Chapter 54 Section 16 Lin Zexu's Family Instructions

Lin Zexu, a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty, is a well-known national hero.His growth is closely related to the tutoring of his father Lin Binri. No matter where Lin Zexu became an official, there is always a couplet inscribed by his father in his room: This couplet later became the family motto of the Lin family, not only remembered by Lin Zexu's descendants, but also regarded as a family heirloom by Lin Zexu's sons, daughters and relatives, and copied and hung on the middle hall. Lin Zexu was born in a declining family of officials and eunuchs. By the time his father had declined, the family had no land of one foot or half an mu of land.Due to his poor family, Lin's father gave up his career halfway and became a private school teacher.After Lin Zexu was born, Lin's father placed high hopes on him and vowed to raise his son through all kinds of hardships.

As soon as Lin Zexu turned four years old, Lin's father began to implement enlightenment education. He took private school lessons every day, and then took his son to the school to learn to read and read.Although the father is eager for his son to become a success, he pays great attention to teaching methods, never suppresses the child's nature, and always lets his son enjoy reading in happy activities.Father Lin never beat or scolded the child when he was naughty. After teaching, he let the child play freely for a while, then held the child on his lap, and taught him to read articles and poems word by word.By the age of seven, Lin Zexu had been able to recite many articles and poems proficiently, and knew a lot of truths.So Lin's father began to teach him to write articles.At that time, someone advised Lin's father not to teach Lin Zexu to write essays so early. Lin's father said: "This child has a spirit, and there are discoveries from time to time. If you don't attract it, you will be suffocated." Thanks to Lin's father's patient teaching and persuasive guidance, Lin Zexu's intelligence was developed. Soon, he was famous in the city for his proficiency in literature in his childhood, and was regarded as a "child prodigy".

In fact, Lin Zexu's intelligence was developed earlier, which was the result of Lin's father's proper education method.Lin Zexu recalled in "Xian Kao Xing Zhang": "The teachings of the government are earnest, follow-up, not aggressive, but make people willing to learn.... When teaching the history of books, you must show yourself to be practical and reasonable. The Tao is seldom compared with metaphors, it is only for comprehension, but it is not added, even scolding is rare.” Teach people tirelessly, follow and guide, pay attention to concrete and visible things as examples when teaching principles, and ignite with intuitive and visual teaching methods. Children's wisdom, so intelligence will naturally increase day by day.

Creating a pleasant learning atmosphere and a patient educational environment are important ways to cultivate children's interest in learning.However, this does not mean that there are no strict constraints on children's education.Lin's father asked his children to study hard and diligently, and stipulated that they should study until late at night every day, and they would not slack off in cold and heat.Every night, Father Lin asked his son to study under a small oil lamp, and he personally supervised and tutored him.Others in the family are also busy doing things under the lamp.According to Lin Zexu's recollection: "every day when the weather is cold and the night is eternal, there are three rafters in the broken house, the wind is howling, a lamp is on the wall, the elders and the young sit in a row, reading here, and the female red is here, the skin and millet are chapped and the hands are chapped, until the leakage is gone. "Father and son study hard, mother and daughter weave hard, and the hardworking family style of a poor family has played a great role in cultivating Lin Zexu's moral character.

The Lin family lives in a very poor life, and it is difficult to keep warm at ordinary times. They can only eat a vegetarian stir-fried tofu meal on New Year's Eve.Even so, even if Lin's father pawns the clothes, he must ensure that his son studies.In the spring and summer of one year, when there was not enough food, Lin’s father lent the little food in the family to others, but his family was hungry. That’s how Lin’s parents dug back wild vegetables to feed their son’s hunger, but they still didn’t relax his study. Because Father Lin is very knowledgeable and well taught, he is quite prestigious in the local area.While the Lin family was in a difficult situation, a local rich and bully came to the Lin family and offered to invite Lin's father to teach at his house with a dowry that was several times higher than the number of others.On the one hand, Lin's father hated evil, and on the other hand, he was unwilling to abandon his son and let him neglect his studies, so he resolutely resigned.At the same time, he taught his son to learn the virtues of the ancients. The more difficult and difficult it is, the more he must hone his will, the more he must strengthen his beliefs, and the more he must be an upright person.

Under the careful instruction of his father, Lin Zexu had a solid foundation of knowledge and knowledge and high morals. He set up a lofty ambition to govern the country and the world as his own responsibility from an early age, and cultivated a strong will to persevere. At the age of 20, he passed the local examination.However, his fate was ill-fated, and he failed the exam when he entered Beijing for the first time. After returning to his hometown, he still did not change his ambition of helping the world, and he continued to study hard.In the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811 AD), he tried again to be a Jinshi and entered the Imperial Academy.Thus began his political career.He served as a magistrate successively in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Henan, Hedong, Liangjiang and other places. He had considerable political achievements and even had the reputation of "Lin Qingtian".When he was an official, he always put the national economy and the people's livelihood as the top priority. "If you want to benefit the country, you should avoid it because of misfortune and good fortune." This is the portrayal of his moral character of saving the world and the people.Throughout his life, he adhered to his father's lesson of "regulating the family, governing the country and the world, such as Cao Renzhi", and devoted himself to the prosperity and prosperity of the country with his own knowledge, knowledge, talents and morals. Qianqiu.

Lin Zexu became a great man of his generation, and Lin's father's family education method is also an example for the world.