Shèng yù guǎng xùn 聖諭廣訓
Amplification of the Sacred Edicts imperially proclaimed by 聖祖 (Kāngxī, 1654–1722, 清, 頒諭); amplified by 世宗胤禛 (Yōngzhèng, 1678–1735, 清, 繹譯)
About the work
The Yōngzhèng-period (Yōngzhèng 2, 1724) elaboration of Kāngxī’s Shèng yù shíliù tiáo 聖諭十六條 (Sixteen Maxims), with each of the original sixteen tiáo expanded by Yōngzhèng into a longer prose elaboration in 1,000+ characters per item. The original sixteen maxims of Kāngxī (issued Kāngxī 9, 1670) covered foundational moral-social topics: dūn xiào dì (filial piety and brotherhood), dūn zōng zú (clan relations), hé xiāng dǎng (neighbourly harmony), zhòng nóng sāng (agriculture), shàng jié jiǎn (frugality), etc. Yōngzhèng’s guǎng xùn extended each into a prose lecture suitable for monthly reading at provincial centres. The work became the canonical xiāng yuē (village-pact) reading-text for the Qīng-period state-society relationship — in mandatory monthly reading, vernacular adaptation, and state-school inclusion. Distribution to the eight Banners and the provinces.
Abstract
The Shèng yù guǎng xùn is the principal Qīng-period state-pedagogical text and the most widely-circulated Qīng official document in pre-modern Chinese society. Composition: precisely datable to Yōngzhèng 2 (1724) by Yōngzhèng’s preface. The frontmatter brackets to 1724–1724.
The work’s institutional function — monthly reading at the xiāng yuē convocations across the empire from 1724 onward — gave it unmatched popular reach. Vernacular adaptations (shèng yù guǎng xùn zhí jiě 聖諭廣訓直解 by Wáng Yòupǔ 王又樸 and others) spread the content into the village-school and gōngshēng tutoring systems.
The bibliographic record: Qīng shǐ gǎo; Wényuāngé shūmù; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi.
Translations and research
- F. W. Mayers, The Sacred Edict, Containing Sixteen Maxims of the Emperor Kang-He, Amplified by His Son, the Emperor Yoong-Ching, 1817 (early translation).
- Victor H. Mair, “Language and Ideology in the Written Popularizations of the Sacred Edict”, in D. Johnson et al. (eds.), Popular Culture in Late Imperial China, University of California Press, 1985 — the major treatment of the guǎng xùn and its vernacular reception.
- Standard modern Chinese reproductions of the SKQS WYG.
Links
- Qīng shǐ gǎo — Shèngzǔ běnjì and Shìzōng běnjì.
- Yōngzhèng emperor, “Shèng yù guǎng xùn xù” 聖諭廣訓序 (preserved in
KR3a0102_000.txt). - Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikipedia
- Wikidata