Wang Shizhen's "A Talk on Red North" in the Qing Dynasty recorded that Shen Li, the etiquette minister in the Ming Shenzong period, was an official in Beijing and often wrote letters to the children of Shangqiu's hometown, which imposed extremely strict restrictions on them: when traveling, children were not allowed to "go in and out of public doors and provoke trouble" and "only allowed to ride horses, not allowed to ride cars"; In terms of clothing, family members and children are required to "don't dress too luxuriantly, but rather be under-equipped"; In industry, they are required to reduce their fields, not to accumulate more wealth and goods, not to buy too many real estate fields, and so on. In addition, he often wrote to remind his children that "autumn and winter grain and morning grain should be paid more, and Gezhuang people should always restrain him and not make trouble." Obviously, this is to ask family members to obey the law.
In addition, lord shen also requires children to do more good deeds: make 100 cotton-padded jackets every winter to give to the poor, and often give to the poor and widowed relatives. He taught his children in his family letter: "Generally speaking, prosperity leads to decline, the full moon leads to loss, and it makes sense to die at noon. We can only settle for the second best, be neither arrogant nor impetuous, enjoy it and not be blessed. Although prosperous, it can be conservative. " Historically, Shen Li was an upright and honest official, and was honored as a virtuous minister.
According to Yao's Miscellaneous Notes on Bamboo Leaves Pavilion in the Qing Dynasty, among the officials from the official department to the official department and the official department, Chen Hongmou was the highest official in Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty and served as an official for the longest time (48 years). He has experienced the most provinces (12 provinces), with outstanding political achievements and great influence among the people. At the same time, he is also a knowledgeable and productive scholar. He once wrote a pair of couplets: "Cherish clothes and food, do not hesitate to be rich, do not seek fame and fortune, only seek yourself and not others." Educate future generations to cherish their labor income, not to be extravagant, to be self-reliant and not to rely on others.
As we all know, Zeng Guofan's family letters are extremely famous, with nearly 1500 letters, a large part of which are Zeng Guofan's words to educate his children to read, write and be a man. For example, Zeng Guofan expressed many times in his family letters: "Where an official's family is concerned, it is difficult to go from frugality to luxury and from luxury to frugality." This has a great influence on Zeng's descendants.
Although many senior officials deliberately educate and restrain future generations, there are many examples of the behavior of the "second generation of officials" in history. It can be seen that educating future generations, especially government officials, is not an easy task.