Most of us have seen the television program Cosby, and are familiar with the philosophy of family life that it depicts. But have you had a chance lately to see the very different patterns of household life favored in the traditional Chinese "family precepts" written by the heads of various clans over time? Perhaps the old patriarchs don't come across as being as witty as Bill Cosby, but there is still much worth treasuring in their ancient yet--to contemporary eyes--uncommon ideas.

"For each bowl of congee or rice, you must remember how hard it is to grow the grain; for each stitch of clothing, you must keep in mind the difficult labor required to make it. . . ." It is first thing in the morning, and Chen Wen-chien hears her daughter Wei-wei, a second-grader, reciting in her lilting voice. Chen can tell that once again the teacher has asked the students to memorize a selection from the Zhu Family Aphorisms for Regulating Household Life to recite in class that day. Ordinarily little Wei-wei has little contact with the classics, yet she was immediately attracted to the Aphorisms. They are written in a down-to-earth, easy-to-understand style; not only can she fully comprehend the text, but she can easily apply the maxims to life at home.

That's how it happens that on a Sunday morning, when dad is lazing around in bed, he will hear his daughter's voice admonish, "Daddy, hurry up! 'Get up with the sunrise!' [a quote from the Aphorisms] You should sweep up the balcony!" Or on another day, when Dad is still a little beat from the previous night's hob-nobbing with clients, Wei-wei chides him, "Daddy, 'don't overstay at social gatherings!' [another of the Aphorisms] You forgot again!"

When ancient maxims hit modern reality

As for Mom, Chen Wen-chien can't help but laugh. Each day, helping her child read and understand the lessons is like a "life reassessment." Many times her own behavior is not up to the high standards in the books, and she is often unable to give Wei-wei a plausible explanation for her shortcomings no matter how hard she tries.

Take for example the maxim about "congee and rice." When Chen was a little girl, and Taiwan was still poor, she had fear put into her heart by such sayings as "Heaven will strike with lightning anyone who wastes food." But that point of view has been replaced by the modern health concept that "you should not be a garbage can for leftovers." In the old days food was so scarce that people believed "you must finish all of today's food today." But now leftovers get stuck in the fridge and, inevitably, tossed away after two or three days. Since Chen has never hidden this part of life from her daughter, how is she now to explain the significance of maxims like the "congee and rice" one?

Also, mother and daughter both are fascinated by decorating. They have spent many happy hours together looking through interior design magazines. So Wen-chien feels somewhat guilty when they read the maxim, "Don't create a luxurious household, and don't aim to own the richest fields." She only hopes that her child doesn't think to connect these things!

A simple little aphorism can create a lot of embarrassment for modern parents who are not following the principles involved. Yet, the more carefully she reads them, the more pleased Wen-chien is that her child is getting a solid set of norms, with a traditional Chinese flavor, right in the first stages of her life. Many ordinary daily activities to which we normally assign little significance take on new meaning when they are clarified by the family precepts. Sometimes, hearing Wei-wei reciting her texts, Wen-chien slips deep into thought. It is just as Wei-wei's teacher says: The precepts are not only instructional for children, but also--perhaps even more so--for parents.

However, of the nearly 100 classes of students in the same school, Wei-wei's is the exception. In fact, inquiries at a number of primary and middle schools reveal that not one of them makes traditional Chinese family precepts part of the standard curriculum. It seem that the only moral education they offer the kids is the "Life and Ethics" class, which meets once a week to discuss some basic moral principle like filial piety or benevolence.

In modern society, education is the responsibility of the government, and schools can afford not to teach the "family precepts." But in former days, when the family was responsible for education, these maxims were an important part of the development of all well-read people.

Words of wisdom in a time of chaos

Since ancient times, Chinese people have placed great emphasis on education through the family. Many stories from history--such as the one about Mencius' mother moving house three times to give him the best learning environment--illustrate various pedagogical techniques from teaching by example and teaching by instruction to opportunistic teaching and even corporal punishment.

