The Evolution of Filial Piety in Ancient China and Its Influence on Neighboring Countries: Taking the Classic of Filial Piety as the Chief Source

Filial piety is a typical feature of Chinese civilization. Represented by the book of The Classic of Filial Piety, the filial culture in China experienced different periods of establishment, development and maturity. The pre-Qin period is the germination time for the filial culture, and the book of The Classic of Filial Piety, a systematic filial thought was formed in Warring States period. The rulers of Han dynasty drew hard lessons from Qin, which was ruined by its tyranny, and decided to govern the country with filial piety. During this period, Dong Zhongshu used Confucian classics to do judgments, preliminarily realized the legalization of Confucianism such as the filial piety. The formulation of the Tanglv Shuyi marks the full legalization of Confucianism, and filial piety was completely integrated into the legal norms. From Tang dynasty, most of the emperors in Chinese history all paid attention to The Classic of Filial Piety, even involved in the compilation of its explanatory notes, advocating to perform filial rule in the country. Since the Tang dynasty, with the strengthening of Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges, The Classic of Filial Piety and filial piety culture widely spread abroad. At the same time some neighboring areas such as Japan, the Korean peninsula and Vietnam was profoundly influenced by The Classic of Filial Piety and the filial piety culture.