Collection News | Mr. Tang Tingshui, the 13th-generation direct descendant of Tang Xianzu, has donated three works to our museum.

On April 30, 2025, Mr. Tang Tingshui, the 13th-generation direct descendant of Tang Xianzu, donated three handwritten works related to the Tang Xianzu family to our institution: the Genealogical Chart of Tang Xianzu’s Descendants, the Development Chart of the Wenchang Tang Clan’s Genealogical Record titled “The Tang Xianzu Family,” and the Seven Precepts of the Wenchang Tang Clan’s Family Instructions, also part of the “Tang Xianzu Family” genealogical record. This donation has further enriched our collection of historical research materials. The museum extended its heartfelt gratitude to the elderly gentleman and presented him with a certificate of acquisition.

As early as the time of their first ancestor, Tang Boqing, the Tang clan established a Confucian family code emphasizing both farming and scholarly pursuits as the foundation of the household. Over subsequent generations, this code was continually refined, eventually taking shape as twelve family precepts and seven admonitions. The seven admonitions instruct the descendants of the Tang clan to maintain proper relationships among fathers and sons, brothers, spouses, friends, elders and juniors, and guests, with all conduct and speech conforming to the rites and proprieties of Confucianism.

Tang Xianzu upheld his family’s ancestral precepts and imposed strict standards on his descendants. His household maxims are largely expressed in his poetic admonitions; for instance, in “A Poem to My Son, Encouraging Ambition,” he writes, “Cherish your youth and strive to accomplish great deeds throughout the world,” urging his children to set lofty goals, treasure their time, and never grow lax. In “Two Poems to My Aged Son,” he declares, “Leisurely idleness is no true calling for a son; it is far better to return home and learn to till the fields,” thereby teaching his offspring to value agriculture and sericulture and to take pride in labor. These poems are marked by sincere emotion and profound meaning, inviting readers to reflect deeply.