A synthesis of educational chanted rules: The chapter Xuntong men 訓童門 in riyong leishu 日用類書

Among the many chapters on all human knowledge provided by the 1612 encyclopedia entitled Xin ban zengbu tianxia bian yong wenlin miao jin wanbao quanshu (The marvelous, precious, newly edited and supplemented “Complete Book of Myriad Treasures” of literati for the convenient use of all), there is also one on infant education. In the introduction of the chapter, the author stresses the importance of education, and how it can transform a person’s life. Therefore, what were the recommended teaching strategies for raising virtuous children? What was the common etiquette for a child to follow in seventeenth-century China? What analogy or difference does it have in comparison to previous pedagogical literature? This paper, by means of the partial English translation of the encyclopedic chapter Xuntong men (section for educating children), tries to answer these questions by analyzing the educational precepts, their roots anchored in the Chinese pedagogical literature and the use of rhymes such as erge, geyao, as an effective teaching strategy to make the precepts simpler and catchy. The selected case study represents a model example of printed text which belongs to the genre riyong leishu (a collection of texts for daily-use), encyclopedias that circulated widely in late Ming and early Qing China, and reflects what was then the most widespread and common knowledge in the pedagogical field recommended for self-study. The chapter which is focused on teaching children also represents the fusion of Confucian educational concepts and the practical nature characteristic of daily-use encyclopedias.