Shengyu guangxun 聖諭廣訓

Shengyu guangxun 聖諭廣訓 "Imperial ddicts and far-reaching instructions" is a book on education written by the Kangxi Emperor 康熙帝 (r. 1661-1722) of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911). The short text consists of two parts, namely the Imperial Edicts (Shengyu), being sixteen paragraphs written by the Kangxi Emperor himself, and the Far-Reaching Instructions (Guangxun) issued by his son Prince In Jen (Ch. Yinzhen 胤禎), the eventual Yongzheng Emperor 雍正帝 (r. 1722-1735). In its arrangement, the Guangxun belongs to the text of "family instructions" (jiaxun 家訓), yet instead of the sons and daughters, the people are addressed to. The people as the children, and the emperor as their father, had to live and act in a unified spirit.

The book covers a large panorama of themes and is written in a very simple language that the commoner might also understand. The text is to be found in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

Fig. 1. Page from the Shengyu guangxun 聖諭廣訓

Siku quanshu edition 四庫全書. The elevated words at the top are words referring or in connection with the emperor.