勸善書是中國社會廣泛流傳的宗教通俗讀物，它是匯聚儒家道德觀與佛道宗教觀的載體，既有儒家道德教化亦兼具宗教神秘色彩，成為封建時代傳播社會教育的重要媒介。然而，勸善書往往依附於「神道設教」的宗教崇拜，吸引人民對於無形神靈力量的集體崇拜，以及傳遞「善惡有報」的宗教觀念，引導信眾願意積極的為善去惡。是以在中國傳統社會中，不論是接受過學校教育的知識分子，或是教育程度不高的庶民階級，大多願意接受勸善書內容所傳播的道德規範以及行為約束力，希冀獲得善書所給予的未來美好的種種保證。因此，勸善書在中國傳統社會的傳播流行，不僅是將其所承載的思想與知識普及於社會大眾，更能有效指導社會大眾如何實踐道德與改正偏失，可以說是中國傳統社會中落實社會教育的表現方式。

Goodness-advocated Books are the widely spread religious books in the Chinese society, which consolidate the Confucius moral and Buddhist values. It’s a combination of Confucius morality and religious mystery, which became a key media to spread the social education in the Feudal Society. However, Goodness-advocated Books always have an attachment to religious worship in divinity to attract people to collectively worship the mysterious power of deities and gods. It delivers a concept of “What comes around goes around” which leads the devotees to act actively on doing good deeds. Therefore in the Chinese society, either the educated intellectuals or the uneducated common people are mostly willing to abide by the moral guidance in the Goodness-advocated Books, with hopes to receive all the good karmas in return promised in the Books. Hence the popularity of the Goodness-Advocated Books in the Chinese traditional Society are not only to pass down the thoughts and knowledge to the society but also to teach the multitude how to practice moral values and correct their wrong doing. The Books have been seen as an approach in Chinese traditional society to practice their social education.