After the tradition of hereditary rule was established in the Zhou dynasty, the importance of clans based on common surnames increased, and social elites knew that their heirs would have special positions. Thus family elders entertained high expectations for their children. For example, the classic work Records of the Grand Historian describes the special maxims for governing the nation that the Duke of Zhou prescribed for his sons and nephews.

Later, during the Wei and Chin dynasties, and during the period of the division of the country into north and south, the "nine official ranks system" was adopted, further consolidating the feudal system. It was said that "No poor families could attain high rank, and no wealthy families would be given low rank." Under this system, the highest court positions became the hereditary property of a few clans. Inevitably, in that era of political turmoil and frequent changes of rulers, the offspring of disempow-ered elite families often were unable to escape paying for weakness with their lives.

It was in this environment that Yan Zhitui, an aristocrat of the Northern Qi dynasty who three separate times was made "a man without a country," admonished his children that they could not safely presume on their family's status and become arrogant and lazy. He also hoped that his descendants would carry forth the family's aristocratic character, so he wrote the Yan Family Precepts with 20 sections and six or seven thousand characters. The aphorisms in this book were passed down without interruption for the next 1300 to 1400 years, and this work has been regarded as the forefather of "family precepts."

Unlike what you might imagine, when you turn to the first section of the Yan Family Precepts, the Foreword, you don't find dogmatic platitudes. Instead, you find heartfelt words of advice such as a father on the verge of retirement might give to his son about to take over the family business.

For example, Yan first wrote that there were more than enough "saintly" books around telling people to be more moral. So why would he want to go over the same ground? Because he discovered that in fact children usually paid less attention to what their teachers said than to the instructions they got around the house. For his children, that meant learning from nursemaids and servant girls. And for ordinary people, that meant listening to their wives, whose words carried far more weight than the maxims of the great emperors Yao and Shun. That being the case, Yan argued, as head of the household he was obliged to see that young people got correct instruction at home, and what he wrote, he felt, should at least be more enlightening than what could be gleaned from wives and slave girls.

Next, Yan noted that his clan had always been strict and comprehensive in moral education. Unfortunately, Yan's father had died when Yan was only nine, after which the family lost its social standing and wealth, and virtually disintegrated. The consequence of lacking his father's guidance was that, as Yan wrote, "my mouth struggled against my heart and my desires struggled against my sentiments, so that I often regretted one day that which I had done the previous day." In short, he was continually caught in a struggle between right and wrong.

Moreover, between the lines in Yan's writing you can also see anxiety caused by the turbulence of that era. Yan felt that to ensure that the family traditions be carried on, it was insufficient for him to only instruct the next generation. He hoped that he could utilize the written word to transcend the limitations of time and space so that his descendants could study the precepts at any time, and thus perhaps waste less time travelling misguided paths.

Yan's efforts were not in vain. His descendants were as enterprising as he had expected. His grandson Yan Shigu, who lived under the Tang dynasty, was an important commentator on The History of the Han Dynasty, while the fifth generation of his descendants included the renowned calligrapher Yan Zhenqing and the statesman Yan Haoqing. With such outstanding testimony to their efficacy, no wonder the Yan Family Precepts have enjoyed great fame all this time, as people have sought to learn the secrets to upholding family moral standards and keeping the family's status undiminished.

Individual, family, nation, Heaven

If the point of family precepts were only to make things better for one's descendants, then we would have to somewhat discount their value. But traditional family precepts are not only meant to safeguard the narrow interests of the family line, they also include a rich component of concern for the people and for the nation. They conform to the Confucian ideal, as written in the classic text The Great Learning, of the inseparability of "personal self-cultivation, household management, governance of the nation, and tranquillity for all under Heaven."

