Ryukyuan students in China

• Japanese: 官生 (kanshou), 勤学 (kingaku)

Over the course of the history of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, a small number of Ryukyuan students from aristocratic and royal families were sent to study at the National Academy (Guozijuan) in Beijing.

When the system began, it was only the children of kings and anji (high-ranking local/regional nobles), i.e. the community of Shuri, the royal capital, who were able to study in Beijing; however, from the reign of Shô Shin (r. 1477-1526) onwards, children of scholar-aristocrat families from Kumemura began to be sent as well. For a time, it became standard for three students from Shuri, and three from Kumemura, to be sent at a time.

Over the course of a 476 year period, from 1392 until 1868, roughly 100 Ryukyuan students studied at the Guozijuan. A much larger number of Ryukyuan students engaged in study at the two Ryûkyû-kan, in Fuzhou and in Kagoshima.

References

• "Kanshô," Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia 沖縄コンパクト事典, Ryukyu Shimpo, 1 March 2003.