Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism, as a philosophical system, is a superstructure over Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Neo-Confucian ideology became a source of socio-political institutions. The "neo-Confucians" in power sought to solve the problems of government. Developing the ideas of Confucius, his supporters brought to the fore the position of the priority of state interests over all others, especially the interests of the individual.

This postulate was based on objective factors of China's historical development: the structure of society and economic management, when the family remained the main subject of production for two millennia, contributed to the idea of the predominance of the collective over the individual. From birth, the Chinese were inspired with the idea that the state is a "big family", where the paternal power belongs to the Emperor himself, and in the "small family" of which he is a member, the father dominatesThe father was considered the" representative " of the Emperor, and the violation of domestic rules was considered a violation of the state rules. The Patriarchal family in China was a large community of five, six, or more small families. The family had a common household: all members of the village family worked the common land; all men in the urban family, as a rule, engaged in the same craft. Thus, a typical Chinese family was a low-level social unit of society, within which several dozen people could live and run a joint household at the same time.

The Chinese family was a single entity: grief and joy were shared by the whole family. Success in any field, achievement of a high social or official position of any of the family members automatically raised the status of the entire family in the eyes of others. If one of the family members committed a crime, the whole family was punished equally with him.

As the basic institutions of Chinese society have remained unchanged for centuries, neo-Confucianism has become relevant.

The ideology of neo-Confucianism is not just an established moral code or philosophical system, it is a set of lifestyle, moral attitudes, and spiritual ideals that form the character of the Chinese.

Неоконфуцианство было тотальным. Neo-Confucianism was total. It begins to interfere in all areas of Chinese life, dictate how to live, how to act in a certain situation. Confucian principles in the period of neo-Confucianism begin to be implemented in tough actions.

As proof, we can cite the example of "Lu Yu, Cha Ching: a Treatise on tea". This treatise fully describes the tools for making, as well as the process of making tea itself. Neo-Confucianism begins to penetrate even the most private situations, and thus gradually control every human action.

So neo-Confucianism as a philosophical trend is an updated classical teaching of Confucius, but it is much tougher and stricter. Neo-Confucianism became a symbol of the restoration of Chinese national traditions, which allowed it to take the place of the official ideology in medieval China.

A new stage in the development of neo-Confucianism is associated with the name of the outstanding philosopher-encyclopedist, textual critic and commentator of Confucian canonical works Zhu XI. The philosopher systematized neo-Confucianism and brought it to a perfect form. Zhu XI was one of the six great philosophers of the song dynasty who dealt with the problem of reviving Confucian teaching. It is he who is the most famous of the philosophers, because he collected and combined the works of his predecessors, formulated the system that after his death became the Orthodox Confucian ideology.

The teachings of Zhu XI and the whole sung school are characterized by an ethical orientation. The Confucian texts were interpreted from the moral point of view. The comments and interpretations written by Zhu XI were regulated at the state level.

To sum up, the ideas of the great Confucius in the interpretation of Zhu XI were freed from religious elements and presented as an ethical system that does not require supernatural sanctions. The merit of Zhu XI is that it was in his interpretation of Confucianism that it began to penetrate more and more into the mass consciousness, not only of the Chinese, but also of the inhabitants of the entire Confucian cultural area.

The concept of Yin and Yang was created during the period of neo Confucianism.

The concept of " precious (respected) Yang (陽) and insignificant Yin (陰) eventually began to be used in their direct meaning, that is, the predominance of the masculine over the feminine. It sounded like " a man is respected, a woman is despised. This scheme was decisive in the relationship between the spouses: a woman, because of her belonging to the element Yin (陰), was obliged to obey the masculine principle of Yang in everything.

The "Canon of patience" was also created, consisting of quotations about the subordination of a wife to her husband from the most revered classical works of Confucianism, which established the order of interaction between husband and wife throughout family life. The wife is required to obey her husband, and she must carry out her Affairs in accordance with her purpose. Only by following the correct order, the couple will be able to experience prosperity and prosperity

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the influence of neo-Confucianism increased, which was most clearly reflected in the position of the Chinese woman. In the ideology of zhuxianism, family life was the only sphere of activity for a decent woman, a woman should not have any business outside of the family. Women who did not have a family were excluded from society because of their unusual position or lifestyle. Nuns, witches, and fortune-tellers had extremely dubious reputations.

In medieval China, women in the family were traditionally divided into those who were born in the house (daughter 女兒) and those who came to the house (wife, concubine, servant-slave 妻子).  According to Zhu XI's concept of " precious (respected) Yang and insignificant Yin", correctly performing their social function, women from childhood grew up in the families of their fathers, where they obeyed them and helped with the housework. When they reached the age of marriage, they married and, while living in the husband's family, obeyed their mother-in-law and husband.  

In marriage, the wife had to please not only the husband, but also the mother-in-law and all relatives on the husband's side: Yin must obey the Yang.

In everyday life, the wife was the first to get up in the morning to prepare Breakfast and wait for her husband and mother-in-law, if the family did not have a maid. And she was the last to go to bed, after checking the whole house.

With the marriage of the son, the daughter-in-law came to the house, over which the woman took patronage. All their lives until their death, women were within the family. Sometimes some of them would retire to a Buddhist monastery after their husband's death.