In the big picture, family precepts thus represent the voice of experience of traditional Confucianism which melds together the four elements just noted--the individual, the family, the nation, and Heaven. Renowned Confucianists in history, such as Sima Guang and Ouyang Xiu of the Song dynasty, Zhu Xi and Wang Fuzhi of the Ming, and Zheng Banqiao and Zeng Guofan of the Qing, all left behind their own sets of family precepts. And there are also a great many, more free-form, versions on the same theme, including letters between family members, "poems for the instruction of children," and random notes that parents wrote down as they raised their children. Over time, these family precepts have coalesced into a rich field of study.

Because of differences in the value systems of the individuals writing family precepts, some of the texts place first priority on personal cultivation or managing the household. Others declare that the family's main responsibility is to ensure that the children study hard. Still others begin by discussing how to maintain harmony among relatives. And finally there are those which seem to be mere jottings made in a stream-of-consciousness pattern with no apparent goal or ulterior motive.

But looking at family precepts overall, we can say that self-cultivation is at the core. This is followed by household management, including the best ways to deal with children, wives, brothers, and servants. Beyond that comes the theme of keeping peace within the clan, which deals with the individual's rights and responsibilities in the extended family. The aphorisms also do not neglect matters outside the scope of familial connections, and they instruct the sons of these powerful families to be loyal to the emperor and the nation when they act in their official positions.

Since they were writing behind closed doors just for their own families to see, these ordinarily subtle men of letters found that there would be no harm in setting aside their elevated styles. Therefore most family precepts are written in easy-to-comprehend language. They also include a great many examples intimately connected to daily life. To read them is like entering into the home life of days gone by--how parents should be respected and cared for, what heads of household should be especially careful about, how to avoid causing envy or friction in the clan; as well as exhortations to avoid carelessness in business or farming, and to pay one's taxes ahead of the deadline. Portraits of the demands of the domestic life of the ancients are brought out clearly on the printed page.

Looking in more detail at the contents, as you flip through the pages, a few "absolute" pillars of traditional morality are repeatedly extolled, however monotonously, in all the sets of family precepts. The first is filial piety. Countless sections are dedicated to this theme. Thus for example, the first article in the Fan Clan Genealogy Family Precepts, recorded in the Qing dynasty, states that children are obliged to look after their parents' physical needs (food, clothing for all weather, housing, and care when a parent is ill) and to always put their parents' minds at ease.

The family precepts of the Ji clan, on the other hand, place less emphasis on the physical needs of parents than on looking contented in the act of taking care of one's parents, however difficult putting on a happy face might sometimes be. Also, because sibling rivalry is often the greatest bane of parents, "brotherly love" and "respect of younger brothers for elder brothers" are inseparable from filial piety.

In the stream of clan history

If you look at all these exhortations to filial piety from the psychological point of view which emphasizes communication and understanding between generations, one cannot help but feel that the precepts place too much emphasis on outward forms. Moreover, their demands run only one way--that those below should serve those above.

Regardless of whether the exercise of filial piety in ancient times was completely sincere or pure formalism, at least the ethical patterns of behavior could be maintained. But when you look around yourself in modern society, how many children are there who even go through the motions of showing respect to their parents and looking out for their well-being? Not to mention the growing number of elderly abandoned by heartless children and left to make their way on the streets. If modern young people could only observe the family precepts, perhaps such tragedies could be reduced.

As filial piety came to be revered as the highest value in Chinese society, it was reflected in many volumes of family precepts in the idea that "one's ancestors are just three feet above one's head." That is to say, explains family precepts expert Sung Kuang-yu of the Institute of History and Philology at the Academia Sinica, "Ancestors were turned into something approximating the Christian God, always observing what their descendants were doing, and rewarding good behavior with benevolence and bad behavior with punishment."

Following such logic, successful individuals were required to remain modest and grateful, because without the protection of their ancestors, how could they ever have come to enjoy today's good fortune? By the same token, the reason why heirs to a family line should work hard is not to display their individual worth, but for the glory of all the family's generations over time. And by doing good deeds, they could "accumulate merit to bequeath to their descendants."

