In his section on "Educating Children," Yan Zhitui wrote of a literatus of the Qi dynasty who taught his son the language of the Xianbei (the nationality of the ruling family) and how to play the pipa (Chinese lute), and took great pride in the fact that "all of the court officials dote on my child." Yan found this to be reprehensible.
顏之推在「教子」篇裡提到，齊朝有一個士大夫，教他十七歲的孩子講鮮卑語和彈琵琶，還很得意孩子能「伏事公卿，無不寵愛」，顏之推對此表示深惡痛絕。