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102 P. F. Neo

1899–1977), Liu Shu-hsien (刘述先 1934–2016), Qiu Hansheng (邱汉生 1912–1992),
Chen Ta-chi (陈大齐 1886–1983), Huang Chun-chieh (黄俊杰), Wang Pang-hsiung
(王邦雄), Tseng Chao-Hsu (曾昭旭), Yang Cho-Hon (杨祖汉), Mei Yi-pao (梅贻宝
1900–1997), Wm. Theodore de Bary (1919–2017) and other contemporary scholars.
These reading materials were undoubtedly useful in helping the teachers to
develop their understanding of Confucianism.
Of course, the purpose of the teacher’s manuals is to ensure that quality
teaching can be implemented on a large-scale basis in the classrooms. Teachers’
training was thus a key component in achieving such results. For this reason, the
Curriculum Development Institute conducted teachers’ training in parallel with
the development of the textbooks. As early as 1983, more than 40 teachers
participated in a four-month, 96-hour teachers’ training course for the imple-
mentation of the Confucian ethics curriculum (Chen & Tan, 1983). The first batch of
Confucian ethics teachers completed their training in March 1984 (Anonymous,
1984). By the beginning of 1985, 255 teachers had completed the course (Anony-
mous, 1985a). By the end of that year, five batches of approximately 300 partici-
pants had completed the course (Anonymous, 1985c). In August 1985, the teachers
who had participated in the training went on to form an organization called the
Association for Confucian Studies (儒学研究会)to “respond to the government’s
efforts to promote Confucianism, improve the effectiveness of the teaching of
Confucian ethics in secondary schools, and bring into play the moral values of the
fine Eastern traditions.” The society invited Yu Ying-shih and Tu Wei-ming to be its
advisors (Anonymous, 1985b). It later published a journal called Confucian Culture
(《儒家文化》), and became a civic group that actively promoted Confucianism. 4
These developments can be traced back to the sense of Confucian orthodoxy
and mission that the teachers developed in the course of their training and
teaching.
These materials allow us to see that the Confucian Ethics curriculum is in fact
rather complete in structure. First of all, as can be seen from the student books, in
addition to the rich content of the textbooks, there is also a full complement of
reading materials and a standardized workbook. In addition, the curriculum
development unit also prepared detailed teaching manuals and organized suffi-
cient teachers’ training for effective teaching, thus ensuring that the overall ob-
jectives of the curriculum are accomplished. Confucian Ethics was developed by
the Singapore Curriculum Development Institute with rigorous planning and
careful work. So, what are the features of the curriculum?

4 From its inception in 2001 to 2008, Confucian Culture published a total of five issues, edited by
Ler Chin Tuan (吕振端).