The term that is given the second greatest value (after filial piety) in family precepts is probably thrift. A classic piece of writing is the instructions left behind by Sima Guang of the Song dynasty. He wrote that "it is easy to move from frugality to luxury, but difficult to move from luxury to frugality." It is impossible for even the most disciplined and fortunate families to achieve high rank in every generation, not to mention those families in which profligate playboys undo the accumulated achievements of their ancestors.

The more precise of writers of family precepts not only have left behind admonitions to observe the general principle of thrift, they have even listed exact instructions on how their descendants should budget their money. In an extreme example, Pang Shangpeng of the Ming dynasty, in his articles on household management, gives meticulous instructions on how to spend every penny. For example, he commands his descendants to give girls 10 catties of silk and one catty of hemp each year beginning at the age of six, and to double this amount after they turn eight, so that they may save up to make their wedding dresses. Also, when entertaining, there should be no more than five different dishes and two kinds of soup. (His rules would fit right in with the effort of the ROC government back in the 1970s to promote frugal dining!) Furthermore, there should be no more than two occasions per year of formal family visits with gifts, with no more than one-tenth of a tael of silver (and nothing else!) given each time. Pang adds that one should refuse to accept any amount over this limit. And one must only use a single sheet of paper--no envelopes or double layering, please!--for calling cards, invitations, thank-you notes, and so on.

Interestingly, while saving money is heartily endorsed, and most people have the impression that "Chinese parents work their fingers to the bone to save up money for their children and grandchildren," most family precepts do not approve of "bequeathing a pile of money to descendants." On the contrary, they declare this to be extremely harmful, on the grounds that "if a virtuous young man comes into money, it will erode his ambition and will; if a foolish young man comes into money, it will only exaggerate his flaws." There is something rather modern about this line of reasoning.

The ideal of the gentleman farmer

Another major theme in family precepts is "deference and self-restraint," including prudence in both word and deed, tolerance, allowing others to take precedence, not showing off, and avoiding unpleasant incidents. These are perhaps the most obvious characteristics in the way Chinese people behave. For example, the great statesman Zhuge Liang emphasized in his Book of Admonitions, "Inner peace contributes to self-cultivation, restraint to the development of morality. Give little thought to worldly fame and fortune, and you can display your finer qualities; without tranquillity it will be impossible to attain to higher things." This extract points to the highest plane of Confucian aspirations.

By contrast, if the heirs to the family line are arrogant and indolent, and get into fights, not only will they provoke the jealousy and vengefulness of others, they will bring disaster upon themselves and their houses.

The virtues of self-restraint are also advocated in exhortations to "choose friends carefully." Many authors caution the sons of wealthy families against forming "fair-weather" friendships based on drinking and feasting. The famous Qing dynasty general Zuo Zongtang left a stiff warning to his sons: "If you make debauched friends, who are at the theater one day, at the tavern the next, and who even indulge in gambling, whoring, and opium, then you are the dregs!"

Interestingly, you would think that, living under a system of civil service examinations in which formal learning was the best path to success, most of the gentry would have embraced the motto "nothing is of value except learning." Yet, despite the enormous space dedicated to self-cultivation in family precepts, there are few sections encouraging studiousness. This point is very intriguing. Under the examination system, it would seem that well-known families would look to successful performances on the provincial and national exams as the fastest road to power and fame. Yet many writers of family precepts, themselves men of awe-inspiring renown, encourage their descendants not to care much for high rank. On the contrary, they suggest farming, business, or mining, or perhaps the learning of a special skill or trade. In particular, many point to the "gentleman farmer" as the highest ideal.

In the Fang Weng Family Precepts, Lu You of the Song dynasty left the following advice: "Our family started out tilling the soil, and the best thing would be to go back to farming. If that's impossible, then the next best thing would be to shut our doors to the outside world, bury ourselves in reading the classics, and forget about rank or status. The next best after that would be contentment with low official rank, with no ambitions to glory. Anything outside of these three leads nowhere." Perhaps Lu, a poet by nature, had his fill of how official life runs hot and cold, and knew first-hand the ferocity of imperial authority, and he didn't want his descendants to go through the same experiences.

