and their message, through the teaching of Confucius, became part of the fiber of Chinese society (Ellwood & McGraw 185).
Confucius and his followers argued that the individual must be motivated by virtue, or ren, which consisted of "humanity, love, high principle, and living together in harmony," all of which constituted the Tao of the superior individual--a scholarly man devoted to the service of society [who] as an official and family head . . . continually puts philosophy into practice" (Ellwood & McGraw 185, 188). The Confucian ideal, forwarded by a scholarly bureaucracy that was, in most eras, responsible for the management of the state, held that it was in society that humanity achieves at its highest level. Society was based on the relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and friend and friend. The filial relationship was the key to society because it incorporated reverence for the family (and ancestors) as well as providing a vital hierarchical basis for social organization. N
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