Lost or recovery? : relationship between the hidden curriculum and the preservation of Chinese traditional culture in Xiamen, China

Abstract

Chinese traditional culture, especially for Confucianism, had long since been eclipsed educationally and politically---largely replaced by Western-style learning in the first decades of the century and then, post-1949, by a Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist ideology and curriculum in the schools. More and more emphasizing Chinese traditional culture in the official curriculum, we seem to overlook hidden curricula’s role in transmitting Chinese traditional culture. The purpose of this research is to investigate students’ perceptions and attitudes towards Chinese traditional culture and the relationships on hidden curricula and Chinese traditional culture’s transmitting, especially for Confucianism, in upper secondary schools in Xiamen. Multiple sources of evidence –questionnaire survey, interview, and direct observation with methodological triangulation are adopted in the thesis. And, a half-month fieldwork in Xiamen, China has been conducted. Through the surveys done for this thesis, it is evident that students in Xiamen possess the high feeling of identity and enthusiasm with Chinese traditional culture but quite a low cognitive level with Chinese traditional culture. The research serves as an initial effort to provide empirical support for the conceptualization of hidden curricula as an important ground to preserve Chinese traditional culture. The findings provide confirmation that the preservation of Chinese traditional culture in the school attributes associated with the hidden curricula constructs (physical environment, social environment, and cognitive environment). The researches on relationships between hidden curricula and the preservation of Chinese traditional culture in upper secondary schools under the new historical conditions are a whole new perspective in China, and would promote governments, schools, and families working together on the utilization of hidden curricula, to take the essence and discard the dross of Chinese traditional culture, and reconcile the contradiction between modern school and Chinese traditional culture.