Improving oneself, not one's position

The purpose of reading great books should not be to attain higher rank, but to learn about proper behavior and how to be a better person. Though this may sound a little naive, this is an idea that underlies all family precepts without exception and is repeatedly extolled.

In his section on "Educating Children," Yan Zhitui wrote of a literatus of the Qi dynasty who taught his son the language of the Xianbei (the nationality of the ruling family) and how to play the pipa (Chinese lute), and took great pride in the fact that "all of the court officials dote on my child." Yan found this to be reprehensible. Shi Chengjin of the Qing dynasty wrote in his Complete Record of Family Treasures that of course children should be educated. However, if they learned only the letter, but not the underlying spirit, of their lessons, and were trained only to "connive to get ahead to greater power and wealth," then the results would be calamitous: As officials they would not do good deeds, nor would they look after the people; they could even become corrupt and criminal, finally taking themselves and their families to destruction, thus dishonoring their family line.

Such disasters are not due to innate flaws in the sons, but to the failure of education on the part of the parents. For Chinese people, who have a strong sense of history, the short-term gain of the individual is nothing compared to how he is judged by history and how he affects the reputation and honor of the family tree.

The child's education may be directed to the individual, but it is also an important element in the "governance of the family." The manifold chapters of family precepts devoted to education reflect the pedagogical philosophy of the ancients. Their emphasis is on strict control, requiring the children to show loyalty and deep respect, to know their texts and proper rites, and to make themselves useful. Alas, with the influx of Western thinking, these ancient educational concepts seem completely unable to hold their own against modern ideas. Even in the departments of education and civics at National Taiwan Normal University, the island's highest institution for the training of teachers, there is not the slightest interest in old family precepts.

"In all the thick piles of family precepts, you can't find a single mention of the phrase 'personal development,'" says Li Tien-chen, who teaches the ethics class at the experimental Forest Primary School. Li, an admirer of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, contends that the true foundation of moral behavior lies in first understanding oneself and one's interactions with others, which in turn will spark the growth of love and concern in one's heart. As for family precepts, which set forth a set of inviolable absolute moral platitudes, however much innate value these standards might have, the method adopted is simply to stuff the children with these platitudes in a compulsory way.

Spare the rod, spoil the child?

It is undeniable that family precepts are a product of a paternalistic, authoritarian era. Yet they aren't necessarily so rigid or pedantic as you might think.

Take for example their attitude to corporal punishment as a pedagogical tool. When this issue became a focus of attention a few years ago, Lin Wen-ying, a professor of applied psychology at Fujen Catholic University, went back through volumes of family precepts to try to discover the roots of corporal punishment in the deep structure of Chinese culture.

Intriguingly, while Lin did indeed find that the family precepts include many references to using "the rod" and the "switch," the old texts emphasize that the only really effective way to raise children properly is to establish parental dignity and authority in the course of daily life, and cultivate a sense of respect and deference in the children. Moreover, the old texts generally only advocate resorting to punitive methods for serious ethical transgressions, such as rampant disobedience or disrespect for elders. This is a far cry from the controversial method used in many modern schools of "one smack with the ruler for each point off on an exam."

This calls to mind a section in the Yan Family Precepts, in which Yan points out that if children are raised properly from the time they are infants, this will greatly reduce the occasions for punishment later on. If parents spoil their kids, and laugh off things they should be strict about, then children will get accustomed getting away with whatever they want as they grow older. If only then the parents resort to the rod, "it will be impossible to reestablish parental authority even if you beat the children to within an inch of their lives; you will only create ever greater antagonism and will in the end fail to teach the children to behave morally as adults." How true-to-life this lesson is! And how it should cause modern parents to sit up, take notice, and be on their guard!

