Zeng Guofan's Family Ethics Thought And Its Contemporary Significance

The family is the basic unit and constituent cell of society,and the happiness and stability of family relations are directly related to social harmony and development.The Chinese nation has always attached great importance to family ethics,and has accumulated distinctive family ethics ideas in the practice of long-term family life.At this stage,there are practical problems in the construction of family ethics and morals in China,such as poor old-age support for the family,emphasis on wisdom over virtue in the family education,and good and evil work.Looking back on the history of the Chinese nation,I hope to provide reference based on the contemporary value of Zeng Guofan's family ethics for the solution of current family ethics in China.This article abandons the backward of Zeng Guofan's ethical thoughts that cannot adapt to modern society while digging up the positive ethical thoughts that can be used to guide the modern family life.Zeng Guofan's ethical claim to family life contains the core values of the Chinese nation,excellent moral education content and educational methods.For example,at the level of the relationship between husband and wife,he surpassed the moral requirements of "husband and wife" of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and turned to " respect and trust" as the basic principle of husband and wife coexistence.This principle is indispensable for the maintenance of a modern marriage and family based on the equality of men and women,and reflects the equality of personality within the family;at the level of intergenerational relations,the idea of " practice filial piety and love and respect one's elder brother " from the personal emotions of the children replaces absolute obedience based on patriarchal orders."The love and respect to elder brother" transcends the family power distribution rules based on "respect for seniority " and has a more emotional meaning.Based on the consideration of the gradual reduction of the size of modern families,this more humane principle of getting along with family members provides a general idea of constructing a harmonious family for the real family life;at the level of family education,Zeng Guofan emphasizes " hardworking and thrifty" and " stressing morality " as the core to value spiritual pursuit and despise excessive material pursuit.This educational concept has important guiding significance in the modern society that emphasizes the realization of personal values.Whether in terms of training objectives or content,Zeng Guofan's family ethics has its own unique meaning.