Zeng Guo-fan And The Modern Significance Of His Family Ethical Ideas

Family is an important field of man's moral concerns and, to Confucianism, also the essential for country affairs so as to be paid special attentions by traditional thinkers and politicians. ZENG Guo-fan, the famous Confucian scholar and politician in late Qing Dynasty, stans thus. He remains more than 1000 pieces of letter home and reveals his rich thoughts on family ethics from the letters. This thesis analyzes and reviews the thoughts of his then tries to find the significances they can bring to the modern life, taking the letters as the main references.The review part, as one of two parts of the thesis, has ZENG's thoughts of family ethics wrapped up and gives the corresponding introductions of, firstly, Filial Piety to be the principle of the uprightness of a family, which is also the core of his whole thoughts, secondly, Hard working and Thrift the principle of housekeeping, thirdly, Neighborliness the principle of family harmony, and fourthly, Education the method principle of a family flourishing. And, based upon the reviews, the other part argues his thoughts are resources to be used for references in terms of challenging modern life though with feudalism values and historical limitations, so as to have positive significances of, such as, the Filial Piety principle to fit the problems of elder support, family conflicts and so on, the Hard working and Thrift as the traditional Chinese virtues, not only to correct the consumer concept of error, also included in a broader sense, it is human nature to be sustainable use; The ongoing construction of a harmonious society, and the neighboring which is a crucial part of fostering a healthy atmosphere, resist unhealthy practices, so that neighbors can live in harmony; And, the key is to educate people, and this is related to the healthy growth of children, but also of family continuity and the stability of society. For the current family education some of the drawbacks, some enlightenment principles and methods still have a positive significance.