Wēnshì mǔ xùn 溫氏母訓
The Maternal Instructions of the Wēn Family recorded by 溫璜 (Wēn Huáng, zì Bǎozhōng 寳忠, posthumously Zhōngliè 忠烈, 1608–1645, 明)
About the work
A one-juan record by Wēn Huáng (Míng-loyalist martyr of Wūchéng) of the moral-pedagogical instructions of his mother Lùshì 陸氏. Originally appended at the close of Wēn’s posthumous yí jí 遺集 (12 juan); extracted and printed separately by an anonymous later editor (the postface is unsigned) on the grounds that “yuán jí fán zhòng, bù biàn dān xíng” (the original collection is too heavy, not convenient for separate circulation). The work is methodologically interesting as one of the small number of pre-modern Chinese maternal-instructional records (paralleling Empress Xú’s Nèi xùn KR3a0076 — but recorded by the son rather than authored by the mother).
The work’s enduring interest is augmented by Wēn’s 1645 martyrdom: at the Qīng conquest of Wūchéng he raised troops with Jīn Shēng for four months, on the city’s fall said to his wife Máoshì “I have lifelong learned to be a sage and worthy — only that I might know how to die today” (wú shēngpíng xué wéi shèngxián, bù guò qiú jīnrì chǔsǐ zhī dào ěr), and committed suicide. The Qiánlóng emperor in 1776 (Qiánlóng 41) granted him the posthumous Zhōngliè — making the work simultaneously a maternal pedagogy record and a Míng-loyalist memorial.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that the Wēnshì mǔ xùn in 1 juan was recorded by Wēn Huáng of the Míng — instructions of his mother Lùshì. Huáng was originally míng Yǐjiè, zì Yúshí, hào Shígōng. Later, on a dream-omen, changed his míng to the present and zì as Bǎozhōng. Was a man of Wūchéng. Jìnshì of Chóngzhēn guǐwèi (1643); appointed Huīzhōu fǔ tuīguān. His career is appended in the Míng shǐ Qiū Zǔdé zhuàn.
In Qiánlóng 41 (1776) he was given the posthumous Zhōngliè. Huáng has a yí jí in 12 juan; this book is in fact the close-of-volume appended sayings — though plain-spoken, quite pertinent to actual situations. At the close is an unsigned bá yǔ saying: “the yuán jí is heavy, not convenient for dān xíng (separate circulation); therefore extracted and again sent to the printers.”
Huáng in Shùnzhì yǐyǒu (1645) raised troops in concord with Jīn Shēng to resist the imperial forces; for 4 lunar months. On the city’s fall, kàng jié (resisting unto death). His qì jié (moral spirit) shaking the world — may be called no shame to maternal teaching. Further, Gāo Chéngyǎn’s Zhōng jié lù records on Huáng’s day of jiù yì (achieving rightness): he resolutely said to his wife Máoshì: “wú shēngpíng xué wéi shèngxián, bù guò qiú jīnrì chǔsǐ zhī dào ěr” — and circled the room walking. Máoshì [followed].
[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]
Respectfully revised and submitted, [date].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.
Abstract
The Wēnshì mǔ xùn is a small but distinctive Late-Míng maternal-pedagogical record, made memorable by its embedding within Wēn Huáng’s martyred-loyalist biography. Composition window: bracketed by Wēn’s lifetime — the recordings would have been made during his mature years before his 1645 death. The frontmatter brackets to ca. 1620–1645.
The substantive content of Lùshì’s instructions covers daily ethics, conduct of the shìdàfū household, and moral cultivation — “plain-spoken but pertinent to actual situations” per the SKQS. The work parallels Empress Xú’s Nèi xùn (KR3a0076) in genre — both are imperial-scale maternal pedagogy — but where Xú’s is the empress’s own composition, Lùshì’s instructions reach us mediated through the son’s record.
The work’s preservation as a separately-printed zhāi — an unsigned postface explains the editorial extraction — gives it a printing-history of its own beyond Wēn’s main yí jí.
The bibliographic record: not in Míng shǐ yìwén zhì (post-Míng); Wényuāngé shūmù; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi. The Qián-lóng-period Zhōngliè posthumous title (1776) is a Qīng imperial endorsement that extends the work’s institutional standing.
Translations and research
- No substantial English-language secondary literature located.
- The work is briefly noted in studies of Late-Míng / early-Qīng maternal pedagogy and within Chinese-language treatments of Míng-loyalist martyrs.
Other points of interest
The Wēn / Lù mother-son pair — pedagogical mother, martyred-loyalist son — gives the work an interlocking pedagogical-and-political weight unusual among the Late-Míng yǔlù corpus. Wēn’s death-statement to his wife — “I have lifelong learned to be a sage and worthy — only that I might know how to die today” — is one of the cleaner Míng-loyalist moral-philosophical death-statements.
Links
- Míng shǐ Qiū Zǔdé zhuàn (附 Wēn Huáng).
- Gāo Chéngyǎn 高承埏, Zhōng jié lù 忠節錄 (the principal contemporary record of Wēn’s death).
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikidata