Taixue and Guozijian:Imperial College of Higher Learning
Taixue, the ‘Imperial College of Higher Learning’ or ‘National University’, was the top institution up to about the Sui dynasty. As well as the Hanlin Academy, it was another top academic institute in China. The Taixue (太学 Tài xué) was founded in the Western Han era (206BCE-8CE) at Chang'an (now Xi'an) to teach the new Imperial philosophy of Confucianism. The Taixue began with only about fifty teachers and students but grew to about 3,000 by 1CE. After the capital moved to Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dyansty, the university was given an enlarged site to accommodate up to 30,000. The institution persisted in northern China at the fall of the Han in 220CE.
During the Tang a new institution the 国子监 Guó zǐ jiàn replaced it. The Guozijian continued as a small institution up until 1905. In it's last 1,400 years it became the elite school for princes and sons of senior members of the Imperial court and not for ordinary people. The Hanlin Academy was much larger and had open entrance to all men by examination (at least in theory). The top scholars at the Hanlin Academy provided the teachers at the Taixue and Guozijian universities.
Ask Questions ?