[HN Gopher] Filial Piety in Chinese Culture (2016)
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       Filial Piety in Chinese Culture (2016)
        
       Author : yamrzou
       Score  : 45 points
       Date   : 2023-05-29 17:36 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (china-journal.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (china-journal.org)
        
       | PicassoCTs wrote:
       | https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln270/24-...
       | 
       | My personal paragon favorite: He who tasted his fathers feces and
       | worried.
        
         | Natsu wrote:
         | Didn't see that one, but there's a 6 year old boy who stole
         | three oranges for his mother.
        
       | echlebek wrote:
       | This site got flagged by noscript for a possible XSS attack,
       | seems like it might just be sloppily embedded tumblr content
       | though
        
       | AdrianEGraphene wrote:
       | Learning this term was required to move on to the next belts in
       | my Taekwondo classes, thought it was a South Korean thing, but I
       | guess not. I've only ever heared of Filial Piety a few times out
       | of that environment.
        
         | lavishlatern wrote:
         | Imperial China is basically the Greek/Roman empire of East
         | Asia. Both of these civilizations made deep and lasting impact
         | on the culture of East Asia and Europe/North Africa/West Asia
         | respectively.
         | 
         | Confucius is like Chinese Plato/Socrates.
        
           | witchesindublin wrote:
           | China only really had a strong impact in China and Korea -
           | though a lot of Chinese people tend to overstate their impact
           | for cultural chauvinism. Outside of possibly the Viet region
           | as well, Chinese culture has had little impact. Imperial
           | Chinese culture has had relatively little impact in the rest
           | of East Asia (Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia,
           | Indonesia etc...), and most of the Chinese culture in these
           | regions is from recent immigration in the past century or so.
           | 
           | EDIT: not sure why the post is being negged considering it's
           | basically true. I suggest people actually travel around the
           | region and find out how little Chinese culture has impacted
           | East Asia. I am a long term resident of East Asia and I
           | understand the culture more than most Chinese people.
        
             | DiogenesKynikos wrote:
             | It's easy to come up with many examples of major Chinese
             | cultural elements in the surrounding countries.
             | 
             | I'll give just one obvious example: Kanji. Kanji is
             | obviously a major part of Japanese culture. It literally
             | means "Chinese characters," because that's what it was
             | adapted from.[0]
             | 
             | Or to give you just one more example, because it's
             | incredibly striking: Japan's own name for itself,
             | Nihon/Nippon, is borrowed from Chinese. The same is
             | actually true of "Vietnam," which is also a loanword from
             | Chinese.
             | 
             | 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji
        
               | witchesindublin wrote:
               | But relative impact is low. Latin and Indian scripts are
               | used throughout Asia as well, including Japan. i.e. to
               | say that it is the "greece of asia" is a bit over-
               | chauvinistic.
        
               | DiogenesKynikos wrote:
               | Somewhere around half of the words in modern Korean,
               | Japanese and Vietnamese are borrowed from Chinese. The
               | impact of Chinese culture is massive across the board in
               | these countries.
        
             | mytailorisrich wrote:
             | China's influence on Japan has been huge... It's very odd
             | to read a claim that Chinese culture has had little impact
             | on Japan!
             | 
             | Of course there are specifically Japanese aspects but more
             | often than not there is Chinese influence. Architecture,
             | writing, religion, dress, food, everywhere.
        
             | cumshitpiss wrote:
             | [dead]
        
       | Thorrez wrote:
       | >You can compare this with the practice of going to church in
       | strictly Christian communities. Attending the mass is a
       | ritualistic act. Whether a person is a true believer or not, is
       | another matter.
       | 
       | Maybe some communities are like this, but this isn't any sort of
       | official Christian teaching.
       | 
       | >For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not
       | your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so
       | that no one may boast.
       | 
       | Ephesians 2:8-9
       | 
       | >Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law
       | but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in
       | Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not
       | by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be
       | justified.
       | 
       | Galatians 2:16
        
       | local_crmdgeon wrote:
       | Would any Chinese commenters like to weigh in here? I'd love a
       | first-person perspective
        
         | tomohelix wrote:
         | Some people may say it is old and not as important as it once
         | was. But imo that is like saying racism is an old and outdated
         | mode of thinking in the US. It is still there and quite
         | prevalent, but it is more out of sight yet whoever are
         | interested in it still take it quite seriously.
        
         | giraffe-flavor wrote:
         | It's old and not very prevalent. The equivalent in western
         | culture is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_chivalry
         | which is to say that it is seen with rosy-colored glasses.
        
           | bnjms wrote:
           | I think you are mistaken. While people may no longer
           | explicitly speak about it I see in Korean manhwa that the
           | idea of using gifts to obligate a wealthy persons lessers, or
           | being shrewed considering who to accept favors from one's
           | betters to avoid owing obligations to, is a common theme and
           | understanding it is an automatic assumption for readers. This
           | seems to support that there remains an implied cultural norm.
           | 
           | From the arrticle it sounds like the same thing you'd see
           | within a western church but there it extends more weakly
           | outside the family and ends outside the church.
        
