Cheng Duanli


Cheng Duanli was a Neo-Confucian scholar of the Yuan Dynasty in China, educator, poet, and philologist. He was also known under Zi names Jìngshū and Jìnglǐ 敬禮, and Hao name Wèizhāi.

Biography

He came from Qingyuan Prefecture.
Cheng Duanli was very talented in the childhood, at the age of 15 he was able to recite the "Six Classics" and had a good knowledge of the Cheng-Zhu school. He studied under Shǐ Méngqīng and spent a lifetime teaching scores of students.
He became the director of Jiandong Academy. He also served in official educational positions. He wrote a book Chronological Syllabus for Study in the Cheng Family School, which used Zhu Xi's educational ideas to understand the canon.
He supported a focused reading method and a graded approach to learning, which had to begin with Elementary learning and continue to studying of history and prose.
Cheng Duanli's writings strove to enshrine Confucian orthodoxy. His best-known work was The Graded Everyday Schedule of Study. Published in 1315, it corresponded with the re-opening of the system of Imperial Examination and was adopted officially across China posthumously earning its author an entry in Yuanshi, the official history of the dynasty. The legacy of his book lasted further through Ming and Qing, serving as the basis of school curricula.