仁 represents the basis of Confucian teachings which permeate classical Chinese culture. These teachings exhorted people to conduct themselves virtuously and to practice habits such as compassion, kindness of heart, propriety, upright conduct, wisdom, faith and learning. People of those times saw compassion on par with morality, and saw compassion and wanting the best for others as typical attributes of noble men. Not merely should the citizenry raise their standards based on these attributes, but teachings should also enable politics to be carried out in the most humane manner.
The prevailing philosophy at that time had people believe that only a morally upright, and at the same time compassionate, human being deserved to and was capable of governing.
