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Preface to the Genealogy of the He Family from Qingyuan
Created by: Yung-chang Tung
Title: |
Preface to the Genealogy of the He Family from Qingyuan |
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Text: |
Preface to the Genealogy of the He Family from Qingyuan Our purpose in compiling the genealogy is to teach benevolence and love and to strengthen [an awareness of having a common] origin. If we study [the genealogy] from the perspective of benevolence and love, their meanings are complete [in it]: when we open and read a genealogy, [the records of] who was born to whom are full of the familial affection between father and son; [the records of] who and who were brothers are full of the righteousness between brothers; [when the genealogy records] who married which woman, the way of husband and wife is illuminated; [when it records] who was the first and who was the second in seniority, the order of seniority is clarified; [when it records] who served at which court, and whether he maintained his integrity ordied for righteousness, helped promote vitrtue and effected government policy, assisted Xun and Hua,[1] was upright and diligent and extended his love [to the populace], had his name recorded [in history] and had extraordinary achievements, is not the principle of the relationship between ruler and minister brightly illuminated? The genealogy completely embodies the principles of human relations. It is not only for the purpose of uniting the distant so that they become close and of arousing love in the heart. As for our He lineage: after [the descendants of our first ancestor] Tang Shu proliferated and changed the surname to He, theyspread across the land. ThoseYingchuan [in modern After the Gentleman Badi the lineage divided into various branches, and from it we learn the many different branches [of the lineage]. However, if we trace back to the root and pursue the source, we learn that the root is one. When one reads the genealogy, the affection for the relatives wells up in his heart. We who are listed in the same genealogy are in contact during the course of the year, celebrating happy events and grieving for misfortune. When we cannot bear to see others impoverished benevolence can be aroused; when we cannot bear to see others in trouble righteousness can be aroused; when we cannot bear to see others enmity for each other cordiality can be aroused. Let us unite the thousands of people [in our lineage] and maintain the custom of benevolence and kindness together! Do not boast of our ancestors for fame; do not bring the lineage together for extravagant expenditures. There are many examples in the world of those who once forced the populace into submission and bullied them and who acted tyrannically in villages, but in the end destroyed their lineages and families. Alas! Should we not be fearful? Thus I also mention this to warn our descendants. In the tenth month of the fifth year of the Longqing reign period, the xinwei year (1571), Respectfully written by Qiren, descendant of the thirteenth generation, a Tribute Student [1] Xun and Hua refer to the sage kings [2] Weizi was the elder brother of the evil Zhou [紂], the last king of the Shang, and remonstrated Zhou [紂] in ca. 1000 B.C. When Zhou would not listen Weizi understood that the Shang would soon be destroyed; he took the sacrificial vessels and fled. After it conquered the Shang, the Zhou dynasty enfeoffed Weizi so that he could continue making offerings to the Shang ancestors. |
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Collection: | Guodong text |
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