An aerial view of Changkou village in Sanming, Fujian province. [Photo/China Daily]

"How can the stream be so clear? - It is because of the fresh water from its source (问渠那得清如许，为有源头活水来)." The documentary about Sanming, Fujian, by the Turkish sinologist Giray Fidan entitled How can the Stream Be so Clear is indeed an inspirational depiction of China's ecological civilization philosophy. The title itself is a marvel from the Chinese Confucian scholar Zhu Xi, who originated from Sanming. The video emphasizes how a harmonious coexistence with nature is deeply rooted in Chinese way of life.

Building on the video, I would like to emphasize how the educational thoughts of Chinese ancient scholars, chiefly Zhu Xi's teaching, can inspire our way today. In the meanwhile, I would like to say that I wrote my final paper on Zhu Xi when I was studying Chinese educational thoughts at Southwest University in Chongqing. At the time, I did not know I would one day come to Sanming, Zhu Xi's hometown, to work.

The first point of interest is about leadership and management. Zhu Xi, who revived Confucianism into his own original version of Neo-Confucianism, stressed honesty, frankness, truthfulness, and incorruptness while running public affairs. Today, educators as leaders can adopt the same principles for effective schools, excellence, and best practices.

The second point bears on the reading mode as defined by Zhu Xi. In fact, Zhu Xi favored a rigorous reading mode that consists of digesting and bathing in the reading passages. For instance, one should not move on to the next reading material without fully understanding the previous one. Here, Zhu Xi is highlighting the value of deep learning as being the source of true enlightenment. Today, we educators in our daily practices with our learners should foster deep learning and prefer it to surface learning, which has little value.

Third, in terms of teaching methodology, Zhu Xi fostered an inquiry-based learning approach. In fact, the configuration and parameters of Zhu Xi's teaching methodology much relate to the ones of the inquiry-based learning methodology today. The basic principle of inquiry-based learning consists of getting learners to identify a problem/matter, seek information, and share their findings with others, under the facilitative teacher’s care and support. Zhu Xi even enriches the current version of inquiry-based learning. Zhu Xi's own version implies that learning consists in making learners true devotees to the purpose of learning. It is up to the educators to instil in learners the passion for learning. For instance, he insisted on what can be known today as intensive courses, hard work, consistency, persistence, and commitment of learners as being the guiding principles of successful learning under the watchful eyes of the teacher. Such values illuminate the educators' path even today.

To conclude, Zhu was a great man of honour, knowledge, and wisdom. He had great influence on his contemporaries and following generations up to the present. Not only could he have positive impact on China but also on the rest of the world. His educational theories are still relevant nowadays. Zhu, through his teachings and curriculum model, highly contributed to making the world a better place to live in.

The author is a teacher at School of Foreign Lanuages, Sanming University. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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