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The main purpose of this paper is to study the development of community schools (She-hsueh) in the Ming Dynasty by the local chronicles and the official documents of the Ming Dynasty. The main findings of this study are as follows: 1.She-hsueh emerged from the Yuan Dynasty and lasted to the Ming Dynasty. They were the local quasi-government schools and became well-organized in the Ming Dynasty. 2.Basically, She-hsueh were quasi-government schools. However, as to their teachers, students and curriculum, they had the nature of private schools. Besides, one goal of them was to educate all people. She-hsueh had multiple characteristics: as to their students, which were elementary schools; as to student numbers, which became popular; as to their function, which were a kind of social education but not compulsory education. 3.During the Ming Dynasty, at least 11,967 community schools were established all over the county. 4.The development of She-hsueh were affected by the factors such as emperors'' order, the guidance and control of the superintendents, the commitment and involvement of local officials and the devotion of Wang Yang-ming and his disciples. 5.The significance of She-hsueh in history may be generalized as three aspects: first, She-hsueh were one of main means to realize the government’s policies for political socialization and also the function of social control. Second, the level of She-hsueh were lower than that of local government schools. Third, She-hsueh were one kind of Elementary schools in the Ming Dynasty. In short, the Ming She-hsueh enlarged the educational opportunity for commoners in county or town for the first time. The devotion and influence of them could not be ignored in the ancient history of Chinese education .
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