Miaochan xingxue 廟產興學

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Revision as of 20:58, 21 June 2009

Build Education with Temple Property: Miàochǎn xīngxué 廟產興學

Also called "Destroy Temples, Establish Schools 毀廟辦學", this was a late Qing movement that began in 1898. The aim of this movement was the confiscation of temple property for the purposes of building modern schools. This movement is associated with three documents:

• 1) "Quànxué piān 勸學篇 (Essay on the Exhortation to Build Schools)" written by Zhāng Zhīdòng 張之洞 in the 3rd lunar month of 1898
• 2) "Yù miào 鬻廟 (Sell the Temples)", written by Zhāng Tàiyán 章太炎 in the spring of 1898
• 3) "Qǐng chì gǎi gèshěng shūyuàn yíncí wéi xuétáng zhé 請飭各省改書院淫祠為學堂摺 (Memorial Requesting that the Private Academies and Heteredox Temples in all the Provinces be Ordered to be Converted into Schools)", written by Kāg Yǒuwéi 康有為 on July 10, 1898

Although such confiscations were only carried out on a piecemeal basis in China, often at the discretion of local officials, this movement allowed for the channeling of the traditional anti-clericalism of China's elite into a modern ideological discourse of education reform.

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Notes:

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References:

• Goossaert, Vincent. "1898: The Beginning of the End for Chinese Religion?" Journal of Asian Studies, no 65, vol. 2 (May 2006): 307-336.
• Huáng Yùnxǐ 黃運喜. Zhōngguó Fójiào jìndài fǎnán yánjiù 中國佛教近代法難研究 (Research on the Early Modern Persecution of Chinese Buddhism). Taipei: Fajie, 2006. Pp. 75-132.