Bai, L: Shaping the Ideal Child

This book examines traditional Chinese literacy primers in the context of intellectual involvement in elementary education. It analyses the contents of the primers, their underlying philosophical premises, and what they reveal about elite attitudes towards children and childhood. The study points to a close link between elite conceptions of children and Confucian attempts to construct an ideal society. Providing a new perspective on pre-modern Chinese society and culture that is relevant to our understanding of education in contemporary China.