Confucian school courts controversy in China

SHANGHAI, Sep 3 (Reuters) An hour's drive from downtown Shanghai lies a field of newly completed villas, homes for China's new business elite in the country's commercial capital.

But the area is also home to something far more controversial -- a school that teaches methods pioneered centuries ago by Chinese sages like Confucius and long since abandoned in modern China as unsuited to modern life.

The students spend most of their time reciting Confucian classics such as the Book of Changes and the Analects, which stress filial piety and obedience, much as their ancestors did for thousands of years under China's imperial system.

''Parents send their children here mostly because they are keen on Chinese culture,'' said Lu Liwei, founder of the Meng Mu Tang school, named after Mencius, a follower of Confucius.

''Modern teaching using traditional Chinese methods failed because the schools abandoned the ancient approach to education, which asked students to read, read and read,'' Lu told Reuters.

''Teachers taught the literal meanings of the characters, and did not require the students to think for themselves. So how could they understand without thinking?'' Meng Mu Tang teaches English using the same Confucian education concept that reading leads to understanding.

Students are required to learn and recite Shakespeare's masterpieces, such as ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', by heart.

''Kids are kids, and they are best at imitation, so no education system should neglect these skills,'' said Lu, the youngest of whose students is just 4.

HEATED DEBATE The school has caused heated debate in China, where parents often scrimp and save to ensure their children get the best education possible, hoping it will lead to hard-to-secure places at prestigious universities and top-notch jobs on graduation.

Many people in Shanghai have expressed support for the school. But the government has a different view.

State media says officials have never given the go-ahead to the school, and accuse it of violating the education law.

''Meng Mu Tang is not qualified to recruit students. We will shut it down for good once the new school year starts,'' said an official, who declined to be named, at the Shanghai board of education.

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