126 SOCIAL REFORMcaliber. By the ninth year, "they would know how to distinguish between the cat-
egories of things, thoroughly comprehend the principles of things, and be able
to stand firmly erect without any signs of backsliding." This was called "the great
achievement." 14
The third major category of the ancient curriculum was the six arts (ye) defined
in the Rites of Chou and elsewhere as rites, music, archery, charioteering, cal-
ligraphy, and calculations (or mathematics). ISIt is in this category that we would
expect to find some departure from moral training and more emphasis on the
practical skills necessary to the operation of government and the state. Rites,
music, and archery were all extremely important dimensions of moral educa-
tion and charioteering only slightly less so. Only calligraphy and mathematics
were relatively free from ethical considerations, but as Peter Bol has pointed
out until the emergence of the learning of the Way in the Sung dynasty, mas-
tery of the complete corpus of culture (mun, wen in Chinese) was the mark of
the educated man.I6
Yu's stress on rites and music for moral training derived directly from the texts
of the Chou period. As the Wang-chih section of the Book of Rites put it, "The
Ssu-t'u polished the six rites in order to regulate the [human nature] of the peo-
ple."I7 Ritual was important for inducing proper states of mind and attitude as
well as sanctifying certain sacramental procedures, such as marriage, capping
(male adult initiation), funerals, and ancestral sacrifice. Ritual performance was
also stressed on certain nonsacramental occasions, such as formal meetings of
guests, the local wine-drinking rite (hyangjuumye), and the archery ceremonies.
The Book of Rites, which stressed the coercive method of inducing conformity
to ethical norms, also extolled the instrumental use of rites: "Rites are the means
by which one regulates [the people] and stops them from being extravagant and
lying, and prevents superiors from oppressing inferiors and inferiors from usurp-
ing the prerogatives of their superiors, so that in their behavior people achieve
the middle way."I8
Music was another of the six arts that had an important moral dimension. Chu
Hsi remarked that it was useful in teaching people to be harmonious and impar-
tial. Just as the rules of harmony regulated sounds to ensure against dissonance,
so would music help to calm the human tendency to aggression. "The sages cre-
ated music in order to nurture the nature and the feelings, to cultivate the tal-
ents in men, and to be used in the rituals to the spirits, to harmonize those above
and those below .... " According to the Rites of Chou, the grand master of music
(Ssu-Io) was in charge of the operation of the National Academy (Ch'eng-chtin,
or Korean, Songgyun), and Tung Chung-shu of the Han explained that the grand
master used music to teach the sons of the nobility to "achieve the middle way
and be harmonious."I9
The mastery of ethical principles, the embodiment of those principles in one's
external conduct, and skill in the performance of rites, music, archery, and the
gentlemanly arts were also the main criteria for admission to the schools, pro-
motion within the school system, and appointment to office - a clear demon-