Filial Piety, Fraternal Duty, Loyalty, and Good Faith

Filial Piety, Fraternal Duty, Loyalty, and Good Faith

The Eight Virtues of traditional Chinese culture are filial piety, fraternal duty, loyalty, good faith, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame. They are usually split into two sets of moral values because the Chinese prefer four-character expressions. In the first set (filial piety, fraternal duty, loyalty, and good faith), filial piety requires children to respect the opinions of their parents and elders and take care of them when they are old. Fraternal duty refers to love, mutual respect, and courtesy demonstrated among brothers and sisters. Loyalty mainly refers to the deep allegiance pledged by subjects to the monarch in ancient times. Today, it could be used to describe patriotism or a responsible employee. Good faith requires people to act credibly and honestly abide by an agreement or contract with others. In China, accusing someone of being unfilial or disloyal is considered particularly sharp criticism.

Filial piety and fraternal duty are generally family ethics while loyalty and good faith are political and social ethics, with the former serving as the foundation of the latter. These moral values, which aim to foster sound interpersonal relationships, are still deeply rooted in the life of Chinese people today.

孝悌忠信

“孝、悌、忠、信、禮、義、廉、恥”合稱“八德”，是中國傳統文化重視的八種道德條目。由于漢字多四字連言的組合，所以又可以分為“孝悌忠信”和“禮義廉恥”兩組道德觀念。在“孝悌忠信”中，“孝”是指子女要尊重父母和長輩的意見，并履行贍養的義務；“悌”就是兄弟姐妹之間要相親相愛，相互尊敬和謙讓；“忠”在古代主要指臣子要盡心竭力地為君主服務，今天多指人民要真誠地熱愛自己的祖國，也指一個人在工作中要做到認真負責，不能敷衍了事；“信”多用來表示做人要講誠信，誠實地遵守與他人的約定或契約。在中國人看來，不忠不孝、言而無信是對一個人非常嚴厲的批評。

孝、悌是家庭倫理，忠、信屬于政治和社會倫理，孝、悌是忠、信的基礎。這些道德觀念描述了人與人之間的良性關系，至今仍然深深影響著中國人的生活。