Middle-class Chinese parents are increasingly sending their children to private schools that specialize in traditional Confucian teachings. Although there has been criticism for separating children from the nine-year compulsory state education, some parents prefer sinology schools for their moral focus.

Middle-class Chinese parents are increasingly sending their children to private schools that specialize in traditional Confucian teachings.

With the sound of a tolling bell, teachers and students wearing traditional Chinese garments begin an annual ritual for the birthday of their spiritual tutor, Confucius.

Crossing their palms in a respectful gesture, attendants at the ceremony place fruit baskets in front of the memorial tablet of Confucius, the 5th century BC philosopher, whose social disciplines have a deep influence upon Chinese culture.

It seems unusual to see people performing Confucian salutations like ancient scholars once did. But this philosopher’s way of teaching is making a comeback in modern China.

Si Hai Confucius Academy is a full-time school where students receive systematic training in sinology: Chinese history, language and literature, and Confucian teachings. Instead of learning colloquial Chinese, the students read, recite and digest traditional Chinese books that emphasize benevolence, sincerity and other personal and social moralities.

Zhang Aichen, a 10-year-old student, described her experience in common elementary schools as “stressful.”

“Our teachers share Confucius’s story with us in class. It is really fun,” she said.

In this full-time Confucius academy, students also learn archery, traditional musical instruments and other Confucian skills.

Zhang Shijia, 12, has been studying at the school since she was nearly six. For her, archery means much more than keeping concentration.

“We need to bow a lot of times before we shoot. I think this class can make us realize that we need respect. And I learned to respect the bow and the arrow,” Zhang said.

As well as traditional classes, the Confucius academy also provides math and English lessons. But students have said that their teaching progression in math is slower than that in public primary schools. One 10-year-old student says she was studying first-grade math, which is three years behind the studies of her peers.

But the school claims that sinology education does not mean an unbalanced education. Feng Zhe, the principal of the full-time Confucius academy says that sinology education needs to be understood as a whole.

“Sinology education not only brings rich and deep spiritual worlds, it will also improve Chinese people’s abilities to solve problems in their real life,” said Feng Zhe, principal, Sihai Confucius Academy.

“Because sinology contains courtesy, music, archery, calligraphy, mathematics, and also classical Chinese philosophy, it is a complete knowledge system.”

Parent Diao Shanqing is a firm supporter of this traditional way of education. He believes that children should learn to become good people first, while the skills and knowledge provided in common elementary schools can come later.

“The compulsory education system, no matter what its content or atmosphere, is much different from what we want,” he said.

Diao proudly claims that his six-year-old boy, Diao Zi’ang, is better-behaved than children in common elementary schools.

In recent years, the government has made efforts to promote traditional culture. Last month, the Ministry of Education of China issued an updated outline for 2017 college entrance examinations, increasing the proportion of Chinese traditional culture in the Chinese exam.