The Twenty four Filial Exemplars

Authorship

The text is generally attributed to Guo Jujing (郭居敬) but other sources suggested two other possible authors or editors: Guo Shouzheng (郭守正) and Guo Juye (郭居業).

History

Some of the stories in The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars were taken from other texts such as the Xiaozi Zhuan (孝子傳), Yiwen Leiju, Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era and In Search of the Supernatural.

There were earlier precedents of The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars. A Buddhist bianwen titled Ershisi Xiao Yazuowen (二十四孝押座文), which was among the manuscripts discovered in Dunhuang's Mogao Caves, is the oldest extant text related to the The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars. During the Southern Song dynasty, the artist Zhao Zigu (趙子固) drew a painting, Ershisi Xiao Shuhua Hebi (二十四孝書畫合璧), about the The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars. During the Yuan dynasty, the scholar Xie Yingfang (謝應芳) mentioned in Gui Chao Ji (龜巢集) that a certain Wang Dashan (王達善) once praised The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars and the Classic of Filial Piety. During the Qing dynasty, Wu Zhengxiu (吳正修) mentioned in Ershisi Xiao Gu Ci (二十四孝鼓詞) that the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars were very well known.

After the release of The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars, revised editions of the text and other similar works were published. Some of these include: Riji Gushi Daquan Ershisi Xiao (日記故事大全二十四孝; Complete Diary Stories of the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars), Nü Ershisi Xiao (女二十四孝; Female Twenty-four Filial Exemplars), and Nan Nü Ershisi Xiao (男女二十四孝; Male and Female Twenty-four Filial Exemplars).

The philologist Yang Bojun mentioned the development of The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars in Jingshu Qiantan (經書淺談). After the book was compiled by Guo Shouzheng during the Yuan dynasty, a new illustrated edition with drawings by Wang Kexiao (王克孝) was released, and this made the book even more popular. Towards the end of the Qing dynasty, Zhang Zhidong and others edited and expanded the book and released it as Bai Xiao Tu Shuo (百孝圖說; Illustrated Hundred Stories of Filial Piety).

Evaluation

The concept of filial piety has played a strong role in Chinese culture since ancient times. There was also a tradition of filial mourning, in which a person had to temporarily put aside whatever he/she was doing when his/her parent(s) died and mourn for three years. There were sayings such as "When a ruler wants a subject to die, the subject must die; when a father wants a son to die, the son must die", and "A loyal subject should be sought from a family with filial sons."

However, in contemporary times, some stories in The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars are regarded as negative examples. These stories include the extreme example of Guo Ju deciding to kill his son so that he could free up his son's share of the family's food consumption to feed his mother. The negative examples also include stories in which the protagonist harms himself in the process of fulfilling filial piety, such as Wu Meng allowing mosquitoes to suck his blood in the hope that they would not bother his parents, and Wang Xiang lying naked on ice to thaw the ice so that he could catch fish for his mother.

There are some stories which are heavily criticised and even deemed contrary to Confucian principles. One example is the story of Cai Shun being rewarded by the Chimei rebels for his filial piety. The story paints the rebels in a positive light when they actually violated the Confucian virtue of loyalty to one's country. Another example is the story of Laolaizi behaving in a childish manner to amuse his parents. The modern writer Lu Xun said that Laolaizi's story is "an insult to the ancients, and a bad influence on future generations".