Filial piety

• Japanese/Chinese: 孝 (kô, kyô / xiào)

Filial piety is a key element in East Asian values & morality, and is particularly promoted and esteemed in Confucianism.

While individuality and individual desire surely has a place in every culture, the Chinese and those within the sphere of Chinese cultural influence place particular priority on valuing filial piety, and the needs and interests of the family, rather than the individual. While to a considerable extent in modern Western culture, priority is placed on parents doing what they can to ensure the success of their children in their individual pursuits, traditionally, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans place greater priority on the obligations or expectations of children to contribute to looking after their parents. This includes not only caring for parents in life, but also an obligation to perform memorial rites after the parent's death, and an obligation to honor one's ancestors by putting the maintenance of the family's reputation and well-being, for future generations, ahead of individual personal desires or pursuits.

References

• Lloyd Eastman, Family, Fields, and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China's Social and Economic History, 1550-1949, Oxford University Press (1988), 15.