Inevitably, the family precepts are extremely chauvinistic and unequal when it comes to wives and daughters. In her Admonitions for Women, Pan Chao, a famous authoress of the Han dynasty, wrote things such as that girls should be left to sleep on the floor under the bed starting on the third day after their birth, in order to teach them to accept permanent subservience to males and lives of self-effacing diligence. When you also consider such maxims as "the husband is god," no wonder that modern feminists see these family aphorisms as brutally exploitative.

Yet there are some family precepts with more enlightened ideas, in which, for example, the rules of chastity were more relaxed. Jiang Yi of the Qing dynasty wrote in his family's book of maxims that wives under the age of 30 and concubines under the age of 40 should be allowed to remarry if their husband has died, and that "family members are not permitted to prevent these women from doing so."

Literati in former eras did not dare treat family precepts in a lax manner. In particular, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when the keeping of family genealogies became widespread, the two sets of records gradually were combined, and family precepts became a special chapter within genealogical histories. Gentry families would gather on a regular basis, once each month or each quarter, to recite the text in the family memorial hall. In addition, many family precepts stipulated a strict system of punishments and rewards, and many maxims meant merely as well-intended exhortations were turned into inflexible "family laws."

Keeping score of right and wrong

The family precepts of Yuan Huang of the Ming dynasty include a list (that became quite well-known among the general public) of "good and bad deeds" along with their specific values. Thus, for example, someone guilty of the worst offenses--causing someone's death or causing someone to commit adultery--was assessed 100 demerits. On the other hand, dissuading someone from aborting an unborn child was worth 100 merit points. The list ran all the way down to very specific minor actions worth one point either way. Each day family members were required to record the day's plusses and minuses, and these were read one by one to the spirits of the family's ancestors at the end of each year. The ancestors would then judge the performance of each household based on these figures, and reward it with good fortune or punish it with bad.

Another example can be found in the family precepts which make up part of the genealogical history of the Fei clan of Jiangsu, which include various types of punishments for violations of the "family laws." A transgression was to be punished by so many strokes of the bamboo or so many days locked in the family memorial hall, or even by expulsion from the clan. The stipulations appear to be as strict as any state-enforced law, and no allowances are made for leniency.

In imperial days, state law, family governance, and individual morality were deemed to be inseparable from one another," notes Chen Chieh-hsien, who oversees the Center for Chinese Studies Materials at the United Daily News Cultural Foundation. Traditional Chinese placed great emphasis on proper rituals or patterns of behavior, and failure to observe these was deemed to be criminal. For example, these days a lack of filial piety is considered to be a personal moral problem, in which outsiders should not get too involved. But in the past it was a serious offense. Not only could the individual be punished through the state legal system, family law was even more rigorous and inescapable, and violators were expelled from the clan. The nominal standards of behavior established by the family precepts actually "had teeth" in practice, so naturally they had authority.

Unable even to recognize their clansmen. . . .

Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter anymore whether one sees family precepts as well-intentioned advice or as awe-inspiring laws, because the unavoidable fact is that for quite some time now no one in Taiwan has given them any thought at all. Taiwan was in its origins an immigrant society, and the first pioneers who came over were mainly from poor families with little connection to the traditional habits of the gentry such as family precepts. At most they might have sent their children to private tutors where the kids would pick up some traditional moral maxims from well-known books like the Three Character Classic. Virtually no families went so far as to keep their own volumes of family precepts.

As Taiwan industrialized and urbanized, the extended family system characteristic of rural society lost its functions and came under severe challenge. These days the very definition of a family is extremely diversified: A single person, or a single-parent household, could both constitute a "family," as could a couple of elderly people back on the farm who wait for their children to come home at the Chinese New Year. The old style family--with tens of people from three or four generations all living together under the same roof night and day--is gone, never to return. This is just as the very perceptive Pang Shangpeng foresaw when he prescribed: "Children and grandchildren should not move away from home. After three years in the city, they will forget how to till the soil and cultivate silkworms; after ten years, they will not recognize their clansmen...."

