Chapter 55 Section 17 Zeng Yi's "Women's Study"

Zeng Yi, with the courtesy name Langqiu and the first courtesy name Boyuan, was born in Huayang, Sichuan (now part of Shuangliu County), and was a rare talented woman in the late Qing Dynasty.In the last years of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, she published a collection of poems such as "Huanhua Collection", "Mingluan Collection", "Feihong Collection", and "Huanyue Ci". The chapter is accompanied by a volume of "Zhong Yu Lu", which involves literature, medicine, cooking and family education, especially her unique views on women's education, which were called "unique" theory by famous Confucian scholars at that time, and they were vying to spread.

Zeng Yi was born in a scholarly family. His father, Zeng Yong, was a Jinshi of the Daoguang Jiachen Division. His mother, Zuo Xijia, was also talented and learned. She was good at poetry, calligraphy and painting. , "Wen Cun" volume, people at the time called her works "like clouds and wind, flowing waves and ups and downs".Zeng Yi's parents loved each other and sang to each other, especially for his daughter Zeng Yi, who was gifted and could recite poems by heart. He loved Youjia. When she was five years old, she was taught to read and paint.Under the oil lamp, the parents asked their daughter to sit by the desk, explained poems and books to her, and followed the guidance, which laid the foundation for her academic studies and developed a wide range of interests.

When he was 10 years old, his father became sick from overwork and died in Anqing.The poor widowed mother and orphan shed tears all the way, and brought the coffin back to her hometown in Sichuan for burial.The poor lived in a thatched hut with only a few rafters, relying on their mother to sell calligraphy and paintings to make ends meet.In the difficult days, the mother still did not forget to educate her children, and moved her family from a remote and closed village to the south of Chengdu City. Later, in order to prevent her children from being infected with urban extravagance, she moved to Huanhuaxi Thatched Cottage, the former residence of Du Fu, a few miles away from the city.Little Zeng Yi served her mother day and night, and she was taught everything from inscriptions on inscriptions, calligraphy and painting, needlework (zhizhi), and cooking.Under the careful guidance of his mother, Zeng Yi's skills improved day by day, and he embroidered landscapes and flowers with feathers that were all resembling. At that time, he was famous all over the capital of Shu.As a result, the mother devoted herself to tutoring and brought up her daughter.

After Zeng Yi became an adult, she married Yuan You'an, a famous scholar in the south of the Yangtze River, and then traveled with her husband, wading across the great river, across the ocean, and to various places in the southeast.Yuan You'an is brilliant, and Zeng Yi and him complement each other. Her poems are the expression of true feelings and real scenes, and her cynical works are praised by the people of the time.In her later years, she was influenced by reform thoughts, felt that the imperial government was corrupt, the great powers ravaged the country, devoured it, the people were in dire straits, and culture and education were in decline. With a view to "patriotism from the outside, family harmony from the inside", it vigorously advocates the establishment of women's schools, and strongly requires women to work together with men to "work hard together, share the ambition of competition, and keep the responsibility of talent."With her sense of responsibility to strengthen the country and protect her species and her courage to actively support the Reform Reform, she swept away the traditional arguments of women's education and family education, advocated women's education to break through the "three obediences and four virtues" barriers, and demanded that women's education should refer to the educational experience of European and American countries and be equal to men. In addition to studying science, it is also necessary to choose "read it for those who are close to current affairs and have a good understanding of arts and sciences" and "to gain interest", transform the traditional content of female education, and place female education on an equal footing with male education.

"Girls' Studies" is divided into nine chapters including marriage, couples, childbirth, feeding, infant education, infant education, old-age care, family economics, and hygiene.All the theories are closely related to family education, especially the education of women in the family. It is a representative work on family education in ancient China and is very distinctive. In one chapter, Zeng Yi opposes traditional arranged marriages and early childbearing, and advocates that parents should discuss with their sons about their children's marriages, and that they should be as perfect as possible.When parents choose a son-in-law for their daughter, they should not "constantly count the abundance of property", but should examine "the level of character and learning". Pure character, talent and learning are the main criteria for choosing a son-in-law.The age of marriage should not be too early, "strength must be the standard". If you marry too early, the men and women will be immature, which will not only damage their own health, but also have many children who are weak.

In the chapter "Swaddling Education", she discusses the basic principles of early childhood education from six aspects: preventing falling, avoiding intimidation, teaching faithfulness, teaching kindness, not being restrained, and avoiding favoritism.She criticized the early childhood education for mothers at that time, such as "it is common for mothers to stop their children from crying, pretending to be cats and tigers to make them frightened; The result of education will lead to children "not daring to walk alone at night, unable to sleep when they live alone, fearful of the head and tail, and develop a kind of Confucianism [xixi], and the harm is not superficial."For another example, she warned parents that they should let children develop their natural and active nature, teach them according to their natural and active nature, and don't be overly restrained. "Children are always active and dislike quietness. It is a natural physical activity, and it is the most beneficial to health; it must not be hindered, and it must not be restrained too much, so that the child will be sluggish, and it will become an ineffective device. Also." She advocated that children should be educated in the moral cultivation of faithfulness and kindness from an early age, so as to solidify the foundation of moral cultivation.At the same time, she opposed the behavior of parents favoring their children. Favoring is an expression of doting, which is not conducive to the healthy growth of children. Especially, she ruthlessly whipped the practice of favoring boys and despising daughters.

Zeng Yi pointed out in "Nu Xue Pian" that women should be valued in family education. At the age of six or seven, they should be taught by their mothers or teachers at home, just like men.At the age of eight, they can also enter elementary schools for girls.She said: "Men can learn, and women can learn everything." "Women's hearts are quiet and pure, and they are better than men. If they can teach them, they should be better than men."Of course, women's education should not be rushed, "it must be taught according to its physical strength and age", otherwise "excessive training will lead to the disadvantages of advancing sharply and retreating quickly", so both teachers and parents must be correct. Women follow the instructions carefully and make up the curriculum. They should change one lesson every hour so that their brains can be used together so that they will not feel bored.After the course is over, the children should be allowed to move freely, and no exceptions should be added to "block their chances of being active".She emphasized that parents should lead by example in family education. Parents are harmonious, love and respect each other, and create a good family education environment so that children can subtly influence their temperament in the family environment.

Zeng Yi emphasized family education, and starting from the status and role of women in the family, he believed that the responsibility of a housewife who "maintains the livelihood of the family" should not only take on the important task of educating children, but also learn extensively about childbirth, feeding, and early childhood education. , You should also have a better understanding of cleanliness and health care knowledge, because "medical hygiene is to protect health and strength, so the principle of a strong race is also" and "it is not only appropriate to pay attention to hygiene, but also to study medicine at the same time", medicine should be included The scope of family girls' education.In addition, in "Women's Studies", she also included a separate chapter "Family Economics", which discussed the way of housekeeping from the perspectives of making money, saving money, public welfare, clarity, savings, and savings.The establishment of these family education contents is not only an expression of her idea of ​​"regarding the family from within" advocated by women, but also a major breakthrough in the tradition of family education for women in feudal society.In short, "Nvxue Pian", as a work on home education and women's education at the end of Chinese feudal society, made a historical summary and criticism of the thoughts on women's education and home education since Ban Zhao's "Nv Commandments" in the Han Dynasty, and opened the door for women's home education in modern China. The first of its kind.