Confucian values
Ancient Chinese principles
Confucian values are the ethical principles derived from the teachings of Confucius, the Chinese philosopher.
These center on filial piety, respect for elders and ancestors, social harmony, moral cultivation, and proper conduct in relationships.
The five key relationships—ruler and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger sibling, friend and friend—each carry reciprocal duties.
His parents instilled traditional Confucian values.
The term often appears in discussions of East Asian societies where these principles shaped culture for millennia.
- filial pietyRespect owed to parents
- benevolenceDisposition toward doing good
- junziConfucian ideal person
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
golden rule · meritocracy · civil service exams · scholarly tradition · harmony · self-discipline · propriety · moral authority · mandate of heaven · sincerity · mutual obligation · civic responsibility · Analects · hierarchy · reciprocity · trustworthiness · wisdom · Li
- ChinaBeijing, Shanghai, Great Wall, Yellow River, Chinese calligraphy
- Asian customsbowing, chopsticks, tea ceremony, red envelopes, filial piety
- ChinatownChinatown, dim sum, dragon dances, Chinese New Year, lion dances
- Edo Japanshogun, samurai, shogunate, daimyo, Tokugawa
- Korean culturekimchi, hanbok, soju, K-pop, K-drama
- schoolsprimary school, school, college, academy, high school
Confucian valuesindividualism
Doctrine of personal independence
radical individualism · rugged individualism · self-reliance · personal autonomy · individual rights
Confucian valuesEnlightenment values
Reason-based philosophical principles
American individualism · liberal democracy · secular humanism · American values · Protestant work ethic
Confucian valuesegalitarianism
Philosophy of universal equality
anti-authoritarianism · progressivism · anti-traditionalism · anarchism · feminism