An Explanation on the Reasons and Effects of the Independent Establishment of the Taixue in the Fourth Year of Qingli

The independent establishment of the Taixue in the fourth year of the Qingli, marked the shift of the educational focus of the Northern Song court from the nobility to the common people, which opened a new era in the development of Song education. In order to make up for the defects of the talent training and selection system in the early Song Dynasty and to meet the trend of education downward, the court of Emperor Renzong, on the basis of the structure of the central governmental school system in various dynasties from the Western Han Dynasty to the Fifth Dynasty, combined with the suggestions proposed by the important ministers in the court for promoting education, continued the system of Taixue Hall set up at the beginning of this dynasty and established Taixue exclusively for the people below the eighth grade as well as the children of common people, in order to realize the purpose of cultivating talents for the country. The establishment of the Taixue as an independent school in the fourth year of the Qingli, was influenced by the environment of the educational reform at that time. It was a representative achievement through reforming the anachronistic talent cultivation and the selection system by the court of Emperor Renzong, which had an important impact on the development of education at that time and later.