Education authorities in Shanghai have ordered the immediate closure of a private Confucian primary school less than a year after it opened because of the school's 'illegal status'.
Mengmu Hall in Songjiang district has confirmed it received a notice from the district Education Department last week, ordering it to close immediately.
The school, named after the mother of the Confucian sage Mengzi, taught a dozen children aged between four and 12 and had been at the centre of controversy since it opened 10 months ago.
Students learned to recite the classic Confucian works, as well as English literature, such as Shakespeare's plays and poems.
The works of Confucius make up only a small proportion of the materials studied in mainstream school classrooms.
A Shanghai municipal Education Department spokesman said Mengmu Hall was illegal because it was not registered with the authorities.
The school's 10,000-yuan annual tuition fees had not been vetted by pricing agencies, the Oriental Morning Post reported.