Study On Yan's Family Instructions

Yan's Family Instructions, signed by Yan Zhitui, who was entitled the vice minister of huangmen of the Northern Qi Dynasty, appeared at the beginning of the Sui Dynasty. It is a composing of milestone in the history of the development of our country's family instructions. It is the earliest one which is named"family instructions". And it has had a great influence on later family instructions in the aspects of educational contents, forms of literary style, expressions of language, and the social class attributes it represents. The author, Yan Zhitui (531- approximately 590),"was the most learned scholar who had the most thoughts at that time"(Fan Wenlan, Chinese General History). Yan's Family Instructions contains all the conclusions of his life experience, the natural conditions and social customs of every place and his learning fruits. Therefore, it is not only a composing of family instructions, but also an academic work affluent in cultural contains, so it has a very high value of study in the specialized domain of classical literature.This thesis mainly studies its thoughts on education and the social life that it reflects. Attention is paid to the integrated study of it. There are two kinds of angles of view as to study. One is to make a quite comprehensive contemplation. The other one is to choose a point of view as a start to lucubrate the object. This thesis use the former to study its thoughts on education, while as to the social life, the latter is used."Judging the person and the times"which is one of good tradition study routes of literature is also used.The body of this thesis generally divided into six chapters.The first chapter deals with the cultural development of the general situation in our country and summarizes the characteristics in the three phases of the family instructions'cultural development in China. Also it illustrates its position of milestone which is a connecting link between the preceding and the following.The second chapter expatiates the characteristics of the family instruction's cultural development during the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties. During this period, the number of family instructions was getting bigger and bigger quickly. Family teaching was brought into family instructions and educational thoughts took on obvious characteristics of the times.The third chapter contains the whole life and thoughts of Yan Zhitui and also the background on which Yan's Family Instructions was written. Yan Zhitui had been an official of four dynasties and his experiences are full of frustrations. When he was young, he usually acted as he pleased. He believed in Confucianism but not Taoism. At his middle-aged time, he experienced too many hardships, so his thoughts became complex. His thoughts were still mainly based on Confucianism but were also mixed with Buddhism and Taoism. He often fell into a contradictory mental state of"the heart is for something but the mouth is against it, the nature and the sentiments compete, at night one becomes aware of the wrongs that he did in the morning and today one regrets the mistakes he made yesterday". His life manner was cautious and smooth. When he was old, his innermost struggle became calm and he took things as they came. He reposed his hope to his descendants. In the Wei Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the idea of family education was very active, and the writings of family instructions are prosperous. Against this background of the times, in order to maintain the benefit of his house, Yan Zhitui, the scholar-bureaucrat, aimed to"neaten his family, promote and educate his offspring", and"survive in the society and gain good fame", so he wrote family instructions to instruct his descendants.The forth chapter is about Yan's Family Instructions'educational thoughts and methods. It is divided into five parts, namely, family ethical education, educating methods of sons and household management, education about comity and cultivating one's morality, content of studies and methods of pursuing one's studies, education about fame and being an official and how to live a healthy and long life. The ethic of Confucianism is the general principles of behaviors that run through Yan's Family Instructions. It is the standard according to which Yan Zhitui educated sons and managed his household, and he also brought forward certain practical methods. He thought much of the cultivation of moral character and intelligence. And he also lectured detailed in the aspect of comity and scholarly research. In order that the descendants could handle the complicated relationships freely in the society, Yan Zhitui imparted his experience of his own official life to them. He admonished them from the aspects of gaining good fame, acting as officials and preserving one's health.The fifth chapter concerns Yan's Family Instructions and the social life. Yan Zhitui was experienced and knowledgeable. He had records of the monarchs of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the scholar-official families of the Liang Dynasty and women's life in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Besides, it displayed a unique perspective. It both opened up the special mentality of Yan Zhitui who represented the scholar-officials in that turbulent society and reflected the social historical life objectively.The sixth chapter is about the status of Yan's Family Instructions and the influence it has had on the historical development of our country's family instructions. It reveals that the book had succeeded and developed the former ones, and it has had a deep and wide influence on the later ones.