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Confucianism and Chinese culture
Confucianism in chinese society essay
The influence of Confucianism in China
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Over the history of China, there are a series of transitions, and changes in policy and experience, which manifest themselves in different areas of the society. One such example is how educational and examination systems reflect the dominant social, political, and religious movements and their ideologies.
The format of the eight-legged essay also changed along with the educational and examination systems. I am having trouble identifying exactly when the eight-legged essay started, but there is information that points to its origins in the 1300s, with the term officially first used in the 1400s. The use of exams in China also has beginnings in the pre-Modern era, with its first uses for identifying bureaucratic placements as early as the
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In order for a person to be hired and be selected for a position in the government (the bureaucracy), they had to pass and do well on the exams. This system started in 1646, in Peking, Shanxi, and Shandong. A total of 373 degrees were given in these areas. In 1647, 298 more were given to people in Jiangsu and Anhui. In the 1670s, there was an increase in the Confucian doctrine that composed the curriculum in the educational system and of the exams, and certain material became flagship inclusions, like the “Four Books” and the “Five …show more content…
The educated people took the exams did better and got more job opportunities.
Another method of effects of the changing society on the system lies in the growing trends toward Confucianism and teaching.
Use of the Four Books and Five Classics emulates the time of Confucian principle.
The decision to include Confucian teaching from the Emperor,
Shunzi then Kangxi developed and highly controlled their systems.
Hierarchy from the Emperor for the Emperor, who is the most superior in the land in more ways than one.
The Confucian doctrine promises power to the Emperor over their subjects.
The hierarchical notion of filial piety is a part of Confucianism restoring power to the Emperor when these teachings are a doctrine of society.
In reality, as with everything, politics ultimately got in the way.
Some of the scholars who were going to take the exams chose not to in protest.
It would’ve been a loss of the memory of the Ming Dynasty, and they wanted to keep the memory alive in changing times.
The eight-legged essay also faced political and petty criticism, since it was the creation of an enemy of the Qing
In the book The Examination by Malcolm Bosse two brothers travel across China in their journey to pass the Imperial Exam. The brother’s names are Chen and Hong. Chen is very intelligent and is taking the Civil Service Exams hoping to pass. Hong on the other hand, is a known cricket fighter and joins the White Lotus Society along with the army. The Examination takes place in Song Era and is very accurate about what Chinese life and society was like in that time. This book depicts ideas and technologies and religious structure of ancient China. In the book The Examination by Malcolm Bosse, the author depicts ideas and technologies such as the civil service exam, junk ships, and porcelain as well as the religious structure of
To begin, Confucianism is a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius. Confucianism was the code of ethics accepted as the certified religion of most of the immense empires in the territory since the Han Dynasty. Confucianism provided an outline of ethical and religious beliefs that most of the Chinese expanded to make other religions such as Daoism and Legalism. To expand, Confucianism was founded by Confucius and his beliefs on the political and social order of China. Confucius believed that everything would fall into place if children had respect for their parents and if the rulers were honest. In Confucianism, specific roles were followed by each person in the family. The head of the family, the father, was the one primarily in control and then it was the oldest son that was next in line. Confucius had the belief that a ruler has to be everything he wants
In “Père du Halde: The Chinese Educational System”, (Document 3), Pere du Halde talks about the Chinese Education system. In the document, he says, “That boys should not learn is an improper thing; for if they do not learn in youth, what will they do when old?” This shows that the educational system in China was very hard and strict and the students learned a lot. Since the boys that were going to school were one day going to be men, those men were going to have to make many decisions for China. In order to make sure China was on the right path to great rulers and government workers, the schooling system was very prestigious and difficult. This is an example that China needed a good educational system so they would have strong, future rulers. In my opinion, the Chinese learning system was hard because everyone wanted to have great leaders and they knew that the students who were going to school were going to be future leaders. As it says in “Matteo Ricci: On Chinese Government”, (Document 5), “It may be said in praise of the Chinese that ordinarily they would prefer to die an honorable death rather than swear allegiance to a usurping monarch.” This is an example that the people of China wanted a strong ruler/rulers and would rather die than be ruled by a weak leader. The statement shows that all of China, not just government officers,...
