Confucianism, Family Instructions, and the “Great Tradition and Little Tradition”

As the “great tradition and little tradition,” the elite culture of the intellectual class and the folk culture of rural common people delineate two developmental trajectories in the history of Chinese culture, proceeding in parallel without contradiction and complementing each other. Confucianism, as the mainstream of the “great tradition,” finds its corresponding “little tradition” in clan regulations and family instructions ( jiaxun , 家训). Family instructions were both an important means of education in ancient times and an integral component of excellent traditional culture. Their emergence, evolution, and development have always been intertwined with Confucianism. Confucianism established the fundamental tone of family instructions, including “setting an example through personal conduct” ( yi shen chuifan , 以身垂范) and “cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to all under Heaven” ( xiu qi zhi ping , 修齐治平). Conversely, family instructions reflect from another perspective the different epochal characteristics of Confucianism, such as “the confluence of Confucianism and Daoism” ( ru dao heliu , 儒道合流), “incorporating Buddhism into Confucianism” ( yuan fo ru ru , 援佛入儒), and “subsuming Buddhism and Daoism under Confucianism” ( yi ru she shi dao , 以儒摄释道). More importantly, Confucianism and family instructions did not confine themselves within the boundaries of the great tradition and little tradition but achieved bidirectional interaction. Confucianism and family instructions arrive at the same destination by different paths, enabling the organic integration of China’s “great tradition and little tradition”. The mutual reflection between Confucianism as a resource for governance and family instructions as a means of cultivating people through ritual has significant implications for the revival of Confucianism in the new era and for fostering cultural self-awareness among the populace.