Published on 2023.10.19

A Traditional Virtue illustrated in Couplet Texts - Filial Piety

Filial piety is the key component of traditional Chinese virtue. Among various literary works that aim at promoting filial piety, the most important should be The Book of Odes (《詩經》, also translated as Shih King or The Book of Poetry). Poems such as Wind from the South (〈凱風〉) and Lofty Ling (〈蓼莪〉) are deeply moving and touching. The Book of Odes is praised by Confucius as being capable of cultivating members in society. Similar to the case of The Book of Odes, there are many couplet texts (駢文) that aim at promoting filial piety so as to take the role of cultivation in the Chinese society.  One of the most renowned writers that adopted the format of couplet text for promotion of filial piety is Hong Liangji (洪亮吉, 1746-1809) in the Qing Dynasty. Hong Liangji’s father died when Hong was very small. His family, who was poor, was totally relying on his mother’s hard work to sustain the livelihood of the whole family and supported Hong’s education until he became successful. Hong Liangji was very grateful to her mother’s nurturing and caring. It was said that after his mother’s death, Hong Liangji kept on fasting on the date of her mother’s death to express his sorrow over his mother’s death.  He maintained this practice for thirty years.

Wu Xiqi (吳錫麒, 1746-1818), a master of couplet texts in the Qing Dynasty, adopted the life story of Hong Liangji and created a renowned magnum opus The Preface to the Life Story of my Friend Hong Zhicun (洪稚存,稚存Zhicun is the style name of Hong Liangji), who passed the Mandarin examination at the same year as me did, with her mother sewing while he was reading under the lamp light (〈洪稚存同年機聲燈影圖序〉). The opening of the text revealed the hardship of Hong’s mother. “When Hong Zicun was small, he lost his father. (洪子稚存,少失乾蔭). Therefore, they had to rely on mother’s family and the life was extremely difficult. (爰依外家,我生不辰). His mother was suffering a hard life and always without food reserve that lasted for more than one day, sometimes they could even drink a ladle of water instead of eating. (母氏勞苦。糧無越宿,一瓢之飲兼充 ). The supply of cotton is limited that one could only hope for the warm weather, and therefore the clothes for the ninth month of the year were yet to be sewn (綿定奇溫;九月之衣待授).” This indicates the poor situation of Hong and his mother who didn’t have any food left for another day nor enough clothing to keep warm, making Hong’s mother so tired and fatigue, as described in this sentence: “as fragile as the bird’s feather in its tail (翛翛予尾).” Nonetheless, in order to nurture Hong Liangji, Hong’s mother was willing to sacrifice herself and bear with all the bitterness in life. “It was due to Hong’s mother’s audacity and sincerity, and taught Hong wholeheartedly…that Hong could be transformed as if red paint turned into the essence of mercury. Therefore, “the sword which was once sunk into the river is now ready to fly up to the sky (蓋惟太夫人茹苦訓心…用能染其丹彩,成此鉛華。乃沉淵之劍將飛).” Finally, Hong Liangji attained success in the Mandarin examination in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (乾隆帝, 1711-1799, translator’s note: this was the year 1790). As said in this line, “Eventually in the Gengxu year (庚戍), Zhicun attained the second in the royal list (迨庚戌稚存以第二人及第).” This could be definitely attributed to the effort of Hong’s mother to nurture him under extremely difficult circumstances. Sadly, due to excessive workload, Hong’s mother’s health soon collapsed, as mentioned in the following sentence, “Just like the fishes that were bounded to the rope eventually got rotten inside (而銜索之魚已蠹)”.

The text also described the touching scenario that Hong’s mother was sewing with the sewing machine while teaching her son to read. “I could imagine that the broken wall was covered with fungus and plants, the paper-window were split… I could hear the sound from the sewing machine. The sound was so sad that included the widow’s tears on the thousand threads. The light was so dim, yet it was already the whole light that this poor family could get (每憶壞壁蘿懸,破窗紙裂…宛轉鳴機。聲易淒迷,寡女千絲之淚;光何慘淡,貧家一碗之燈).” The situation that the broken house was hung with threads of cypress vine (女蘿), the window was split with only broken paper left is so haunting with the existence of the dim light. Also, as described in the text, “the children wore linen clothes and sat opposite to his mother, while the mother taught her child with the most beautiful characters (麻衣對母,錦字教兒). Days passed as quickly as the work of the sewing machine, and nights passed as quickly as the burning of greases (馳夕如梭,焚膏易盡). Their neighbours woke up and found that the sound of mother and son still remained, the fishermen who were singing and began to work found that the dim light was still shining (鄰夢醒而殘音未歇,漁謳動而微火猶明).” The author subsequently lamented, “The story is so popular now. I can hardly forget this scenario (故事流傳,此情此景,不能忘也). “

The author encouraged people to devote themselves to implementing filial piety during their parent’s life time, in such way the ultimate Filial Piety (Da Xiao, 大孝) mentioned by Mencius (孟子,372-289 BC) could be fulfilled. In Chapter of Wan Zhang Part I of Book of Mencius (《孟子‧萬章上》), it was mentioned that “ultimate filial piety is to care for parents for one’s life time (大孝終身慕父母).” This indicated that filial piety is a matter of one’s life time, but not enthusiasm that only lasts for a short period of time. Therefore, the author Wu Xiqi finally lamented, “one must achieve the excellence in order to fulfill one’s lifetime caring for their parents. (要皆高世之才,不愧終身之慕).” Contemporary master of couplet texts, Prof. Cheung Yan-ching (張仁青), commented this piece of writing as a masterpiece in world literature. “This work from Ke-ren (translator’s note: 殼人, Ke-ren is the other name of Wu Xiqi) described in detail about how the widow taught her child while she was sewing. This reflected the sincerity and care from the mother, the deep love that was without limit, as well as such emotion in words. Therefore, for so many years, those with good human nature felt so touched that they got teary after reading this story.  Oh, this could be regarded as an ultimate masterpiece in the world’s literature!” (穀人此作,獨寫寡母鳴機夜課一事,而慈親懇惻,無盡之深恩厚愛,盡由肺腑流注紙上,千秋萬世含生之倫,讀之未有不泣下霑襟者。嗚乎,此其所以為天地間之至文歟!).

Prof. Ho Cheung Wing

Ho Cheung Wing was born in Hong Kong, Philosophy of Doctor of Peking University.
He is mainly researching in the field of Shi Jing, Chu Ci, Fu, Pianwen, literary criticism and Pre-Chin philosophy.
He has published four academic books, three anthologies and thirty pieces of papers.
He is now working as a Professor in Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Director of Chinese Pianwen Society.


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