Interestingly, you would think that, living under a system of civil service examinations in which formal learning was the best path to success, most of the gentry would have embraced the motto "nothing is of value except learning." Yet, despite the enormous space dedicated to self-cultivation in family precepts, there are few sections encouraging studiousness.
在科舉制度下，「萬般皆下品，唯有讀書高」應該是仕紳階級的普遍想法，不過家訓中「修齊之道」談得多，勉學讀書的篇章反倒不算最多。