Common
Knowledge of Chinese Culture
Filial
Piety
Filial piety is the greatest of all virtues
in the Chinese eyes, while disobedience is the greatest of all crimes. From his early
childhood the child is trained up, as far as books are concerned, in this idea, while at
the same time he is spoiled by the doting love of fond parents, mixed with such a portion,
however, of severity, that the compound of bitter-sweet treatment produces on the whole
better results than might reasonably be expected; the bitter, generally coming after the
sweets of spoiled infancy, has some effect in toning down the over-indulgence so lavishly
acted on. Confucius said, " while a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his
will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter
from the way of his father, then he may be considered to be filial." He also taught
that filial piety should be accompanied by reverence, and that its duties should performed
with a cheerful countenance. The Classic of Filial Piety says: " Filial duty is the
root of virtue, and the stem form which instruction in the moral principle springs... The
first thing which filial duty requires of us is, that we carefully preserve from all
injury and in a perfect state, the bodies which we have received from our parents. And
when we acquire for ourselves a station in the world, we should regulate our conduct by
correct principles so as to transmit our name to future generations, and reflect glory on
our parents. This is the ultimate aim of filial duty." The Chinese governments were
understood through the relation which existed between a father and his son.