(3)Lei-shus in the History of Education of China.

Compilation, of Lei-shu (類書) in China started before the Tang (唐) perioed, but many of the representative Lei-shus were compiled during the Tang and Sung (宋) periods. Lei-shus of those periods were designed to help upper-class intellectuals in their pursuits of academic studies, and were concerned primarily with studies on Confucianism. The interweaving of information related to daily life started after the Nan Sung (南宋) period, and a great number of Lei-shus published during the Yüan and Ming (元明) periods fall under this category. In the Yüan period especially, the main objective of the compilators was to organize and present in a concise form all the information related to daily living. In the Ming period, such Lei-shus were used commonly by the people in all the four social classes -intellectuals, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants, and more emphasis was placed on the compilation of a comprehensive handbook for people in all the walks life and of all age. They were compiled mostly by lower-class intellectuals who thronged to private teaching houses, and were used as textbooks not only in private schools but also in schools established by provincial and other local governments. There were two kinds of Lei-shus that were used as textbooks in schools -one concerned with historic events (Ku-shihs, 故事) and the otner with information on facts and skills of daily life (Tsa-tzūs, 雑字). The former was used in moral education while the latter played the role of a dictionary. Such Lei-shus have been very significant from the viewpoint of the history of child and public education, and some of them even included materials on teaching methods as seen in some Yüan Lei-shus. Many of these (Lei-shus) were written by such Sung scholars Chu Tzū (朱子) and Wang Jih-hsiu (王日休), or have been attributed to those scholars. The teaching methods described in those volumes are derived from the methods used by the scholars of Sung Hsüeh (宋学), especially Chu Tzū Hsüeh (朱子学). Moreover, the influence of those scholars who advocated the unity of Buddhism and Confucianism is also reflected in the writings. Lei-shus for daily use of the Ming period were based on Lei-shus of Yüan period, and were under the influences also of such Ming scholars as Wang Yang-ming (王陽明). Accordingly, the views on educational methods contained in those Leishus were closely related to the ideas of Sung (宋学) and Ming Hsüeh (明学).