Filial Piety in Chinese Thought and History

By Alan Chan, Sor-Hoon Tan

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About the Book

The phenomenon of filial piety is fundamental to our understanding of Chinese culture, and this excellent collection of essays explores its role in various areas of life throughout history. Often regarded as the key to preserving Chinese tradition and identity, its potentially vast impact on government and the development of Chinese culture makes it extremely relevant, and although invariably virtuous in its promotion of social cohesion, its ideas are often controversial. A broad range of topics are discussed chronologically including Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, making it essential reading for those studying Chinese culture, religion and philosophy. This is a multi-disciplinary survey that combines historical studies with philosophical analysis from an international team of respected contributors.

Reviews

'Handsomely produced, with liberal use of the Chinese characters, and competently copy-edited these fourteen papers are presented very coherently, are well-argued and well-researched and contain some real gems to be discussed.'

- Paul R. Goldin, University of Pennsylvania

Table of Contents

1. The Evolution of the Concept of Filial Piety (Xiao) in the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, and the Guodian Bamboo Text 2. Filial Piety with a Vengeance: The Tension between Rites and Law in the Han 3. Reverent Caring: The Parent-Son Relationship in Early Medieval Tales of Filial Offsprings 4. Filial Devotion for Women: A Buddhist Testimony from Third Century China 5. Immortal Parents and Universal Kin: Family Values in Medieval Daoism 6. Filial Piety and "Authentic Parents" in Religious Daoism 7. Imperial Filial Piety as a Political Problem 8. From the Classic of Filial Piety to the Biographical Accounts of Filial Piety: Emperor Chengzu and Imperial Filial Piety of the Ming Dynasty 9. Does Xiao Come Before Ren? 10. Filial Piety, Commiseration and the Virtue of Ren 11. Filial Piety as Virtue 12. Filial Piety as Respect for Tradition 13. Reflections on Filiality, Nature and Nurture 14. Filial Daughters-In-Law: Questioning Confucian filiality

About the Author(s)

Alan K. L. Chan is Professor and Sor-hoon Tan is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, National University of Singapore.