Five Hereditary Rules

Chen Hongmou was a jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) in the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty. He worked as Provincial Administrative Commissioner, Grand Coordinator, Governor, Grand Secretary of East Cabinet and Minister of Works. During the over thirty years in office, he worked in twelve provinces in twenty-one official positions, made excellent achievements in his official career and was praised highly by Emperor Qianlong. He compiled Five Hereditary Rules and Collection of Peiyuan Hall, etc. during his lifetime. We are now looking at the book Five Hereditary Rules, which is composed of five sections, namely Hereditary Rules in Uprightness Cultivation, Hereditary Rules in Raising Daughters, Hereditary Rules in Admonishing Secularity, Hereditary Rules in Official Career and Admonishment for Officials. It was compiled based on about 80 famous ministers’ and scholars' statements from Han to Qing, the content of which covered enlightenment, self-cultivation, bringing up daughters, regulating family and culturing moral character. The book was used as a text material of Self-Cultivation Department of academies.