Now, given the widespread impact of Western individualism, the individual is more highly valued than the extended family. If these days parents tell their kid--a member of the "new new youth" who only think about "living for myself and making myself happy"--that he or she (the kid) is nothing but a small link in the long chain of the family line, or just one more face amidst the hundreds of their clansmen, the parents are likely to be met with just a blank stare.

Of course, despite their individualism, Westerners also have their rules, and are not free to act however they desire. For many people, as Sung Kuang-yu notes, "although there are no longer sets of rules built around an extended family, religion is deeply rooted, and there is a certain moral viewpoint derived from that."

Looking back at China, as the authority of traditional clans declines, what will come next? After all, children have to be taught something. In that case, why doesn't somebody come up with "modern family precepts" for today's uncertain parents to consult?

"That would be very difficult," states Chen Chieh-hsien. Several years ago the Center for Chinese Studies Materials made an effort of this kind. But how could it be easy to come up with some moral viewpoints that would be acceptable to everyone today, when we are caught between old and new, there is a clash between East and West, and there is unprecedented diversity (some might say chaos) in value systems?

Wang Tsai-kuei, who runs a private academy and plans to use the Yan Family Precepts next term in his class in the classics for children, suggests that there are already more than enough precious gems of wisdom to be found in the family precepts left by our ancestors. If parents are determined, they can guide their children to recite and understand the aphorisms. However, it is not necessary to force the kids to try to put them into practice. "Today's children are lively, and there's no need to put a lot of restraints on them early on. If they just have some basic ideas stuck in their minds, later on in life when they reach the rebellious teenager stage, these ideas will have some effect in causing the children to reflect on their behavior and listen to what others have to say." Wang has great faith in this point.

Ironically, in mainland China, which went through a destructive ten-year Cultural Revolution designed to wipe out Confucian thinking and old customs, they have recently begun to re-explore the significance of the traditional Chinese extended family. Many compilations such as The Complete Set of Family Precepts or The Precepts of Renowned Family Lines are being published. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, many people feel that even the word "chaos" is not serious enough to describe conditions. Perhaps if you skim through the precepts of our ancestors you may be surprised to find that the answers to many of our problems were written down there hundreds or thousands of years ago.

Zhu Family Aphorisms for Regulating Household Life

　. Get up with the sunrise, sweep out the house, and make sure everything is clean inside and out. Go to bed when the sun sets; lock all the doors and windows and check on everything personally

　. For each bowl of congee or rice, you must remember how hard it is to grow the grain; for each stitch of clothing, you must keep in mind the difficult labor required to make it.

　. Make preparations for a rainy day; don't wait until you are thirsty before you start digging a well. Be thrifty in your daily habits, and don't overstay at social gatherings.

　. Your utensils and tools should be practical and well-maintained; ordinary crockery is preferable to gold and jade. When it comes to food be frugal and careful; ordinary garden vegetables are preferable to great delicacies.

　. Don't create a luxurious household, and don't aim to own the richest fields.

　. Women of ill-repute and bad professions will only lead you astray. Beautiful maidservants and delightful concubines will bring no good to marital relations.

　. Don't employ handsome servant boys; wives and concubines should be forbidden to use gaudy make-up.

　. However far your ancestors may be from you, do not fail to make offerings to them. However stupid your children and grandchildren, do not fail to have them read the classics.

　. Remain thrifty and frugal in your home and person. Education of later generations must be based on correct principles.

　. Don't scheme for money to which you are not entitled Don't drink too much alcohol.

　. Don't cheat when doing business with peddlers. When you see relative s or neighbors facing hardship, off help and sympathy.

　. Don't treat family members harshly; otherwise you will not long enjoy prosperity in your household. When deviations occur from proper family ethics, you will face immediate destruction.

　. Brothers, uncles, and nephews should give each other much help. Family laws regarding proper relations between old and young, men and women, must be strictly applied.

