Zeng Guofan 's Family Ethics And Its Modern Value

Zeng Gaofan is a controversial figure in modern history of China. He is given mixedevaluation when viewed from the political standpoint but was given unanimous praise andspoken highly of when viewed from the standpoint of moral education of family ethics. Zeng hadwritten a large amount of diaries and letters to his family in his short life, all of which expressedhis affectionate inculcation to the younger generations and deep love to his eldership and laidsolid foundation for forming of Zeng family instructions and prosperity of his youngergenerations.How come Zeng Guofan achieved so much achievement in moral education of familyethics? First, he was well read. Zeng’s thought was based on Confucianism while learningwidely from others’ strong points and taking advantage of them so as to form thoughts of his ownand deeply knew that one must pay great attention on moral education of family ethics if hewants to keep the prosperity of his family. Second, the formation of family ethics is affected byfamily motto and Zeng family tradition handed down from family tradition of family motto.Zeng’s grandfather and father took rural education (study part time and do farm work part time)as the foundation of family-founding and set themselves as examples to guide Zeng Guofan, andgradually his moral education of family ethics were formed in such environment. Throughgeneral survey it can be found that Huxiang culture played a very important role. One’sindividual growth cannot be separated from the regional culture and folk tradition and folkcustoms, and all of them affected Zeng’s character and habit more or less. The fourth origin ofhis thought came from his experiences of education and life. In all his life, Zeng cultivated hismoral character and disciplined himself strictly so that he summarized many preciousexperiences which became one of his important moral educations of family ethics.Zeng’s thoughts are mainly included six aspects, which are filial piety and fraternal duty,hardworking and thrift, moral character cultivation, scholarship, relief and good-neighborlinessare mainly discussed. Zeng Guofan believed that piety was the base of family-founding. If onewants to keep the harmony of his family, the younger generation must be filial to the eldergeneration and mutual love must be maintained among the same generation. Industry plays avery important role in housekeeping. Hardworking and modesty must be carried forward by eachmember of the family so as to keep the perpetual prosperity of the family. Moral charactercultivation is a good policy for booming one’s family, and good characters and steadfast will bethe base of one’s prosperity. Scholarship cultivation is a method which should be handed downfrom generation to generation, and correct methods and the purpose for reading books are scalesfor life objective. Relief is a secret for keeping eternal booming of one’s family. Good-neighborliness is of great use in keeping a united family, and harmonious and friendlyneighborhood is important guarantee for family booming and generation prosperity.From the standpoint of the historical background, analyzing moral education of familyethics has value of times. Meanwhile, abandoning some of these feudal thoughts with moraleducation of family ethics as basis, problems appeared in current family ethics are analyzed indetail. The conclusion that moral education of family ethics of Zeng Guofan is of great use forreference in solving modern family problems is made in the end.