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The book Yanshi jiaxun is a compilation of the Northern Wei 北魏 official and scholar Yan Zhitui 顏之推 (born 531 AD) and deals with the discipline of one's own mind, the state and the family. He thus follows the guideline of the Confucian Classic Daxue 大學 "The Great Learning", a small book that recommends self-cultivation as the base for the welfare of the whole nation.
After centuries of Buddhist prevalence, Yan Zhitui was a vehement fighter for Confucian renaissance in the Northern Wei empire of the Yuan clan 元, a family that traces her own origins to the Tuoba people 拓跋, a non-Chinese nation. Adopting Confucianism as state doctrine gave the foreign Tuoba rulers the same legitimation like the Chinese rulers before them.
Yan Zhitui is also one of the few poets of the Northern Dynasties.
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| Chapters of the Xinyu |
1.序致 Xuzhi Introduction
2.教子 Jiaozi Education of a son
3.兄弟 Xiongdi Relationship among brothers
4.後娶 Houqu Stepmother and stepbrothers
5.治家 Zhijia Regulate your Family
6.風操 Fengcao Character and Behaviour
7.慕賢 Muxian Yearn for Wisdom
8.勉學 Mianxue Engage Well in Studies
9.文章 Wenzhang Learn to Write and to Compose
10.名實 Mingshi Make Conform Theory and Practice
11.涉務 Shewu Gain Practical Experience
12.省事 Xingshi Be Sparingly with Words and Deeds
13.止足 Zhizu Be Self-sufficient
14.誡兵 Jiebing Study the Art of War
15.養生 Yangsheng Preserve your Health
16.歸心 Guixin Submit Your Heart to the Righteous Cause
17.書證 Shuzheng Text Sources for the Family Instructions
18.音辭 Yinci Make sound your Words
19.雜藝 Zayi Miscellaneous Arts (painting, shooting, divining, mathematics, medicine etc.)
20.終制 Zhongzhi Complete the three-year mourning for your parents
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