Our modern world has put fatherhood in a tight spot. From a 50 percent divorce rate to a career of servitude in the office cell of a corporate master, it may often seem that contemporary fathers have hardly any opportunity to live up to the name.
And society seems to give our mothers a greater share of love: Since 2004, Father’s Day sales have consistently lagged behind Mother’s Day spending by about two times, according to statistics from the U.S. National Retail Foundation.
The ancient Chinese placed a premium on the father’s role in the family. The ancients honored their fathers with a reverence equal to kings and even gods. In legendary times, a character meaning “monarch” contained within it the symbol for “father.” While this may sound extreme to modern ears, Chinese tradition offers some broad lessons to fathers today.
Fathers in Chinese Tradition
As the head of society’s smallest denomination—the family—the father is responsible not just for the physical well-being of his household, but also for inculcating in his children the mores and attitudes befitting the familial roles they too will come to inherit.
Confucius, the famous sage who lived over 2,500 years ago, taught that filial piety, or “xiao,” was the bedrock of a functioning family. It rests on the reciprocity inherent in different social relationships—between friends, older and younger siblings, father and son, husband and wife, ruler and ruled. By recognizing these relationships, people could live and grow side by side in harmony.
