Confucianism is a philosophy created by a man named Confucius between 551BC and 479BC. Confucianism is a system of philosophical and ethical teachings that deal with moral conduct and living. Confucius developed his philosophy in China. At that point in time, China was a combination of a monarchy and a theocracy, but would typically be considered a theocracy. The Chinese believed that a family was chosen to rule the country by their ancestors. They continued to rule until they became corrupt, and then a new family was chosen. This belief was called the Mandate of Heaven. Despite this, Confucius thought that humans were more important than gods or a divine being. One of his famous quotes was, “We do not yet know how to serve man, how can we serve spirits? We don’t know yet about life, how can we know about death?” Followers of Confucianism thought that people …show more content…
One thing is that a man’s basic nature is good. They think that when a person is born, they are born kind, but over the years, they pick up certain qualities that make them seem bad or evil. Another thing they believe is that there are five relationships that should stay good: father/son, older/younger brothers, husband/wife, ruler/subject, and friend/friend. The former should teach the latter, and the latter should respect and learn from the former. Confucians also believe that humans are teachable, improvable, and perfectable. They also believed in humanism, which states that humans are of prime importance, not divine beings or gods. Confucianism also affected the culture of the people that lived within this area. It regulated how people interacted with each other, especially within the five relationships. Also, women were given very little power, and were only seen to produce sons. Confucianism impacted the laws around them. Everyone had to respect those with higher power than them while those with power were taught to be responsible for and mentor those