Chinese Empire

What Is Confucianism?

Confucianism is the tradition of ethical, social, and political thought that developed in China from the teachings of the sage Kongzi (孔子, 551–479 BCE), known in the West as Confucius, and from the inherited classical, ritual, and philosophical heritage of the early Zhou. For more than two thousand years, Confucianism supplied the moral vocabulary, the educational curriculum, the examination system, and the basic political ideology of the imperial Chinese state. The tradition centered on the cultivation of the moral self, the practice of ritual propriety in everyday life, the maintenance of proper relations within the family and the polity, and the rectification of the moral order through the example of the cultivated person and the virtuous ruler. The broader context is set by the overview of Chinese philosophy and religion, the three teachings place Confucianism alongside Daoism and Buddhism, and the rise of Confucianism as state orthodoxy addresses its political history.

The Life of Confucius

Confucius was born in 551 BCE in the small state of Lu, in what is now southern Shandong province, into a family of modest aristocratic descent. His father died when the boy was young, and he was raised by his mother in conditions of relative poverty. The young Confucius is said to have worked as a minor official, and he was married at the age of nineteen. He had several children, the most famous being his son Kong Li and his grandson Kong Xi, both of whom are traditionally credited with transmitting parts of the Confucian canon.

Confucius spent most of his adult life as a teacher and an itinerant scholar. He gathered a circle of disciples, many of them young men of modest means who sought an education in the rites, music, and ethical self-cultivation of the early Zhou. He is said to have taught some three thousand students, of whom about seventy are named in the Analects. Confucius is said to have charged a small fee — a bundle of dried meat — for his instruction, and to have admitted students on the basis of their aptitude and willingness to learn, rather than their social rank. This was a relatively radical idea: the gentleman should be defined by his moral cultivation, not by his birth.

For a brief period Confucius served in Lu as a minister. He eventually left Lu, and he spent about thirteen years as an itinerant scholar, traveling from one state to another in search of a ruler willing to employ him in the reform of government. None of the rulers he visited offered him a position of real authority, and he returned to Lu in his late sixties to spend his last years teaching. He is said to have died in 479 BCE, at the age of seventy-three.

The Analects and the Classical Texts

The most important source for the teachings of Confucius is the Lunyu (论语), known in English as the Analects. The Analects is a compilation of sayings, conversations, and brief anecdotes of Confucius and his disciples, gathered by his later followers and organized into twenty books. The text in its received form was edited in the third or second century BCE. It is a record of his words and acts as preserved by the tradition.

The Analects opens with the famous saying: “Is it not a pleasure to study and to repeat what one has learned? Is it not delightful to have friends coming from afar? Is it not the mark of the gentleman to be free from anger and discontent?” The text that follows ranges over the nature of the gentleman, the practice of ritual, the cultivation of virtue, the proper ordering of the family, the conduct of government, and the love of learning. The Analects is one of the most-read and most-quoted books in the history of the world.

The Confucian canon grew over the centuries. By the Han dynasty, the Five Classics — the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, the Book of Odes, the Book of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals — were the basic texts of the Confucian education. By the Song, the Four Books — the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects, and the Mencius — were the foundation of the curriculum, and the synthesis of Zhu Xi (1130–1200) was made the basis of the official examination system in 1313.

Ren, Li, and the Five Constants

The two central concepts of the Confucian ethical teaching are ren (仁, often translated as “humaneness” or “benevolence”) and li (礼, often translated as “ritual” or “propriety”). The Analects defines ren as “to love others,” and Confucius identifies it as the highest of the moral virtues. The cultivated person is the one who has developed ren to the highest degree, and who can extend the love of family to the love of all human beings.

The li is the inherited repertoire of rites, ceremonies, and forms of proper conduct that the gentleman practices in everyday life. The li includes the rituals of worship, the ceremonies of the court, the forms of polite address, the styles of dress, the rules of mourning, and the proper relations between ruler and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, and friend and friend. The li is the form through which the moral order is made visible, and the cultivated person is the one who performs the li with the proper attitude of respect and seriousness.

The “Five Constants” (wuchang) of the Confucian tradition are ren (humaneness), yi (义, righteousness or duty), li (propriety), zhi (智, wisdom), and xin (信, trustworthiness). The Five Constants are the basic moral virtues that every cultivated person is expected to cultivate, and they are the foundation of the Confucian ethical teaching. The “Five Relationships” (wulun) are the basic human relationships in which the moral virtues are to be exercised: ruler and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and friend and friend. Each relationship has its proper form: the ruler is benevolent and the subject is loyal; the parent is loving and the child is filial; the husband is righteous and the wife is obedient; the elder is gentle and the younger is deferential; the friend is trustworthy.

The Influence of Confucianism on Chinese Society

The influence of Confucianism on Chinese society was profound. The Confucian tradition supplied the moral vocabulary of the Chinese family, the educational curriculum of the Chinese school, and the political ideology of the Chinese state. The Confucian temple (wenmiao) in every county and prefecture city enshrined the tablets of Confucius and his disciples, and the state cult of Confucius was a regular ritual of the imperial state. The imperial examination system selected officials on the basis of their knowledge of the Confucian canon, and the jinshi degree was the most prestigious title in the empire.

The Confucian tradition also shaped the Chinese family. Filial piety (xiao) was the foundation of the family system, and the practice of ancestor worship was the ritual expression of filial piety. The Confucian emphasis on the inheritance of property through the male line, on the authority of the father, and on the submission of the wife to the husband was a central feature of the Chinese family system.

The Confucian tradition also shaped Chinese literature and historiography. The Confucian classics were the model for the literary essay, the historical narrative, and the political memorial. The Confucian tradition has been criticized in the modern period for its conservatism, its hierarchical view of the family, and its subordination of women. But the Confucian emphasis on the cultivation of the moral self, the practice of ritual propriety, and the rectification of the moral order is one of the great achievements of human thought.

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