Classic of Filial Piety

"Xiaojing" and "Xiao Jing" redirect here. For other uses, seeXiaojing (disambiguation).

TheClassic of Filial Piety, also known by itsChinese name as theXiaojing, is aConfucian classic treatise giving advice onfilial piety: that is, how to behave towards a senior such as a father, an elder brother, or a ruler.

Classic of Filial Piety
Niu Shuyu's frontispiece ofThe Classic of Filial Piety (1826)
Author	(trad.)Confucius
Published	c. 4th century BC

Classic of Filial Piety

"Xiàojīng" in—from top to bottom—seal script andtraditional andsimplified characters

Chinese name

Literal meaning

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Xiàojīng
Bopomofo	ㄒㄧㄠˋ ㄐㄧㄥ
Wade–Giles	Hsiao⁴-ching¹
Tongyong Pinyin	Siào-jing
IPA	[ɕjâʊ tɕíŋ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Haau Gīng
Jyutping	Haau3 Ging1
IPA	[haw˧.kɪŋ˥]
Southern Min
Tâi-lô	Hàu King
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)	*qʰˤruʔsklˤeŋ^[1]

Vietnamese name

Vietnamese alphabet

Hiếu Kinh

Chữ Hán

孝經

Korean name

Hangul

효경

Hanja

孝經

Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	Hyogyeong

Japanese name

Kanji

孝経

Hiragana

こうきょう

Transcriptions
Revised Hepburn	Kōkyō
Kunrei-shiki	Kôkyô

The text was most likely written during the lateWarring States period and earlyHan dynasty and claims to be a conversation between Confucius and his student Zengzi. The text was widely used during the Han and later dynasties to teach young children basic moral messages as they learned to read.^[2]

Authorship

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The text dates from the 4th century BC to 3rd century BC.^[3] It is not known who actually wrote the document. It is attributed to a conversation betweenConfucius and his discipleZengzi. A 12th-century author named He Yin claimed: "TheClassic of Filial Piety was not made by Zengzi himself. When he retired from his conversation (or conversations) with Kung-ne on the subject of Filial Piety, he repeated to the disciples of his own school what (the master) had said, and they classified the sayings, and formed the treatise."

Content

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As the title suggests, the text elaborates on filial piety, which is a core Confucian value. The text argues that people who love and serve their parents will do the same for their rulers, leading to a harmonious society. For example,^[4]

資於事父以事母，而愛同；資於事父以事君，而敬同。
As they serve their fathers, so they serve their mothers, and they love them equally. As they serve their fathers, so they serve their rulers, and they reverence them equally.

Influence

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TheClassic of Filial Piety occupied an important position in classical education as one of the most popular foundational texts through to late imperial China.^[5] The text was used in elementary and moral education together with theAnalects,Elementary Learning, and theBiographies of Exemplary Women.^[6] Study of the text was also mentioned in epitaphs as an indication of a person's good character. It was a practice to read aloud the text when mourning one's parents. The text was also important politically, partly because filial piety was both a means of demonstrating moral virtue and entering officialdom for those with family connections to the imperial court.^[7] The text was important inNeo-Confucianism and was quoted by the influential Song figure and Neo-Confucian philosopherZhu Xi.

Translations

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ManyJapanese translations of theXiaojing exist. The following are the primary Western language translations.

Legge, James (1879).The Hsiâo King, inSacred Books of the East, vol. III. Oxford University Press.
(in French) de Rosny, Leon (1889).Le Hiao-king. Paris: Maisonneuve et Ch. Leclerc. Republished (1893) asLe morale de Confucius: le livre sacré de la piété filiale. Paris: J. Maisonneuve.
Chen, Ivan (1908).The Book of Filial Duty. London: J. Murray; New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.
(in German)Wilhelm, Richard (1940).Hiau Ging: das Buch der Ehrfurcht. Peking: Verlag der Pekinger Pappelinsel.
Makra, Mary Lelia (1961).The Hsiao Ching, Sih, Paul K. T., ed. New York: St. John's University Press.
Goldin, Paul R. (2005). "Filial Piety" inHawaii Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture, Victor H. Mair et al., eds. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 106-12.
Rosemont, Henry, Jr.;Ames, Roger T. (2009).The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence: A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

References

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Citations

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^Wiktionary: Appendix:Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction
^Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1993).Chinese civilization : a sourcebook (2nd ed.). New York: The Free Press. pp. 64.ISBN 002908752X.OCLC 27226697.
^"Li Gonglin. The Classic of Filial Piety". TheMetropolitan Museum of Art.The Classic of Filial Piety, composed between 350 and 200 B.C., teaches a simple but all-embracing lesson: beginning humbly at home, filial piety not only ensures success in a man's life but also brings peace and harmony to the world at large.
^Legge, James."The Classic of Filial Piety 《孝經》".Chinese Notes. Retrieved2 May 2018.
^Lu (2017), p. 268.
^Lu (2017), p. 272.
^Lu (2017), pp. 273–277.

Works cited

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Barnhart, Richard (1993).Li Kung-lin's Classic of Filial Piety. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.ISBN 0870996797.
Boltz, William (1993). "Hsiao ching 孝經". In Loewe, Michael (ed.).Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley, CA: Society for the Study of Early China; Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley. pp. 141–52.ISBN 1-55729-043-1.
Chen, Ivan (1908).The Book of Filial Duty. London: John Murray.
Lu, Miaw-Fen (2017). "The Reception of the Classic of Fillial Piety from Medieval to Late Imperial China". In Goldin, Paul R (ed.).A Concise Companion to Confucius. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 268–285.ISBN 9781118783832.
Rosemont, Henry Jr.; Roger T. Ames (2009).The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence: a Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.ISBN 978-0824833480.