VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933
IV
123
The most important of these cultural agents responsible for the customary authority both of the Chia-chang and of the village elder is the filial piety-ancestor worship complex. The two are closely interwoven now, and have been for many centuries. Ancestor worship seems to have been the contribution of the earliest Bronze Age peoples,1 and the concept of filial piety to have originated from it. In the new religion developed by the Confucianists, ancestral worship became really secondary to filial piety, though a corollary of it.2 As a moral force it is very strong, having behind it for sanction the dead weight of thousands of years of social approval in literature and legend, in history and in law.3
Hsiao (#), imperfectly translated as Filial Piety, is the basic moral and ethical code of the Chinese. It emphasizes primarily the proper relationship between children and parents; but it extends to regulate the behavior between members of the whole family and clan, and even to certain relationships between individuals in the world at large. Proper behavior in all such situations is highly stereotyped and highly formalized: there is a proper way to act towards each of one's relatives with reference to his age, his rank and the degree of consanguinity.
Although the behavior between members of a kin group is, theoretically at least, very formalized, there are two other facts which need to be emphasized in this connection. In the first place, this formalism, which is a part of the ethics of filial piety, is not a matter of external etiquette alone. On the contrary, these attitudes are, psychologically speaking, at the very core of an individual's character. They are his most fundamental reflexes, and are the very framework of his social consciousness. Secondly, as a result of this thorough conditioning, the individual has a constant feeling of reverence for age in general. He learns to respect the opinions of those older than himself, and to conform to their judgment and arbitration. In village government the remarkable authority of the
1 Bishop, C. W.; "Prefatory Note on the Worship of Earth in Ancient China." p. 4.
2 Hu, Shih; "Religion and Philosophy in Chinese History", p. 33.
3 The concept of filial piety has, for example, literally permeated the criminal code of the nation. See: Alabaster, G.; op. cit., passim, especially section on relationship, p. 143-216.
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933
IV
123
The most important of these cultural agents responsible for the customary authority both of the Chia-chang and of the village elder is the filial piety-ancestor worship complex. The two are closely interwoven now, and have been for many centuries. Ancestor wor- ship seems to have been the contribution of the earliest Bronze Age peoples,' and the concept of filial piety to have originated from it. In the new religion developed by the Confucianists, ancestral worship became really secondary to filial piety, though a corollary of it.2 As a moral force it is very strong, having behind it for sanction the dead weight of thousands of years of social approval in litera- ture and legend, in history and in law,3
Hsiao (#), imperfectly translated as Filial Piety, is the basic moral and ethical code of the Chinese. It emphasizes primarily the proper relationship between children and parents; but it extends to regulate the behavior between members of the whole family and clan, and even to certain relationships between individuals in the world at large. Proper behavior in all such situations is highly stereotpyed and highly formalized: there is a proper way to act towards each of one's relatives with reference to his age, his rank and the degree of consanguinity.
Although the behavior between members of a kin group is, theoretically at least, very formalized, there are two other fects which need to be emphasized in this connection. In the first place, this formalism, which is a part of the ethics of filial piety, is not a matter of external etiquette alone. On the contrary, these attitudes are psychologically speaking, at the very core of an individual's character. They are his most fundamental reflexes, and are the very framework of his social consciousness. Secondly, as a result of this thorough conditioning, the individual has a constant feeling of reverence for age in general. He learns to respect the opinions of those older than himself, and to conform to their judgment and arbitration. In village government the remarkable authority of the
I Bishop, C. W.; "Prefatory Note on the Worship of Earth in Ancient China." p. 4.
"Hu, Shih; "Religion and Philosophy in Chinese History", p. 33, 3 The concept of filial piety has, for example, literally permeated the criminal code of the nation. See: Alabaster, G.; op. cit., passim, especially section on relationship, p. 143-216.
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