Answer to Question #145370 in History for Fredericka Ohene

Question

What are the beliefs about Filial piety in the Chinese culture and attitudes of American children?

Answer 1

Filial piety was a chief virtue in conventional Chinese ethos, and its significance went far beyond that of the scriptural directive “respect thy mother and thy father”. It was and still is a virtue founded on stringent philosophies of order, responsibility and conformity. It is no overstatement to articulate that it was the basis of the graded organization of the Chinese household and as a result of the Chinese civilization as a whole. This does not denote that the notion of filial piety has not transformed over the eras or that kids are at all times devoted to social bonds. However, we should think first of all to comprehend what xiao denotes, its origins, and how it was implemented in the past before we can scrutinize the omissions and the modifications.

Confucianism, comprising traditional and Han Confucianism, delivered an interpretation of the universe and social structure that legitimated the Chinese patrilineal, patrilocal, and masculine household structure. Confucian highlighting on responsibilities to patrilineal lineages and Confucian adulation of filial piety backed an ethical mandate in which people were dominant to human individuality, and a family system systematized hierarchically so that men and older generations had substantial influence over women and younger ages.