Regarding the problem of illiteracy rate in ancient times, there was actually no official statistics on this matter in ancient times. I only know that in 1949, the illiteracy rate before literacy in new China was 80%, so the illiteracy rate in most dynasties was definitely higher than that in new China. It is estimated that the literacy rate of ancient women in China will not exceed 1%, so in general, the illiteracy rate in ancient China is estimated to be between 80% and 95%.

Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties should be regarded as the dynasties with the lowest illiteracy rate in ancient times.

For example, in the Tang Dynasty, they attached great importance to education. This event can be attributed to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who systematically restored the tradition of worshipping literature and martial arts in China. For example, at that time, the imperial court had no detailed regulations on the enrollment system of students and the system of selecting talents, and there were not many schools before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Later, due to the orthodoxy of Confucianism, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built many schools and improved the enrollment system of students and the system of selecting talents in the imperial court. Only in this way can future generations take advantage of the cold of the Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, Tang Gaozu ordered all counties and villages to set up schools, which was the original form of compulsory education. At that time, almost every place with 100 households had a government-run school, and the achievements of local schools were counted in the achievements of local officials to ensure that these local schools were taken seriously.

In the Ming dynasty, they suddenly realized that literacy should not only be for fame, nor should it be for farmers' children and ordinary people to read, so they launched a picture book that can help people understand commonly used words, and the representative one is the book "Opposite Four Characters".

All the words listed in this book are commonly used, and there are pictures next to the words to help people understand the word. It can be said that this book was very popular at that time.

Due to the guidance of the emperor, the illiteracy rate in these dynasties should be very low at that time, and some dynasties may have dropped below 80%. In fact, it is not rigorous to compare the illiteracy rate in New China, because the historical background of New China was very complicated at that time, but whether there were any records in this field in ancient times can only be guessed.