Yan Zhitui

Yan Zhitui (531–591), courtesy name Jie, was a native of Linyi in Langya who was born in Jiankang and became a renowned man of letters and educator during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. He served five dynasties in turn—Liang, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou and Sui—and witnessed the fall of three of them, a life of hardship that gave him broad experience. In his later years he wrote the seven-volume, twenty-chapter Admonitions for the Yan Clan, the first dedicated work of family instruction in China. Addressing such themes as teaching children, encouraging learning, admiring worthies and phonology, it sets out in plain and earnest prose how to conduct oneself and manage a household, while also recording northern and southern customs and scholarly strengths and weaknesses; its influence on later family-instruction literature was profound. His other works include The Record of Wronged Souls and The Fu on Observing My Life. Spanning biography, philosophy and folk literature, his writings are important sources for understanding the thought and family culture of medieval scholars.