Family tradition, or family customary moral standard, refers to the attitudes and way of life passed on from generation to generation in a family. It is the value criterion set up by the ancestors of a family. In Zhuxi Town, Kaizhou District, Chongqing stands a group of Family Tradition Steles of some 150 years ago. Incredibly, the inscriptions on the steles remain intact and bright.

The three steles, 1.3m high and 0.8m wide each, are embedded in a wall in Lai’s Courtyard, Tuanfeng Village, Zhuxi Town. Most houses here, having gone through historical vicissitudes, have collapsed or been damaged. The steles are preserved well. Inscriptions thereon, still legible and neat, record the moral standards of family Lai.

Rules such as filial piety and fraternal duty, living in harmony, and no insobriety are clearly documented on the steles. According to Mr. Lai Keyu, who grew up in the courtyard, Lai’s Courtyard, the family’s ancestral temple, was built during the Tongzhi period in the Qing Dynasty.

Since the family tradition was inscribed on the steles, it has been strictly implemented by the family. Any offspring who breaks the rules will be punished as prescribed on the steles. As time passes by, although the ancestral temple has been damaged, and the steles have been weathered, the family has strictly kept their tradition and will continue to inherit it to the next generations.

Mirroring the excellent customs of the Lai family, these steles provide cultural relic reference for the study of the family traditions, folk customs, and moral standards in east Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty.