Taixue
| Taixue | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 太學 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 太学 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Supreme School | ||||||||
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The Taixue, variously translated as the Imperial Academy, Imperial School, Imperial University, or Central University, was the highest rank of educational establishment in Ancient China created during the Han dynasty. The Sui dynasty instituted major reforms, giving the imperial academy a greater administrative role and renaming it the Guozijian. As the Guozijian, the institution was maintained by successive dynasties until it was finally abolished in 1905 near the end of the Qing dynasty.
Taixue taught Confucianism and Chinese literature among other things for high level civil service posts, although a civil service system based upon competitive examination rather than recommendation was not introduced until the Sui and did not become a mature system until the Song dynasty (960–1279).