The basic characteristics of running a school since the Han Dynasty are divided into official school and private school in form, and official school is the main body of education. Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty not only established imperial academy, the highest institution of learning in ancient China, but also established schools in all counties and states, and initially established a local education system. As for private schools, at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius founded private schools, which broke the situation that the government monopolized culture and education. As a supplement to official schools, private schools increased in the Tang Dynasty, and private academies rose in the Northern Song Dynasty, which flourished in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. However, after Donglin Academy was banned, private academies declined, and the Qing Dynasty turned them into official schools. Since imperial academy was founded by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Five Classics has become the main content of school students' study. The reason is that Confucianism supports and praises feudal autocracy.

The basic feature is to pay attention to the feudal ethics education for students. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, students were absolutely forbidden to hold their own opinions in school education, and acts violating feudal ethics were severely punished, which reflected a strong color of autocratic monarchy. Imperial examination was also one of the reasons to promote the development of ancient education in China, and the later stereotyped examination was not conducive to the development of education and the progress of China society.