Key Chinese values: Confucianism and its legacy What personal qualities were a women in classical China supposed to exhibit? What were her prescribed responsibilities? To what extent were normative gender roles for women in classical India similar? To what extent they were different? A lot of Chinese viewpoint were created early, as culture emerged along the Yellow River before 1000 B.C .E. One such idea strained the significance of agreement in and with environment around the idea of the Way which e may say described a fair and controlled way of life. More recognized systems of attention developed afterward, if we see in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C, for the period of a separated and anxious period of Chinese politics. A variety of thinkers sought way to shore up a physically powerful political system or survive without one. Of the resultant philosophies or religions, Confucianism proved the majority of durable and noteworthy. Deemed by students a "Divine Sage," Confucius (Kong Fuzi) (ca. 551-479 B.c.a) was founder of ~ humanistic school of philosophy that accessible Zhou China a societal and political culture consequent from idealized values of the history (al. 2012) As a therapy for the political chaos of his age, the well-known teacher deserted the depraved aristocratic code and accessible in its lay an ethical system which largely focused on personality moral conduct, politeness, sacrament and kindness. In conflict that the basics of good government and the well-being of society rested on person ethical behavior, Confucius urged the monarch and his other assistants, the junzi (gentlemen), to give moral examples for the public at large. Confucius supposed and also believed the gathering of modest, astute, polite, and right... ... middle of paper ... ...d method and it was before. Confucianism is not the easy part. Its function should neither be overcome. What is mainly critical here is to discharge the past growth of the tradition, with a number of concentration to the way in which the yin-yang hypothesis was interpreted, and which also resulted in the necessary of gender roles; the second thing is to differentiate among normative texts and real societal practice; and the third to take notice that it was just politicized Confucianism that turn out to be the follower of a cruelly patriarchal society. An inflexible societal hierarchy, of which the gender hierarchy was an element, was one way of preserving and maintaining an established society. Work cited al., Peter N. Stearns et. Documents in World History, volume I: The Great Traditions: From Ancient Times to 1500, 6th edn . Boston: Pearson, 2012.
The philosophies of ancient China had a major impact on their society. Three major philosophies of China all developed during the same period. These included Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. During this time, there were power struggles between warring kingdoms, and this resulted in political uncertainly. While all three philosophies had an impact on ancient China and presented different ways of life for society, Confucianism stands out above the rest. Confucianism had the greatest impact on the development of social order and political organization, and greatly impacted the way people lived in ancient China.
"Confucian Teachings." Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. Ed. Patricia Buckley Ebrey. New York: The Free Press, 1993. 17-26.
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
If history has taught us anything, it is that societies have never readily accepted women as being equal to men. This has never been as evident as in traditional Asian societies. In China specifically, the consequences of being born female in traditional Chinese society can be found in traditional literature, traveller’s tales, personal recollections and scattered statistics mostly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries . Women’s behaviour, in traditional Chinese society, had been strictly governed by a moral code and certain social customs that separated them from men. This paper attempts to illustrate the role that women in traditional Chinese society played. It argues that women in China during this time were relegated to a secondary
Confucianism has been a part of Chinese culture for over a thousand years. Many who have studied Confucianism would say that it is not a religion. It is better described as a philosophy or moral code. The philosophy of Confucianism comes mainly from the speeches and writings of Confucius, a great Chinese thinker and educator. He believed that Humanity, Rite, Neutrality, Virtue, Education, and Cultivation were the basis of human behavior. In addition, Confucius felt that this philosophy was the best way for people to behave and interact with others in society.
Confucian culture, also known as Confucianism, was founded by Confucius during the Spring and Autumn Period, which was developed gradually after the Han Dynasty with benevolence as the core. Since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism was the official ideology and the basis of mainstream ideology in the vast majority of historical periods of China, and it also influenced many southeast Asian countries in history. After a variety of shocks, Confucianism was still the core values of China's social public, and represented the Chinese culture and national tradition in the world (Littlejohn, 2010). In the contemporary society, the Confucian culture in China increasingly spread, at the same time, its modern value is excavated by many countries in the world, and its international influence is also growing with the rise of China.
Since Confucius lived over 2000 years ago, one might assume that is ideas might be archaic and useless in today’s society. This, however, is far from the truth. The ideas and thoughts of Confucius can still apply today. This is even so in the government. Confucius’s views on humanity (jen) and governing by personal virtue can be useful in governing a modern society.
Confucius (551–479 B.C.) was a Chinese philosopher and founder of the Confucian school of thought, which greatly influenced political and social life in China. His teachings are known primarily through the Analects of Confucius, a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which was compiled many years after his death. Although he didn’t write any books, his students did the writing based on his teachings and millions of people still rely on Confucius's philosophy as a guide to live. Until the twentieth century, Confucianism was the state religion of China. Confucius (Master K'ung Ch'iu), His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism or Daoism. Legalism was a third Chinese philosophy, a Classical Chinese philosophy that emphasizes the need for order above all other human concerns. At the other extreme was the philosophy known as Legalism. Proponents of Legalism did not concern themselves with Confucian values of ethical and mor...
The history and roots of Confucianism came from a long time ago, in the sixth to fifth centuries B.C. Early Confucianism was simply a set of rules thought up mainly by a single person named Kong-fu-zi regarding the simple aspects of life, mainly for the purposes of giving rise to restoring order in Chinese society. Over time, these "rules", or rather practices, went from forced habits to form its own religion. This was a result of the snowball effect- as more and more thinkers began to catch on to these rules, they added their own idea, just like adding snow on to a snowball, and the thinkers' ideas were accepted and became a part of the religion. One of these thinkers, Kong-fu-zi, or better known by the outside world as "Confucius", was one of the most significant Confucianism-related scholars, and is often regarded as the founder of Confucianism.
