Teachers at Luming School in eastern Shenzhen start every class with the same instruction: 'Children, read after me.'
The pupils open their textbooks - always one of the nine authoritative works of Confucianism - and begin carefully reciting the ancient words. Line after line, the teacher leads the class in a drone of 2,500-year-old verse, assisted by two other teachers to ensure the children's sounds are consistent and non-stop.
The process continues for six hours a day to best ensure the pupils absorb each of the Four Books and Five Classics in its entirety. When one work is finished, the teacher moves on to the next or simply begins the same one again. One book may be read as many as 600 times.
Pupils do not fear their exams. There are none.
This is a sishu, an old-style private school occupying a converted six-storey farm residence in the shadow of Wutong Mountain. The boarding school is one of about a dozen full-time sishu that have opened in the surrounding area in recent years as a small but passionate group of parents and educators seek a return to traditional teaching methods and the values they are thought to instil.
For generations, rote memorisation of ancient texts was a central part of the education system in China. The practice fell out of favour after the old examination system for imperial officials was abolished in 1905. Once the Communist Party took power in 1949, the remaining sishu were reformed and absorbed into the public school system.
The resurgence of the old-style schools comes against the backdrop of renewed interest in traditional Chinese culture, especially as it existed before foreign influence and revolutions changed the shape of the country's institutions. The return has been driven in part by central government leaders who have advocated Confucian ideals to reverse a perceived moral decline blamed for numerous social ills.
