Confucius say…

Anybody who knows anything about China will likely know a thing or two about Confucius, that most superior of superior men and most sagacious of sages, whose thought is in large part acknowledged to have strongly influenced China all the way from the Han Dynasty, through the Qing, and up to the present day.

What exactly, however, do those thoughts encompass? I'm just going to go into a cursory explanation of Confucianism ideas about society and ethics here, as opposed to Confucianism the system of religious belief, although it can with some justification be described as both, but I know next to nothing about the latter.

What is often considered the most influential aspect of Confucian thought in modern China is the system of social relationships, of which there are five core archetypes, those being the relationships between:

1.A Ruler and his Subject

2.The Parent and the Child

3.A Husband and his Wife

4.Elder and Younger Brothers

5.Friends

Confucius did not merely identify these relationships as important; that they are should be fairly obvious to everybody. It was, however, the way in which he believed these parties should act toward one another that is significant, in that he assigned specific duties to each participant in the above relationships. For example, you may have been told that the concept of 'Confucian' filial piety is an important concept in China. This entails something much more than basic dutifulness. For example, were a son to find fault with his father, then no matter how egregious the wrong, the son must point this out with the utmost respect and remaining submissive throughout. In Confucian theory, social harmony can be brought about by people first of all knowing their place in these social orders and relationships, and secondly following that up by adhering to the prescribed 'rules' which govern those relationships.

This might seem somewhat strange in that it seems to ossify hierarchies and limit social mobility. However, in Confucian systems of thought, what would appear to be a more important measure of true quality is not the place of a man in society, be he an Emperor or a farmer, but rather his virtues, of which again, in the Confucian system, there are five central ones, these being:

1.仁 "Humaneness"

2.义 "Righteousness"

3.礼 "Ritual Propriety"

4.智 "Knowledge"

5.信 "Integrity"