Confucius was a philosopher, political intellect and an educator whose philosophies have significantly prejudiced not only the Chinese principles but the entire world evolution. He lived through the “Spring” and “Autumn” epoch of Chinese history, when east central China was separated over a dozen fighting states. The inordinate ailment and grief he saw swayed his political thoughts, which highlighted command, grading and the rule of a compassionate self-governing state.
In her article "The body as attire," Dorothy Ko (1997) reviewed the history about foot binding in seventeenth-century China, and expressed a creative viewpoint. Foot binding began in Song Dynasty, and was just popular in upper social society. With the gradually popularization of foot binding, in the end of Song Dynasty, it became generally popular. In Qing Dynasty, foot binding was endowed deeper meaning that was termed into a tool to against Manchu rule. The author, Dorothy Ko, studied from another aspect which was women themselves to understand and explained her shifting meaning of foot binding. Dorothy Ko contends that “Chinese Elite males in the seventeenth century regarded foot binding in three ways: as an expression of Chinese wen civility,
...he repetition of history is an important component of the development of Chinese culture and society.
... turned one of the Chinese literati temple into a table tennis area (Sommer 1995, 19). During modern period, some universities utilize the Imperial Exams as they had hundreds of years ago so the traditional Chinese ways apply to modern society (Hayhoe 2011, 98).
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
Confucianism and Daoism are two influential schools of thoughts that have existed in ancient China around the 6th century BCE. The former, led by the politician and philosopher Confucius, proposed that humans live in society according to a set of predefined rules and that they transform society through political action. Whereas the latter, led by the philosopher Lao-Tzu, promoted the idea of inaction; people should go with the flow instead of taking action to control their lives and dominate their surroundings. Although, at first glance Daoism and Confucianism seem to be two opposing philosophies, a more in depth analysis of two of their key ideas –filial piety and education—reveals that they do share some similarities.
b. Significance: A large element of Confucianism was based upon the relationships between superiors and inferiors of a society. Confucian teaching valued filial piety as a guideline to how these relationships should work. A superior should act kind and benevolent while the inferior should respond with obedience just like how a father and son should treat each other.
Confucianism, one of the most renowned Chinese ideologies, was begun by Confucius, a Chinese scholar born in 551 B.C. At the time of his birth, there was crisis and violence occurring in China. In order to combat this problem, Confucius came up with the five relationships. Following these “relationships” (ex. Ruler and subject, older brother and younger brother) would help to establish harmony between all. The majority of these relationships pertained to family matters, which went hand in hand with Confucius’s stressing of filial piety, or respect shown by children for their parents and elders. This single value led to many changes in people’s daily life and attitudes.
The largest educational system is in china there is a law that makes it mandatory that all Chinese students have nine year of education experience this law was passed in 1986. The importance of having an education is the key to success to be comfortable and abl...
Confucian culture has persistence, so it does not disappear with the annihilation of the old system. Confucian culture, formed under two thousand years of feudal autocratic rule, not only exists for a long time, but also still has important influence on Chinese contemporary political life and political culture with its strong vitality. The theme of moderation is to educate people consciously to self-improve, self supervise, and self educate, and train themselves have the ideal personality. Fundamentally, the Confucian thinks that the root of governing revolution lies in the will of people, therefore, it should govern from the will of people if it wants to achieve the social governance, which has its profound meaning (Chan, Cho, 2014). The emergence of a lot of social problems, in the final analysis, is due to the lack of governance...
Legge, James, Trans. Confucius — Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean. New York: Dover Publications, 1971.
For many centuries, Confucianism has been widely revered by the Chinese for its emphasis on morality. Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, is different to most philosophers in that he showed no interest questioning his existence, the possibility of a God, or the reality that he seemed to live in; instead he focused on the human relations side of philosophy as it was his belief that people should “give (themselves) earnestly to the duties due to men … (and) keep aloof from (spiritual beings)” (Confucius 195). By negating the metaphysical side of philosophy, he was able to devote himself to mold his disciples into ideal gentleman who were morally righteous, and were able to benefit society. He believed in the importance of individuals who knew their roles in an well-structured society, that was a feudal system. In his opinion, the ideal gentleman should be obedient to his elders, have humanness and be morally righteous. Through his teachings, he was able to reform an entire country; the Chinese found Confucianism to embody practices of humaneness that they could apply in their daily lives through his religion.