As for the holidays of princes, you may not believe it. Nowadays, students have winter vacation, summer vacation, long vacation, short vacation, and weekends, which can take almost half a year off. Even students in grade three can take a few days off from time to time to be mediators in difficult years. But these little princes, from the age of six, have only one festival every year, that is, New Year's Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, my birthday and my father's birthday. You can leave half a day early in your thirties, and there will be no other holidays. At that time, there was no saying of seven days a week, and there was no concept of weekends. So it is really difficult for these little princes to take 365 days off.
Some activities were also part of the study of Qing emperors. For example, we often see the figure of the emperor in the "Mulan Autumn Armor" activities that the Qing emperors often participated in. In addition, there are some routine sacrificial activities of the imperial court, which are sometimes done by the emperor for them. Of course, in order to cultivate the political ability of these princes, some national events sometimes need their participation, and even cultural events, such as the compilation of Sikuquanshu, don't forget to let princes act as editors. These activities fully exercised their abilities.
The place where the princes studied was in the corridor on the east side of Gan Qing Gate, which was called "Shangshufang" (renamed Shangshufang during the reign of Daoguang). They have been admitted since they were six years old. As for the graduation age, there is basically no fixed requirement. Some princes even have to study until they are about 30 years old (now they have to be super postdoctoral).
The strict timetable of the princes' classes every day may make people today unbelievable: they "arrive at school" after four o'clock in the morning and "finish school" at four o'clock in the afternoon. When the prince arrives at school in the morning, he will start "morning reading", that is, reading the classics he learned a few days ago, or previewing what he will explain that day. Although you are the prince, they absolutely dare not neglect this matter, because the master who goes to the study room will often check everyone's homework, but the teacher's inspection is nothing compared with the spot check of the emperor, because once something goes wrong with the spot check of the emperor, either the students are punished or the teacher is unlucky. When there were problems with teachers' teaching, the emperor directly changed from parents to principals and directors of education committees, punished teachers by deducting wages, and even directly dismissed or punished teachers. Think of it this way. Teachers have to work hard to do well.
The teachers of princes are all graded, and the highest level is the "chef" just mentioned, which is somewhat similar to the academic director of the school. There are several teachers below, who are teachers of major disciplines. The contents taught by these masters are basically Confucian classics in China culture. Manchu, on the other hand, was taught by a second-class "intellectual" Besides Manchu, there is also Mongolian. Mongolian and Chinese are both "foreign languages" of princes. However, due to the deep influence of China culture, they paid more attention to Chinese learning than Manchu. In contrast, teaching Manchu proficiency has obvious academic advantages over teaching Mongolian proficiency, and the treatment of proficiency is different-Mongolian proficiency must be spoken standing, while Manchu proficiency can be spoken sitting. After all, Manchu is also the mother tongue of princes.
The regular class of the princes began in physical education class on this day. The lecture was given by a "skillful hand" who was responsible for teaching bow and archery, and was called "Li Bo skillful hand". Bow and arrow is the most traditional sport of Manchu. During the reign of Shunzhi, an "Arrow Pavilion" was built in the Forbidden City to remind the descendants of the Manchu Dynasty of the roots of martial arts, which shows that the Qing royal family attached great importance to it.
Physical education class is followed by Mongolian class. Because of the close relationship between the Qing Dynasty and Mongolian tribes, even Manchu was created directly with reference to Mongolian. Many empresses in the Qing Dynasty were also Mongolians, so Mongolian had a language environment in the palace. The royal family met with the Mongolian prince every year, and the prince also had the opportunity to participate, so he could practice Mongolian frequently. And this is what we lack in English teaching now: children have basically no language environment in their lives except for forty minutes of class. So without practice, it is inevitable for students to work hard.
After the Mongolian class, learn Manchu, the mother tongue. Manchu language teaching in Qing Dynasty paid attention to language itself and translation. Manchu is mostly used by emperors when communicating with their families or clansmen. Therefore, if the Qing drama we are watching now is really restored, it is estimated that more than 95% of the audience can't understand it, and even the empresses can't understand whether it is a compliment or a curse. It is not too long for the prince to learn Manchu every day, about an hour, and the rest of the time is basically a super professional subject-Chinese.
Chinese teaching in the Qing Dynasty was different from today, and the courses in the study room were particularly detailed: after learning the above-mentioned study, the princes would have breakfast and have a rest. After that, the Chinese class in the morning is basically to review what I have learned before and talk about the content of the day. After lunch, you will learn Chinese characters, read ancient Chinese, read poems and so on. Basically, all princes can't leave school until around 4 pm every day. Interestingly, some teachers also leave individual students alone for counseling.