清代女性課子書舉要

清代女性的課子作品大概有三類：課子詩文、課子書和課子圖。本文只論清代女性課子書。其中一類以庭訓格言傳授道德，另一類以詩歌吟詠誘導人生。這些課子書中雖有相對閒逸的生活和教子情趣，但最爲突出的內容應是寬嚴相濟、語重心長的訓課叮嚀。課子書比較散見於集部的課子吟詠篇什更能呈現出母教的權威價值，而其引發的思考課題也極多。

Women in Qing dynasty mainly employed three artistic and/or literary genres to convey instructional messages to their children: kezi shiwen (parent’s lesson in the form of poetry and prosaic writings), kezi shu (parent’s lesson in the form of books) and kezi tu (parent’s lesson in the form of painting). This article only deals with the second genre, namely, parent’s lesson books.

The parent’s lesson books can be further classified into two main categories. The first category is some kind of instruction books in which the mother authors directed their children to uphold certain values and morality in life by providing them with practical guidance. The second category is mainly a collection of poetry with themes centring on guiding their children to live out their lives. Although works of the second category may contain descriptions of some peaceful and joyful episodes of life in particular the fun these mothers enjoyed in teaching their own children, the most outstanding works are those where the instructions to the children and the expectation of the same by the anxious mother authors are expressed in a mix of solemn and light-hearted styles and themes. In general, in comparison with the individual poems scattered in anthologies and collected works, the parent’s lesson books are a better source for the study of the authoritative image of mothers in Qing China. They are also a great resource for meaningful research studies.