The Miàochǎn xīngxué 廟產興學 (Build Education with Temple Property) movement, also known by the slogan "Destroy Temples, Establish Schools 毀廟辦學", began in 1898 with the aim of confiscating temple property for the purpose of building modern schools. Coming a few years after the abolition of the civil service exam system, and during a time of political reform, this slogan continued to be invoked throughout the Republican period in spite of later legal protections for religious property.
History
The genesis of 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 gèshěng gǎi 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 Heterodox Temples in all the Provinces be Ordered to be Converted into Schools), written by Kāng Yǒuwéi 康有為 on July 10, 1898.
Although such confiscations were only carried out on a piecemeal basis in China, and often only 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.
Section Editor: Erik Hammerstrom
Notes
References
- Duara, Prasenjit. Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1995. Pp. 95-98.
- 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.