From Zhu Bailu's "Zhu Zi's Motto of Managing the Family" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
Vernacular interpretation: it is not easy to get a porridge and a meal; One should always think that it is very difficult to produce these things. It means that food and clothing are hard-won and cannot be wasted.
Family Instructions of Zhu Zi, also known as Family Instructions of Zhu Zi and Family Instructions of Zhu Bailu, is an enlightening textbook focusing on family morality. Zhuzi's Family Instructions is only 525 words, which brilliantly expounds the ways of self-cultivation and family management, and is a masterpiece of family education.
Many of these contents have inherited the excellent features of China traditional culture, such as respecting teachers and valuing morality, diligent housekeeping, living in harmony with neighbors, and so on, which are still of practical significance today.
The extended information Family Instructions (also known as Family Instructions of Zhu Zi, Family Instructions of Zhu Zi and Family Instructions of Zhu Bailu) contains 524 words. The text is easy to understand, the content is concise and well prepared, and the antithesis is neat and catchy. Since its publication, it spread like wildfire and became a well-known godson in the Qing Dynasty.
Some of these epigrams, such as "a porridge and a meal, are not easy to think about;" Half-silk and half-wisp, persistent thinking about material difficulties, "prepare for a rainy day and dig a well without thirst" still has educational significance today.
Zhuzi's Family Instructions, with the aim of "self-cultivation" and "keeping the family in order", is a master of the Confucian way of life, with profound thoughts and profound implications. The whole content of Zhu Zi's Family Instructions is to persuade people to manage their families diligently.
Talking about China's moral education thought formed in thousands of years can be expressed in the form of famous sayings and epigrams, which can be taught orally or written as couplets to be hung in doors, halls and bedrooms as the motto of managing families and educating children.
So it is very popular with bureaucrats, gentry and literati. It has been widely circulated since it came out, and it has been honored as a "classic of family management" by scholars of past dynasties. It was once one of the required textbooks for children from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.