Confucianism The religion of Confucianism is and interesting and unique religion. The various parts of this belief system deal more with humanity than with deities or supernatural occurrences. It is this fact that leads many to believe that Confucianism is more a philosophy or way of life than a religion. There are, however, various ceremonies and beliefs that those who follow Confucianism observe. In short, Confucianism has had more impact on the lives of the Chinese than any other single religion. Confucius was born in the province of Lu (now known as Shantung), in 551 BC, the youngest of eleven children, in the period of China's history when the nation was divided into feudal states. Confucius saw the time in which he lived as a low point in China's history so he set out to teach his philosophy in an effort of improving his society. He was born into a noble class, but his family had been stripped of its nobility by the time he was born. By the age of 21 he had been so well educated that he already had disciples and by 22, he had opened a school. He became known later in life as K'ung Fu Tzu (which was later Latinized in the west as Confucius), meaning Great Master Kung, for his teaching. It is known that he had a wife , a son, and a daughter, and that he held a few governmental offices. The teachings of Confucius were to lead people to achieve a status known as Chun Tzu, or superior man, to become Chun Tzu you must reach a perfect balance and awareness in political and social situations. In the time of Confucius, only the aristocracy was educated, which meant that the Chun Tzu was exclusively the wealthy, however, he devoted his life to teaching everyone regardless of their financial standing, provided they were intelligent eno...
One of the widely read philosopher in the world is K'ung Ch'iu (Kong Qiu ) commonly known as Confucius. K'ung Ch'iu was not famous during his lifetime and traveled from state to state to gather a small group of disciples and became the first master. Confucius has an immense importance in Eastern culture and philosophy; however, there isn’t an abundance of reliable documents on the life of Confucius. The foundation of the Confucian tradition comes from concise accounts of his life and teachings in Lun Yu or The Analects. During his life Confucius never wrote any document containing his philosophies, however, the teachings of Confucius and his conversations with his disciples are recorded in The Analects by his followers hundred years after his death. The sayings and teaching of Confucius were The Philosophies and traditions of Confucius are extremely enduing and influential; however, there are many questions and contradiction in its text. The primary topics that The Analects discuss are; Filial Piety, virtue (Te), sense of appropriateness (YI), Heaven (Tian), The Way (Dao), Ritual or rites (Li), and benevolence (Ren). However, one characteristic that Confucius encourages is acceptance and establishment of social values and norms of behavior (li) in social interaction. According to Confucius all human relationships have defined set of role, norm, decorum, and mutual obligations; that one should be understood. Completing the social obligations lead to ren (humanness), ren is considered the source of all virtues. In order to understand the relationship between li and ren and their significance in finding the Dao, one has to understand what Confucius meant by these terms.
Every country, empire, and domains put in place some sort of ethical code of conduct to follow in every day life. Confucianism was the Chinese worldview, social ethic, political ideology, scholarly tradition, and a way of life since its bringing in 5th- 6th century BCE. Confucius, for whom Confucianism was named after, is China’s most famous philosopher, political advisor, and Confucian scholar of all time. Although he was not the inventor of Confucianism, in the sense that Jesus was not the creator of Christianity, or Buddha was the founder of Buddhism, he viewed himself as a relayer of the old ways and order in current Chinese society. Confucius believed that family was the most important value and was key to restoring social order in relation to the old ways. Dao (Tao), Li, and Ren are the three main concepts stressed by Confucius in “The Analects” and act as the guiding light in how to live ones life in an honorable and meaningful way. These concepts all relate to family as being the center of all values in different ways, but the combination of family, Dao, Li and Ren are the backbones of Confucianism.
Confucius was concerned mostly with laws made by people and whether people were naturally good or naturally evil. Confucius, a major system of thought in China, developed from the teachings of Confucius and his disciples, and concerned with the principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social relations (Creel 18). Confucius rose to greatest prominence during the Han dynasty, around 200 BC to 200 AD (Creel 19). It influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standard s of social values (Hinnelles 354). Although Confucius became the official ideology of the Chinese state, it never existed as an established religion with a church and priesthood (Ammann). Confucius later became a basis for education and a collection of Confucius wrightings known as the "Classics" have been used for Chinese memorization and recited in exams (blue.butler.edu). Confucius provides the settings for Chinese political theories and institutions still used in China today.
Confucius was a man who talked about the virtues and principles of life dealing with family, government, and work. These concepts were often reflected in his quotes. These are a few to ponder the mind:
Confucianism has had a major influence on Chinese social, political and economic life for more than 2000 years. Confucius was the most innovative and respected philosopher in Chinese history. His ideas have been the strongest influence on China and its society. Confucius taught the value of practical ethics and social morality in order to obtain his decadent view of society. He presented the idea of perfecting the human personality by incorporating the five virtues of Jen, Li, Hsiao Ti, Chung-Su and I (Smith 1973, p 66) until the ideal of a perfect man and true gentleman is reached. Confucianism changed everything about China including the way the government ran the country and how young people were being educated. This essay will examine Confucianism as a philosophy, rather than a religion, and how it acted as a moral guide to a way of living in Chinese society in order to create cultural unification and social harmony.