Chapter 44 – Printing Books

Author’s Notes:

Note 1: Regarding charity schools, they were free schools that became widespread during the Song Dynasty and later Ming and Qing dynasties, mostly established by local government offices. Looking at the experiences of famous ministers during the Ming and Qing dynasties in their local government positions, many had achievements in establishing charity schools. Just in Guilin, Guangxi, over forty charity schools were founded during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This was also a crucial criterion for evaluating officials in the Ming and Qing dynasties. These charity schools primarily served the purpose of educating young children and civilizing the common folk. Only a few academies could cultivate talents for the imperial examinations. The eligibility for the imperial examinations and attending a charity school were separate issues. Attending a charity school did not necessarily guarantee participation in the imperial examinations. The charity school organized by Xie Fei is small-scale, aimed at sharing the burden of disaster relief with the government while earning some reputation and influence. There’s no need to delve too deeply into it. This isn’t Xu Chun’s career, so it won’t be extensively described.

Note 2: Establishing a charity school isn’t something that can be accomplished overnight. The matter must have been reported to the emperor much earlier and has no direct connection to the previous night’s meeting with the crown prince. The emperor is extremely busy. When reporting matters to the emperor, it would likely just involve mentioning that last year’s flood led to a heavy burden on the Foundling Home, and he plans to establish a charity school to share the load. The emperor would hear it and think it was great, as long as it didn’t focus solely on teaching Confucian classics but included practical knowledge. The emperor wouldn’t listen to detailed reports on trivial matters such as the name of the charity school, the location, the teachers to hire, the amount of funds required, and how the donations would be collected. Even if he cared, he would only require formal reports submitted through official channels for review by the Imperial College and the Ministry of Rites. As a member of the imperial family, Xie Fei has many opportunities to see the emperor. To establish a charity school, reporting this sentence was merely to ensure transparency and avoid the emperor’s suspicions of seeking fame. Of course, our emperor is broad-minded and doesn’t mind these things as long as the benefits reach the common people.