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Shenglü qimeng 聲律啟蒙

Nov 19, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Shenglü qimeng 聲律啟蒙 "Textbook written in regular rhymes" is a textbook for primary teaching compiled by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Che Wanyu 車萬育 (1632-1705), courtesy name Shuangting 雙亭, style Hetian 鶴田. He hailed from Shaoyang 邵陽, Henan, and obtained his jinshi degree in 1664 and was supervising censor for military affairs (bingke jishizhong 兵科給事中).

The book is written in rhymes that constitute single words, or short phrases with three, five or seven syllables. They speak about the basic moral values, the seasons and agricultural work, plants and animals, tools and objects, geography, history and social relationships. It was first printed in 1888, but there were many different editions in circulation. Quite commonly found is a 2-juan version with 30 chapters whose titles correspond to the ancient pingshui rhymes 平水韻 (see Guangyun 廣韻).

Sources:
Gu Mingyuan 顧明遠, ed. (1998). Jiaoyu da cidian 教育大辭典 (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe), Vol. 2, 1388.
Jiaoyu da cidian bianzuan weiyuanhui 《教育大辭典》編纂委員會, ed. (1991). Jiaoyu da cidian 教育大辭典, Part 8, Zhongguo gudai jiaoyu shi 中國古代教育史 (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe), Vol. 2, 219.
Li Junfang 李俊芳 (2013). "Zhongguo gudai mengxue jiaocai de xiandai jiaoyu jiazhi yanjiu: Yi Shenglü qimeng wei li 中國古代蒙學教材的現代教育價值研究——以《聲律啟蒙》為例", Wenxue jiaoyu (zhong) 文學教育(中), 2013 (1).
Zhang Jian & Chen Dandan (2014). "Primers and Poetry in Ancient China: Shenglü fameng and Beyond", Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture 1/1–2: 186-215.