Filial Piety In Ancient China

The phenomenon of filial piety is fundamental to our understanding of Chinese culture. An international team of contributors provides an excellent collection of essays that explore its role in various areas of life throughout history.

"For teaching the people to be affectionate and loving, there is nothing better than filial piety" Traditionally attributed to Confucius, "The Classic on Filial Piety" is a text focusing on social relationships, especially that between father and son. Divided into 18 paragraphs, the Xiaojing gives concrete instructions for the display of filial piety. The concept of Xiao is presented not only as a way of life for individuals, but also as a way of ordering the entire society.

This unique book brings a fresh interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of ancient Chinese history, creating a historical model for the emergence of cultural mainstays by applying recent dramatic findings in the fields of neuroscience and cultural evolution. The centrality in Chinese culture of a deep reverence for the lives of preceding generations, filial piety, is conventionally attributed to Confucius (551-479 B.C.), who viewed hierarchical family relations as foundational for social order. Here, Porter argues that Confucian conceptions of filiality themselves evolved from a systemized set of behaviors and thoughts, a mental structure, which descended from a specific Neolithic mindset, and that this psychological structure was contoured by particular emotional conditions experienced by China’s earliest farmers. Using case study analysis from Neolithic sky observers to the dynastic cultures of the Shang and Western Zhou, the book shows how filial piety evolved as a structure of feeling, a legacy of a cultural predisposition toward particular moods and emotions that were inherited from the ancestral past. Porter also brings new urgency to the topic of ecological grief, linking the distress central to the evolution of the filial structure to its catalyst in an environmental crisis. With a blended multidisciplinary approach combining social neuroscience, cultural evolution, cognitive archaeology, and historical analysis, this book is ideal for students and researchers in neuropsychology, religion, and Chinese culture and history.

Educated men in Song-dynasty China (960–1279) traveled frequently in search of scholarly and bureaucratic success. These extensive periods of physical mobility took them away from their families, homes, and native places for long periods of time, preventing them from fulfilling their most sacred domestic duty: filial piety to their parents. In this deeply grounded work, Cong Ellen Zhang locates the tension between worldly ambition and family duty at the heart of elite social and cultural life. Drawing on more than two thousand funerary biographies and other official and private writing, Zhang argues that the predicament in which Song literati found themselves diminished neither the importance of filial piety nor the appeal of participating in examinations and government service. On the contrary, the Northern Song witnessed unprecedented literati activity and state involvement in the bolstering of ancient forms of filial performances and the promotion of new ones. The result was the triumph of a new filial ideal: luyang. By labeling highly coveted honors and privileges attainable solely through scholarly and official accomplishments as the most celebrated filial acts, the luyang rhetoric elevated office-holding men to be the most filial of sons. Consequently, the proper performance of filiality became essential to scholar-official identity and self-representation. Zhang convincingly demonstrates that this reconfiguration of elite male filiality transformed filial piety into a status- and gender-based virtue, a change that had wide implications for elite family life and relationships in the Northern Song. The separation of elite men from their parents and homes also made the idea of “native place” increasingly fluid. This development in turn generated an interest in family preservation as filial performance. Individually initiated, kinship- and native place-based projects flourished and coalesced with the moral and cultural visions of leading scholar-intellectuals, providing the social and familial foundations for the ascendancy of Neo-Confucianism as well as new cultural norms that transformed Chinese society in the Song and beyond.

This authoritative collection surveys the teachings of Confucius, and illustrates his importance throughout Chinese history in one focused and incisive volume. A Concise Companion to Confucius offers a succinct introduction to one of East Asia’s most widely-revered historical figures, providing essential coverage of his legacy at a manageable length. The volume embraces Confucius as philosopher, teacher, politician, and sage, and curates a collection of key perspectives on his life and teachings from a team of distinguished scholars in philosophy, history, religious studies, and the history of art. Taken together, chapters encourage specialists to read across disciplinary boundaries, provide nuanced paths of introduction for students, and engage interested readers who want to expand their understanding of the great Chinese master. Divided into four distinct sections, the Concise Companion depicts a coherent figure of Confucius by examining his diverse representations from antiquity through to the modern world. Readers are guided through the intellectual and cultural influences that helped shape the development of Confucian philosophy and its reception among late imperial literati in medieval China. Later essays consider Confucius’s engagement with topics such as warfare, women, and Western philosophy, which remain fruitful avenues of philosophical inquiry today. The collection concludes by exploring the significance of Confucian thought in East Asia’s contemporary landscape and the major intellectual movements which are reviving and rethinking his work for the twenty-first century. An indispensable resource, A Concise Companion to Confucius blazes an authoritative trail through centuries of scholarship to offer exceptional insight into one of history’s earliest and most influential ancient philosophers. A Concise Companion to Confucius: Provides readers with a broad range of perspectives on the ancient philosopher Traces the significance of Confucius throughout Chinese history—past, present, and future Offers a unique, interdisciplinary overview of Confucianism Curated by a team of distinguished scholars in philosophy, history, religious studies, and the history of art A Concise Companion to Confucius is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate courses on Confucius and Confucianism. It is also fascinating and informative reading for anyone interested in learning more about one of history’s most influential philosophers.

本书为国学系列图书的一部分，主要内容为古代孝道故事"二十四孝"。 它成书于元代，包含了从传说舜时代到宋代的二十四个孝道故事，在中国广为流传，影响巨大，成为教育儿童孝道的著名古典读物。本书将这些古代孝道故事翻译成英文，以英汉双语形式，向广大读者推荐，是弘扬国学文化的重要举措。 孝爱文化是中国社会独有的子女对待父母行为的道德文化现象。千百年来，孝爱文化对维系家庭和睦、经济发展和社会安定始终发挥着重要的作用。而古代二十四孝故事是中国孝爱文化的重要内容，虽孝道内容、形式各异，但每一则故事均感人至深，令人折服。用双语形式呈现二十四孝故事，既能弘扬我国传统文化，又能实现向世界宣传中国优秀文化之目的。对于青少年来说，弘扬孝爱文化意义尤为深远，在增强学生学习的趣味性、积极性的同时，又能传承中国的传统文化。 This book is a part of the Chinese studies series and its main contents are the ancient filial piety stories, twenty-four filial piety. It was written in the Yuan Dynasty, containing 24 stories of filial piety from the legends of Shun era to the Song Dynasty. It was widely spread in our country and influenced greatly. It became a famous classical reading material for educating children filial piety. We translated these ancient stories of filial piety into English and recommended them to the readers in both English and Chinese, which is an important initiative to carry forward the culture of sinology. Filial piety and love culture is a unique moral and cultural phenomenon in China. For thousands of years, the culture of filial piety and love culture has always played an important role in maintaining family harmony, economic development and socialstability. The twenty-four stories of filial piety in ancient China is an important part of the culture of filial piety and love. Although the content and forms of filial piety are different, each story is deeply moving and convincing. Presenting the twenty-four filial piety stories in bilingual form can not only carry forward traditional culture, but also realize the purpose of promoting the excellent Chinese culture to the world. For young people, carrying forward the culture of filial piety and love culture is of profound significance. It can not only enhance students' interest and enthusiasm in learning, but also inherit the traditional Chinese culture.