       | badrabbit wrote:
       | You know this concept is in indian, korean and japanese cultures
       | as well. A friend insists it is an asian culutural thing but I
       | hard disagree, but I do understand I need to learn more.
       | 
       | Outside of Europe, just about every society in the "old" world
       | has this concept. You basically live for your parents and then
       | also for your children. Parents use the pride and disappointment
       | as ways to control the future of their child and children strive
       | to become the perfect child.
       | 
       | I'll give you an example: what immigrant ethnicities dominate
       | medicine in the US? Indian, Nigerian, east asian. And the people
       | I have spoken to largley attribute their parent's desire as the
       | main/initial motivator for choosing such a difficult field.
       | 
       | I'll say this, ancestor worship is only in some societies that
       | are mostly asian (to my knowledge), that includes concepts like
       | the way you live honors or displeases your ancestors who can
       | bless or curse you in real time.
       | 
       | It isn't jusr filial piety but piety towards elders. When I
       | started watching east asian dramas many years ago, I kept
       | thinking how their dramas reminded me of so many other cultures
       | outside of asia.
       | 
       | My theory is that even europe used to be this way pre-renaisance.
       | Any society that had arranged marriages meant parents did the
       | arranging to the most part. It is difficult for me to imagine
       | allowing your parent to decide who you will be stuck with for the
       | rest of your life without filial piety.
       | 
       | Of course, I don't mean to suggest specific countries' concept of
       | filial piety is unique and shouldn't be studied on it's own like
       | this. Just pointing out that there are more non-western countries
       | outside of asia that still follow this concept than there aren't.
        
         | contingencies wrote:
         | Look at a map of China. See the bit that sticks out to the
         | east, toward Japan and Korea? That's the Shandong peninsula. At
         | the western (inland) end of that is Qufu, where Confucius was
         | born. Japan and Korea were influenced by Confucianism, as was
         | Vietnam. This is the source of the English phrase "filial
         | piety" with regard to East Asian cultures.
         | 
         | India is a totally different beast.
         | 
         | Source: Studied ancient Chinese history with an interest in
         | broader Asian history and ancient philosophy. Lived in the
         | region 20+ years. Have visited all of those countries and
         | places.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism
        
           | dheera wrote:
           | "The western term filial piety was originally derived from
           | studies of Western societies, based on Mediterranean
           | cultures."
           | 
           | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety
           | 
           | Vast portions of the world have some concept of filial piety,
           | it is a local optimum for society in the absence of
           | technology and modern conveniences, that so many cultures
           | naturally converged on it. Go ask some Hispanics, South
           | Asians, Southeast Asians, they all have some version of it
           | that is really not far from the Confucian version.
           | 
           | The big value shift happening now is that in a modern
           | technological society, having children is optional, a
           | personal choice, so parents are now expected to provide for
           | the child if they make the choice to bring one into
           | existence, without expecting anything in return. In the past,
           | having a child was a necessity for the sustainability of the
           | country (and even species, to a great extent) at large, so it
           | was done by all, even parents who could not provide, so
           | filial piety was the only way it could be sustained.
        
             | worrycue wrote:
             | > In the past, having a child was a necessity for the
             | sustainability of the country
             | 
             | I would argue it still is now unless you patch things with
             | immigration (but that's just having another country do the
             | work for you) or AGI becomes a thing.
        
             | contingencies wrote:
             | Sigh. Re-read what I wrote. You appear to be arguing with a
             | straw man.
        
               | witchesindublin wrote:
               | As someone who actually lives in Japan for over a decade,
               | you are wrong about the idea that the filal piety in East
               | Asia comes from China. It is common but incorrect of many
               | Chinese to overstate their impact on East Asia, but in
               | reality the Chinese have had little impact on Japan and
               | most of South East Asia (except for Vietnam) until recent
               | immigration of Chinese in the last century.
        
               | zztop44 wrote:
               | I also live in Japan. I disagree with your take. I think
               | the Chinese influence on Japan has been massive and
               | enduring. I am not Chinese.
               | 
               | Being long term residents of Japan doesn't make either of
               | us experts on this matter. We're just two people who have
               | interpreted our experiences differently. I understand you
               | feel strongly about this (I also often find myself
               | jumping to correct what I consider to be misconceptions
               | about Japan, so I kind of get it) but I think you're
               | overstating your opinion in this thread right now.
        
           | witchesindublin wrote:
           | That isn't actually that true for Japan and most of South
           | East Asia. It's only the greater China region, Vietnam and
           | Korea where Confucianism was a big thing.
        
             | consilient wrote:
             | This is not at all true: the Tokugawas _heavily_ patronized
             | neo-Confucianism.
        
               | witchesindublin wrote:
               | But the relative impact has been pretty low, and its
               | relevance to Japanese cultural development is also very
               | low. Neo-Confucianism was mostly evident in South Korean
               | culture, less in China, and basically down to very little
               | in Japan.
        
       | x3874 wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
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