Filial piety

Filial piety (孝Chinese, Pinyin xiao ) is a fundamental concept of Confucianism and occupies a central place in the ethics of Confucius.

Their substance is the love of children for their parents and, in addition to their ancestors ( ancestor worship ). From this commitment to the communities, a system of relationships, behaviors and requirements developed.

Definitions

Confucius himself said to his disciple Zeng Zi (Chinese曾子, Pinyin Zeng zǐ ) follows what he (孝经/孝经, Xiaojing ) wrote in the book of the filial piety as:

In a doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Chemnitz in 2005, the author Zhang Wei writes:

The Virtue of Filial piety is divided Wei Zhang in two main aspects:

On the China lexicon piety is defined as follows:

24 examples of filial piety

Also famous are the 24 examples of filial piety (二十四孝) that represent the same exercise in the past.

Problem

For Christian Western countries, this principle acts as a deterrent. Modern social developments in Europe and America loosen the relationship between parents and children, which is in contrast to Confucian filial piety, which is exaggerated interpreted as unconditional respect and submission.

The writer Lu Xun (1881-1936) describes in his essay on the twenty-four examples illustrated the childlike piety (二十四孝 图/二十四孝 图, Èrshísì Xiàotú ) a sinister aspect. One of his examples abstracted reports of a starving couple who decides to kill your own child for the diet of the grandmother. This idea was if his parents as a child accused him once again about their poverty, particularly scared: