qing era.
About the Author
Katherine Ngo is Lecturer of Ancient Chinese Literature at the Academy of Sinology, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her research interest is in the educational theories and practices of pre-modern and early modern Chinese didactic literature.
Reviews
“To preserve classics and their wisdom, and to counter the present-day loss and lust that result from the unprecedented post-human intelligent age, Unlocking the Treasury offers a strong scholarly take with its genuine, essential recovery of the philosophical, historical, literary, and psychological dimensions of education for boys in Qing China. The book's open access is a gift to all.”
— Michelle Jia Ye, Journal of Chinese Studies“Katherine Ngo’s Unlocking the Treasury offers a groundbreaking study of Qing-era education through a critical examination of the Treasury of Elementary Learning. It challenges assumptions about rote learning, offering a nuanced view of traditional Chinese education’s complexities—a must-read for those interested in Chinese history, education, and society.”— Limin Bai, Victoria University of Wellington
“Treasury of Elementary Learning was a widely used textbook in Qing China for teaching basic literacy. Despite its popularity, it has often been overlooked. This well-researched monograph is the first complete English analysis of its content and educational importance, providing valuable insight for scholars studying historical Chinese education.”— Ren-yuan Li, Academia Sinica
Tags
ASIANetwork Books, Qing China, Unlocking, Treasury, Civilization, China, Asia, Education, History
Open Access Information
Label: The Lever Initiative
License: CC BY-NC-ND
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