　. If you listen to your wives and create disharmony among blood relatives, what kind of a man will you be? Those who think highly of money but lightly of their parents are not truly good sons.

　. Choose good sons-in-law for your daughters; don't demand too high a bride-price. Seek out ladies of good character when choosing daughters-in-law, rather than calculating the size of the dowry.

　. Those Whose faces show admiration and envy when seeing the rich and powerful should feel ashamed. There is nothing more despicable than acting arrogant upon meeting someone poor.

　. Don't get into disputes within the family; they always end in violence. Say little when handling affairs; something always goes wrong if one says too much.

　. Don't take advantage of a powerful position to exploit the weak. Don't wantonly slaughter animals to satisfy gluttonous appetites.

　. If you always think you are right and shut yourself off from constructive criticism, you will have many regrets and mistakes. If you are lazy and self-satisfied, it will be difficult f or your family to prosper.

　. Attach yourself to delinquents, and you will inevitably suffer from their misdeeds. Attach yourself to those with strong characters instead, and in emergencies you can depend on one another.

　. Don't listen to bad rumors about people: How do you know they are not just efforts by one person to destroy another? Instead, be patient and think carefully. In disputes, can you be sure you are not the one in the wrong? You must objectively and calmly think things over on your own.

　. Forget favors you have done for others; never forget favors others have done for you.

　. Always be lenient with others. Don't try to push a pleasing thing too far, and always know when to stop.

　. When others have good fortune, do not be jealous. When others meet ill-fortune, do not be glad.

　. Good deeds done just so others can witness them are not truly good; deeds that one fears others might witness are truly evil.

　. If you lust after beauty, it is your wife who pays the price. If you conceal hate and take vengeance by stealth, you will bring disaster upon your descendants.

　. Maintain family harmony, and there will be a surplus of joy even when there is a shortage of food. Promptly turn over to e nation that which you owe, and you can be contented even if your storerooms are empty.

　. Study to learn virtue, not to gain official rank. As an official, keep the emperor and nation uppermost in your mind; do not scheme for personal gain.

　. Accept fate and follow the will of Heaven. If you can do all of these things, then you will be living right.

[Picture Caption]

　In ancient China life revolved around the extended family, with its dozens of people and plenty of problems. Had there been nothing like "family precepts" or "family laws," it would have been difficult to keep the system going. This enormous family of ten sons and ten daughters-in-law produced five successful candidates in the imperial exams, thanks to observing the proper rules. (rephotographed from Chinese Popular Prints)

　(left) The Chinese Studies Materials Center of the United Daily News has collected many sets of family precepts from different periods of history.

　(right) The uneducated son will be of no value. Even popular New Year's prints include maxims on raising children. (rephotographed from Chinese Popular Prints)

　Winter sun brings some warmth. A daughter-in-law accompanies her mother-in-law to get some sun in the yard, and combs her mother-in-law's hair for her. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)

　Teaching the kids Chinese characters and stories could be seen as a modern form of "family instruction."

　"However far your ancestors may be from you, do not fail to make offerings to them." With everyone in somber dress and with lit incense as offerings, the significance of carrying on the family line becomes clear.

　In modern society there are only weak links within clans, and no one produces their own family precepts anymore. Nevertheless, in small shops in back alleys you can still often see family aphorisms like the "Verse to Encourage Filial Piety" which have become widely known and part of the common culture.

Winter sun brings some warmth. A daughter-in-law accompanies her mother-in-law to get some sun in the yard, and combs her mother-in-law's hair for her. （photo by Pu Hua-chih）

Teaching the kids Chinese characters and stories could be seen as a modern form of "family instruction.".

"However far your ancestors may be from you, do not fail to make offerings to them." With everyone in somber dress and with lit incense as offerings, the significance of carrying on the family line becomes clear.

In modern society there are only weak links within clans, and no one produces their own family precepts anymore. Nevertheless, in small shops in back alleys you can still often see family aphorisms like the "Verse to Encourage Filial Piety" which have become widely known and part of the common culture.