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Zengguang xianwen 增廣賢文

Sep 14, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Zengguang xianwen 增廣賢文 "Enlarged writings of worthies" is a book on primary education. The short text is an enlarged edition of an earlier version called Xishi xianwen 昔時賢文 "Writings of worthies from old times" or Gujin xianwen 古今賢文 "Writings of worthies from ancient and modern times". When the original version and the enlarged text were compiled, and by whom, is unknown.

In includes aphorisms, proverbs, popular sayings and famous quotations, mostly focusing on daily life, social relationships, and patterns of decent behaviour.

The Zengguang xianwen was circulating in different versions and different texts, but in all editions the text is written in rhymed pairs of sentences. The quality and structure of the various paragraphs differs widely and makes it a very heterogeneous book, but it was nevertheless widely circulating during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911). During the Tongzhi reign-period 同治 (1862-1874), Zhou Xitao 周希陶 rearranged the book and ameliorated the textual quality. The most important edition was published by the Shanghai Putong Shuju 上海普通書局.

Sources:
Chen Ying 陳瑛, Xu Qixian 許啟賢, ed. (1989). Zhongguo lunli da cidian 中國倫理大辭典 (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe), 707.
Liu Shaohua 劉韶華 (2003). "Zengguang xianwen zhong de zhexue 《增廣賢文》中的哲學", Zhongxue zhengzhi jiaoxue cankao 中學政治教學參考, 2003 (8).
Liu Ying 劉瑩 (2012). "Zengguan xianwen zhong de dushu sixiang 《增廣賢文》中的讀書思想", Shanxi Shida xuebao (Shehui kexue ban) 山西師大學報(社會科學版), 2012 (11).
Wang Wenbao 王文寶 (1997). "Zengguang xianwen 增廣賢文", in Men Kui 門巋, Zhang Yanjin 張燕瑾, ed. Zhonghua guocui da cidian 中華國粹大辭典 (Xianggang: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi), 284.
Zhao Hongxin 趙宏欣 (2017). "Chuantong mengxue de jiaoyu linian: Yi Sanzijing, Qianziwen, Zengguang xianwen wei li 傳統蒙學的教育理念——以《三字經》《千字文》《增廣賢文》為例", Shangqiu Zhiye Jishu Xueyuan xuebao 商丘職業技術學院學報, 2017 (2).