Official Curriculum in Mathematics in Ancient China: How Did Candidates Study for the Examination?

This chapter starts with a brief general account of mathematics education in ancient China, then discusses in detail the official curriculum and the state examination system in mathematics in the Tang Dynasty. In the second part of the chapter some examples of examination questions are re-constructed with "circumstantial evidence" to offer an alternative viewpoint from a traditional one, to argue that study in mathematics in ancient China did not proceed in an examination-oriented, rote-based learning environment. This "animated" historical account may help to shed some light on the comparative study of mathematics education in the East and West.