How Did Confucius Influence Chinese Culture

Confucius only taught around 3,000 students during his lifetime in the Zhou Dynasty, but his ideas and values became integrated with the Chinese culture of the past and the present (Ames). He created a syllabus for mastering the “six arts” and inspired those who followed his principles to become effective citizens. Although no one knows much about his life, he greatly influence the way China grew into what it is today. Confucius was born in 551 B.C.E. in the feudal state of Lu (Ames). His father died while Confucius was still young, so his mother was his instructor, inspiring his love for learning (Ames). He carried this love with him for the rest of his life. In his teens, “he distinguished himself as an indefatigable learner” because he

Confucians heavily emphasized bettering the community through active learning. On the other hand, Daoists prefer a more passive approach where they withdrew themselves from the problem in order to solve it (Benjamin 9). Also, unlike Confucius, the Daoists thought about the metaphysical, such as whether or not death is really something to be feared (Benjamin 9). Nature is a large focus in Daoism, something to be respected, while Confucians emphasize respect towards humans (Benjamin 9). Even so, both Daoism and Confucianism values are adopted by many of the modern day Chinese, where they will be Confucians in the workplace and Daoists when they get some time to explore their inner selves (Benjamin

The Chinese government is trying to integrate some of the Confucian principles into the lives of the Chinese by creating TV shows based on “good Confucian emperors” (Benjamin 7). The Confucian ideology as a whole was considered the main ideology of China for over a millennium, and it was accepted by the majority of Chinese until the 20th century (Benjamin 7).

Confucianism has had a powerful influence on Chinese culture, and will likely continue to as long as the Chinese people adopt the values into their everyday lives. Although there pure Confucians may not exist in abundance, many others still practice certain aspects of this ideology. As long as humans desire to become better, more respectful people, the centuries old Confucian ideology will continue to have an influence on modern