author
Zhitui Yan
531–591
A scholar and government official who lived through some of the most turbulent years of early medieval China, he is best remembered for writing Family Instructions for the Yan Clan, a practical and deeply human guide to learning, conduct, and family life.
6 Audiobooks
顔氏家訓 — Volume 01 and 02
by Zhitui Yan
顔氏家訓 — Volume 03 and 04
by Zhitui Yan
顔氏家訓
by Zhitui Yan
顔氏家訓
by Zhitui Yan
顔氏家訓 — Volume 05 and 06
by Zhitui Yan
顔氏家訓
by Zhitui Yan
About the author
Born in 531, Yan Zhitui was a Chinese writer, scholar, and official who served under several regimes during the Northern and Southern dynasties. Sources describe him as a remarkably versatile figure: not only a prose writer, but also someone associated with calligraphy, painting, and music.
His lasting fame rests on Family Instructions for the Yan Clan (Yanshi Jiaxun), a work of advice for his descendants that ranges across education, ethics, language, daily habits, and the challenges of public life. The book has endured because it feels both practical and personal, preserving the voice of a learned man trying to pass on hard-earned wisdom.
Yan Zhitui lived through war, political change, and displacement, and that experience gives his writing unusual depth. Even centuries later, readers still turn to him for a vivid glimpse of family values, scholarship, and survival in medieval China.