Abstract: What role education played in pre_modern societies is an issue in dispute1The central theme of this case study is that the Bagu training, aiming at the civil examination and concentrating dexclusively on the Confucian classics, did not tell the whole story of education in Jiangnan (the Yangzi Delta) during the Ming and Qing times1The author analyses the forms and contents of both elite and popular education in Ming-Qing Jiangnan, The article focuses on the acquirement of ability of reading, writing and calculating, which was key to the commercial and industrial activities, for the young people in all social strata1Finally, the author concludes that education not only played an important role in economic growth, but also in the shaping of the Jiangnan Pattern of economic growth。