Author Description

A translation and discussion of the central Confucian text on education, Xueji (On Teaching and Learning), influential in China from the Han dynasty to the present day. Written over two and a half millennia ago, the Xueji (On Teaching and Learning) is one of the oldest and most comprehensive works on educational philosophy and teaching methods, as well as a consideration of the appropriate roles of teachers and students. The Xueji was included in the Liji (On Ritual), one of the Five Classics that became the heart of the educational system during China’s imperial era, and it contains the ritual protocols adopted by the Imperial Academy during the Han dynasty. Chinese Philosophy on Teaching and Learning provides a new translation of the Xueji along with essays exploring this work from both Western and Chinese perspectives. Contributors examine the roots of educational thought in classical Chinese philosophy, outline similarities and differences with ideas rooted in classical Greek thought, and explore what the Xueji can offer educators today. Xu Di is Professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and the author of A Comparison of the Educational Ideas and Practices of John Dewey and Mao Zedong in China. Hunter McEwan is Professor of Education at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and the coeditor (with Kieran Egan) of Narrative in Teaching, Learning, and Research.