Exam 3 Book Words

Zhong

Loyalty, more precisely, being honest and doing one’s best in dealing with others.

Shu

Reciprocity, or using oneself as a measure to gauge others. Essentially the Confucian golden rule: don’t impose on others what you wouldn’t want for yourself. Zhong and shu together were described as the two elements of Confucius’s Way.

Li

Ritual propriety. It encompasses the entire web of proper conduct, social norms, ceremonies, and behaviors that maintain social harmony.

Xing

Human nature or innate tendencies. In Neo-Confucianism, xing refers to the principle given to each person by Heaven as what they ought to be.

Xin

Sincerity, trustworthiness and faithfulness, or the living center of the human person, the seat of both thought and feeling.