Welcome to Francis Academic Press

Frontiers in Educational Research, 2024, 7(11); doi: 10.25236/FER.2024.071122.

The Reversal of the View of Children in Ancient China—Based on the Dimension of Children's Image in Ancient Pictures of Infant Games

Author(s)

You Hongmiao

Corresponding Author:
You Hongmiao
Affiliation(s)

Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Abstract

The core of the reform of early childhood education lies in the change of concepts, and the view of children held has embedded the view of education and curriculum on how to cultivate such children. Using the method of image evidence for history and historical documents to support the evidence, this study re-examine the ancient Chinese view of children with a perspective different from that in the educational history textbooks by analysing the image of children in the ancient Chinese infant play pictures, with a view to enriching and deepening the understanding of the ancient Chinese view of children. The images of children who are different from adults and rebel against the school, as well as the images of brave and confident girls in the pictures of ancient Chinese children's games reveal that in the background of children's education, which emphasises intervention and preaching and has a serious tendency towards adultisation in the traditional Chinese society, children still have a certain amount of free space to live in, and there exist the demand and call for respecting the development of children's individuality. This inspires contemporary education to take a comprehensive view of the ancient view of the child, and to explore and carry forward the essence of it.

Keywords

Views of children; ancient views of children; children's image; infant play pictures

Cite This Paper

You Hongmiao. The Reversal of the View of Children in Ancient China—Based on the Dimension of Children's Image in Ancient Pictures of Infant Games. Frontiers in Educational Research (2024) Vol. 7, Issue 11: 134-141. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2024.071122.

References

[1] Yang, X.W., & Lu, L. (2023). The Evolution of the View of Children and the Future of Children's Philosophical Education. Journal of Central China Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences), 62 (02), 154-164. doi:10.19992/j.cnki.1000-2456.2023.02.014.

[2] Liu, X.D. (2006). Children's culture and children's education (pp. 1). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House.

[3] Hong, C., & Cheng, T.J. (2024). Discourse Construction of Modern Concept of Child: A Research Based on Pluralistic Discourse Analysis Perspectives. Studies in Early Childhood Education, 2024(05): 1-13. DOI:10.13861/j.cnki.sece.2024.05.004.

[4] Lu, X. (1973). How we can be fathers now (pp.116). Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House.

[5] Cai, F.M. (1997). History of Games (pp. 4). Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House.

[6] Peter, B. (2018). Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images As Historical Evidence (Yang, Y., Trans.) (pp. 9). Beijing: Peking University Press.

[7] Liu, X.D. (1994). The view of children in traditional Chinese culture and its modernisation. Studies in Preschool Education, 1994 (04): 8-11. doi:CNKI:SUN:XQJY.0.1994-04-002.

[8] Du, C. X. (2009). Traditional Chinese Views of Children through Children's Songs, Games and Paintings. (eds.) Proceedings of the 20th Anniversary of the Research on the History of Education (2) - Studies on the History of Chinese Educational Ideas and Characters (pp. 1427-1432).

[9] Cheng, Y. (2021). The era of girls: the changes in the concept of fertility between the Song and Yuan Dynasties from the picture of infant play. Image Historiography, (02), 121-154. doi:CNKI:SUN:XSXY.0.2021-02-007.

[10] Feng, D.P. (2007). Translation of Laozi (pp. 20-23, 46-47, 66-68). Shanghai: Shanghai Classics Publishing House.

[11] Wang, K.N., & Yu, H.B. (2015). The First Historical Voice of Who the Child Was in Eastern Culture: An Analysis on Viewpoints on Children from Tao Teh King. Studies in Early Childhood Education, (07): 3-8.

[12] Xu, S. (2019). The Evolution of Children's View in Ancient China——Based on the Artistic Image of Children in Ancient Art. The Modern Education Journal, (03):77-85.

[13] Xiong, B.Z. (2008). Childhood Memories: The History of Chinese Children. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press.

[14] Lewis, M., Borkenhagen, M. C., Converse, E., Lupyan, G., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2022). What might books be teaching young children about gender?. Psychological Science, 33(1): 33-47.

[15] Qi, G.H., Yang, Z.J., & Wang, Y.M. (2018). A Comparative Analysis on Gender Stereotyping in Children's Picture Books in China and the United State. Early Childhood Education, (12): 49-53.

[16] Lei, L. (2017). Developmental Psychology (3rd ed.). (pp. 353). Beijing: China Renmin University Press.