The sixteen-character calligraphy work of Zeng Guofan’s family motto is a calligraphy and painting. The sixteen-character motto on the calligraphy and painting is: A frugal family will prosper, and a diligent person will be healthy; if you can be diligent and frugal, you will never be poor! This calligraphy is written on antique gold-sprinkled rice paper, cut in half on a shakuhachi screen (116 x 51 cm).

It means: If a family stays simple, it will be able to prosper; if a person stays hardworking, he will be healthy; if a family can be hardworking and frugal, then life will never be poor! It can be said that the central connotations of these sixteen words are "diligence" and "thrift"!

Zeng Guofan’s understanding of these two words is very profound. For a person to succeed and for a family to continue, the most important thing is to do this: when you are rich, you must not be dissolute, and when you are poor, you must not be degenerate. Only by maintaining the true nature of diligence and thrift can the family prosper and be passed down forever.

Zeng Guofan (November 26, 1811 - March 12, 1872), originally named Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan, and nickname Disheng, was a native of Xiangxiang, Changsha Prefecture, Hunan, and the 70th ancestor of Zengzi. Sun. A famous statesman, strategist, Neo-Confucianist, writer, calligrapher in modern China, and the founder and commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army. Together with Hu Linyi, he is known as "Zeng Hu", and together with Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and Zhang Zhidong, he is known as "the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty and Zhongxing".

Zeng Guofan was also one of the leaders of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. He actively introduced Western military equipment, science and technology, and production machinery. He successively established the Anqing Ordnance Institute, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, etc., and requested the dispatch of young children. Study abroad in the United States.