WHEN 83-year-old tutor Zhu Zhizhong announcing the decision to close his small school in Central China's Hunan Province on December 30 last year, the last sishu (old-style private school) stepped down from the stage of history after 2,500 years.

Zhu's school, actually located in his small house, was one of the very few sishu to outlast the 1940s, when China's traditional education systems and institutions became extinct. Zhu's school, in a remote town, still taught students the ancient books.

The most popular image of a sishu was that of a stern teacher with a long ruler spanking the hand of a young student in front of a large painting of Confucius (551-479 BC).

Sishu had been among the earliest Chinese private education institutes, according to Jin Linxiang, a professor at the East China's Normal University.

Confucian learning

Over the course of Confucius' life, he had thousands of students, acquired while travelling around the kingdoms to spread his philosophy. He was considered the founder of private education in China. Sishu was one of the important pillars of private education.

"They were similar to today's primary schools, teaching students to learn characters and some relatively easy books," Jin said.

Sishu also functioned as places through which Confucianism was transmitted, sustaining a doctrinal system that has influenced Chinese imperial societies for about 2,000 years.

The old-style private schools usually hung a picture of Confucius in the centre of the room, in front of which was placed a long high table for offerings.

At first, tutors taught students to read and memorize preliminary books like the "Book of Family Names" while also teaching them the basic strokes of calligraphy. For more senior students, teachers would explain the major Confucian works sentence by sentence. Such students also began to compose their own essays.

Schools for younger students (some entered at the early age of four or five years old) were called "meng guan" (starting schools). Those for older students were called "jing guan" (equivalent to the higher grade in a primary school).

There were no regular time schedules for classes and no intermissions between them. Holidays were set for the busy harvest time in autumn or during the Spring Festival. If students did not complete their studies as required, they would be beaten by the tutors.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907) the advent of the system called keju (civil service examinations to select officials) made not only the sishu but also all the other educational institutes a route for people to realize their dreams of acquiring social prestige and power. Sishu became more specifically focused on the Four Books and the Five Classics (the central canon of Confucianism).

Civil service

"The aim of being educated was mainly to win an official title. In the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), baguwen, a rigid form of composing articles required by the exams, started to be the major content every student had to study mechanically in those schools," Jin said.

After finishing their studies in sishu, students took an exam to gain the xiucai qualification, required to enter higher educational institutes run by the government, where they would then study for the keju exams.

Alongside sishu, shuyuan provided another form of private education, designed especially for those who had graduated from sishu but whose interest did not lie in the course of study leading to the civil service exams.

"But later on, the private shuyuan were also taken over by the government, so that all the higher educational institutes became dedicated to the civil service exams," Jin said.

Students were more willing to enter government-run schools because they were free and even gave each students a scholarship to help support the life of the whole family.

Tutors at sishu usually taught in their own homes, but rich families would invite teachers to their residences to coach their children. The tuition fees could be paid in money or in goods, such as rice or oil.

The higher-level shuyuan were set up by rich people and landlords, operating on a "non-profit" basis.

"The owner would lease several pieces of land and the rent was used to run the schools. Students might have to pay large sums for tuition if famous tutors were employed," Jin said.

Modern changes

Courses such as maths, astronomy and geography, were seldom covered in school.

It was not until the 1760s that the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) authorities opened the Jing Shi Tong Wen Guan, a high-level institute designed to train diplomats. These colleges started to teach students English, maths and Western culture.

In 1905, the Qing government abolished the keju examination system. Since then modern schools, with a complete educational system covering many fields and courses, began to rise in the country.

"In the 'revolutionary years', the sishu were totally repudiated. They were dismissed as places transmitting a rigid and dated curriculum. But they actually had many other aspects that the modern education system has been unable to realize," Jin said.

Tutors could tailor their instructions to the individual characters and capabilities of students, as well as providing moral guidance.