Chapter 37 Section 11 Family Rules and Family Law

Since the Song Dynasty, the previous foolish and filial piety behaviors were no longer imitated by most common people.However, in order to restrain the children of the family, the family ritual system was strengthened, and various forms of family rules and family laws emerged. Family rules and family laws were first implemented in the feudal big families and families of high-ranking officials and dignitaries. For example, Sima Guang's "Family Model" was passed down in the family of officials. Zhao Ding, the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, ordered his descendants to record a copy of it as a permanent law.Family rules and family laws run through the spirit of feudal family etiquette.Zhu Xi improved on the basis of Sima Guang's "Family Model", especially "House Miscellaneous Rituals", and formulated a set of cumbersome family etiquette and etiquette norms. "Family Rituals" made specific regulations on the etiquette and content of crown ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and sacrificial ceremonies. Books like The Female Commandments. "Family Rituals", "Children's Instructions" and "Primary School", etc., are to a large extent restraining the humble and young. They have been prepared in detail, so they have become the main basis for the family rules and laws of the common people's family, and have long been the tutoring materials for the common people's family.

The education of family rules and laws inherited the family motto of official families from the Han, Wei to Tang and Song dynasties.Such as Zheng Xuan's "Commandment Book", Ban Zhao's "Nv Commandment", Zhuge Liang's "Commandment Book", Yan Zhitui's "Yan Family Instructions", Tang Dynasty's "Taigong Family Education", Liu Gongchuo to Liu Xuan's "Liu's Shifan" and so on, all have the meaning of family rules and family laws.The family rules and laws of the Song Dynasty are more abundant in the form of "family precepts", "shifan" and "family norms", such as "Yuan Shishifan" by Yuan Cai, "Family Fan" by Sima Guang, and "Family Fan" by Zhao Ding. "Family Instructions Transcripts", Lu You's "Family Instructions", etc., have detailed provisions and strict requirements, which are all inferior to previous generations.Family rules and family laws after the Song Dynasty, such as Pang Shangpeng's "Pang's Family Instructions" in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Jisheng's "Jiaoshan Will" ("Zhongmin [min] Gong Family Instructions"), He Xinyin's "Family Instructions", Huo Tao's "Huo Weiya Family Instructions" Training", "Cong Xun Zhaiyu" by Zhang Ying in the Qing Dynasty, "Family Rules and Regulations" by Zhang Boxing, and "Precious Mirror in the Boudoir", etc., were all models or teaching materials for the family rules and laws of scholars and people.

The education of family rules and family laws is usually carried out on the first and fifteenth day of each month, and some people lead the whole family to carry out the education in the morning every day.For example, Lu Jiushao's family read the "Family Instructions" every day, "Morning Xing, the parents lead all the children, and after paying homage to the ancestral hall, beat drums to sing his "Family Instructions" speech, so that everyone can listen to it" ("Song History Lu Jiushao Biography").If a child violates the "Family Instructions", he will be punished severely by the family law.Huo Tao's "Huo Weiya's Family Instructions" clearly stipulates: "If the descendants have faults, they will all report to the ancestral hall in Shuo Wang, and the punishment will be issued. The first offense will be ten punishments, the second offense will be twenty, and the third offense will be thirty." The mouth, the family law is kept, the filial piety is not fading, and within the boudoir, it is respected in the government" ("Song History·Xiaoyi Biography").This is the case with these big landlord families, and it is also the case with some "Li Nong" big families. , Clothes are impermanent. Every day, parents sit in the hall and lead their children to divide their duties, and they are not only diligent" ("Song Dynasty Facts Leiyuan" Volume 53).Another example is "Qiu Chengxun, a citizen of Kuaiji, who lived together for the nineteenth century... Although the clansmen live apart, they live in the same village. The world recommends that one person is the leader. If there is a matter to decide, he sits and listens to the affairs. There is a bamboo grate [bi closed] also It has been passed down from generation to generation, and the patriarch will use it if he wants to punish the guilty" (Volume 4 of "Yan Yi Yi Mou Lu").Under the education and control of family rules and laws, the family is like a government office.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the education of family rules and laws was more advanced than that of the Song Dynasty, which effectively supplemented the lack of social education and management of national laws.