CONFUCIUS AS A TEACHER is the most exhaustive and authoritative work ever on Confucius' pedagogic thinking. The author points out that Confucius was first and foremost an ideal teacher: He was both a transmitter and an originator, both a creator and a conserver, of ancient Chinese culture. He aimed at social reform through education, and at bringing about an ideal social order through cultivating ideal individuals. In his ideal society, both individual and social rights would be perfectly developed and harmonized, there would be the state of "great harmony." The major course of study which he offered was along the line of ethics, especially love (ren) and the rules of proper conduct (li), the former stressing the individualistic quality While the latter social control. Throughout the ages, Confucian scholars, through the inspiration of their master, have practically monopolized the educational field in China. His ideas on ren and li have more or less affected the historical physiognomy of China. The greatest factor which contributed to his great success, however, was his methods of teaching, many of which are still useful today for solving problems confronting the country's modem education.
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The author is among modern China's first group of scholars with a doctoral degree in education. He is known both at home and abroad as a distinguished educationist and Confucianist. He started his research into Confucius' teachings on education as early as the 1930s, and the present book, written in English, is the fruit of his long years of study.
