A study is a place for reading, learning, and cultivating oneself through meditation for the upper classes.

It is to a man what a maiden’s chamber is to a woman. In the male dominated Chinese feudal society that lasted thousands of years, only men were entitled to learn because it was widely held that men were superior to women. Before schools, a study was where men received an education and it was regarded as the shrine of education.

The ten horizontal inscribed boards that hang in the middle of the study speak of the model talents of traditional Chinese education.

Necessities for the study include ‘the four treasures of the study’ (paper, ink, Chinese brush and ink stab) on the desk; ‘the Four Books and Five Classics’ on the bookshelf; rare gems in the treasure shelf, and calligraphy and paintings of the masters in the painting holders. All these were considered helpful for learning and self-cultivation.

The old-fashioned armchair in the middle of the study was prepared for the teacher or father. A pupil could only use a side seat. A traditional Chinese saying goes,  ‘A teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime.’ Teacher’s instructions were to be obeyed as much as the parent’s; a pupil had to always listen with full respect.

‘Long obscurity in one’s study makes a well-known scholar overnight’ refers to the achievement through years of hard work in a study. Once a pupil attained official position or grew up and became a father himself, the study became a place for self-cultivation through quiet meditation; as the saying goes, ‘never too old to learn’.

‘Excelling in studies brings fortune, fame and power.’ Such beliefs made a study a place of toil for men.

 Items for this exhibit are from Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan and Beijing and Tianjing and reflect a time span from the Ming Dynasty (1368) to modern times, about 500 years.