Filial piety

Filial piety
Scene from Illustrations of the Classic of Filial Piety (detail), depicting a son kneeling before his parents.[1]
Chinese name
Chinese	孝
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin xiào Bopomofo ㄒㄧㄠˋ Wade–Giles hsiao4 Tongyong Pinyin siào IPA [ɕjâʊ] Hakka Romanization haau4 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization haau Jyutping haau3 IPA [haːu˧] Southern Min Hokkien POJ hàu Middle Chinese Middle Chinese xaewH Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *qʰˤ<r>uʔ-s
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	hiếu
Chữ Hán	孝
Korean name
Hangul	효
Hanja	孝
Transcriptions Revised Romanization hyo McCune–Reischauer hyo
Japanese name
Kanji	孝
Hiragana	こう
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Kō Kunrei-shiki Kô

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Filial piety is the virtue of exhibiting love and respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors, particularly within the context of Confucian, Chinese Buddhist, and Daoist ethics.^[2] The Confucian Classic of Filial Piety, thought to be written around the late Warring States-Qin-Han period, has historically been the authoritative source on the Confucian tenet of filial piety. The book—a purported dialogue between Confucius and his student Zengzi—is about how to set up a good society using the principle of filial piety. Filial piety is central to Confucian role ethics.

In more general terms, filial piety means to be good to one's parents; to take care of one's parents; to engage in good conduct, not just towards parents but also outside the home so as to bring a good name to one's parents and ancestors; to show love, respect, and support; to display courtesy; to ensure male heirs; to uphold fraternity among brothers; to wisely advise one's parents, including dissuading them from moral unrighteousness; to display sorrow for their sickness and death; and to bury them and carry out sacrifices after their death.^{[citation needed]}

Filial piety is considered a key virtue in Chinese and other East Asian cultures, and it is the main subject of many stories. One of the most famous collections of such stories is The Twenty-four Cases of Filial Piety. These stories depict how children exercised their filial piety customs in the past. While China has always had a diversity of religious beliefs, the custom of filial piety has been common to almost all of them; historian Hugh D.R. Baker calls respect for the family the one element common to almost all Chinese people.^{[citation needed]}