Expert: Jennifer - 5/8/2005

Question
I was wondering would you be able to tell me a few Chinese values and how they came about?
I do not mean from a certain Chinese dynasty i just mean in general.

Answer
Hi!

Basically, there are 4 main virtues that we advocate. They are loyalty, filial piety, courtesy, righteousness. There are many legends that has been passed down, and people revere these people for the values the possess.

Yue Fei is the epitome of a loyal citizen. He was forced into a position in which he can either surrender to the opposite camp or die. He chose to die. In fact, he was betrayed by a fellow warrior who was a double agent. When the other commardes found out about the truth and wanted to save him, he has committed suicide.

Mu Lan is a female solider who displayed filial piety. His father, being very old, was summoned to enlist into the army because the country was preparing to fight a war. The daughter, seeing how frail his father was, decided to disguise as a male and enlist into the army on behlaf of his father. She was a great warrior and won many wars. She was later exposed but she was let off because of her filial piety.

Bao Gong is often associated with righteousness but I do not really know the story.

Filial piety has existed since Confucious times. I'm not to sure if there's a story for it.

Hope this information has helped.