The Gia huấn ca (chữ Hán: 家訓歌 The Family Training Ode) is a 976-line Chinese language verse text traditionally ascribed to the Vietnamese Confucian scholar Nguyễn Trãi (阮廌, 1380–1442).
The full printed title is Lê triều Nguyễn tướng công Gia huấn ca (Familial Instructions Put in Verse by Minister Nguyen Trai of the Le Court).
The content follows traditional Chinese Confucian lines in subordination of women: "When young, obey your father; when married, your husband; and when old, your son.", and also in the filial piety of children. The book was heavily promoted by Vietnam's Nguyen dynasty, as it faced the challenges of modernization in the 19th century, and became part of the tensions underlying the independence and later revolutionary movements. However, the manual continues to illustrate some of the roots of female roles in Vietnam today.
References
- David G Marr Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920-1945 1984 Page 194 "One of the more interesting examples of coherent feminine instruction was Gia Huan Ca (Family Training Ode), traditionally ascribed to Nguyen Trai, the renowned fifteenth-century strategist, statesman, writer, and moralist. Written in nova..."
- Mark W. McLeod, Nguyen Thi Dieu Culture and Customs of Vietnam 2001 Page 68 "Despite his alienation from court life, Nguyen Trai's philosophical orientation remained Confucian-influenced as evidenced by another major nom work attributed to him, the Le Trieu Tuong Cong Nguyen Trai Gia Huan Ca (Familial Instructions Put in Verse by Minister Nguyen Trai of the Le Court). This didactic poem of 976 lines stresses the obligations of..."
- Patricia M. Pelley Postcolonial Vietnam: New Histories of the National Past - 2002 Page 279 "Minh Tranh's impressions of Nguyễn Trãi and the morality text (Gia huấn ca) are not universally shared. Nguyen Tran Huan and Maurice Durand, for example, argue that its vocabulary suggests..."
- Walter H. Slote, George A. De Vos Confucianism & the Family 1998 - Page 146 "As the Gia huan ca says, "the word 'follow' describes the fate of a woman." Or as in another line — "When young, obey your father; when married, your husband; and when old, your son.". The Gia huan ca advises Vietnamese children to follow the orthodoxy: Regarding parents Father's relatives and mother's relatives are the same, Don't favor one side ..."
- Mina Roces, Louise Edwards Women's Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism 2010 -- Page 126 "The Nguyen-led dynasty promoted a Confucian-inspired book of 'manners', the Gia Huan Ca (Family Training Ode). An exposition of 'proper' female behaviour, the Gia Huan Ca outlines the principles designed to shape perfect daughters and ..."
- Hue Tam Ho Tai Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution 1996 - Page 93 "Women's lives were circumscribed by injunctions and taboos which filled manual upon manual of "family education in verse" (gia huan ca). They constituted a flourishing literary subgenre which went as far back as the fifteenth century, the ..."
- Lisa Barbara Welch Drummond, Helle Rydstrøm Gender Practices In Contemporary Vietnam 2004 - Page 69 "Gia Huan Ca is traditionally attributed to Nguyen Trai, a renowned strategist, statesman and scholar in the early fifteenth century (Marr 1981). 6. The translation of this family training manual is taken from Hue Tam Ho Tai's Radicalism and the ..."
- Barbara Watson Andaya The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia 2006- Page 198 "Awaiting further historical research are the written guides for training daughters in wellborn families, like the nom poem Gia huan ca (Familial instructions in verse) attributed (with some reservations) to the fifteenth- century Vietnamese ..."