Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture

Protect the People

This term means safeguarding the people’s life. It first appeared in The Book of History. In the view of ancient Chinese, the mandate of heaven determined to whom supreme power in the human world belonged. The mandate was bestowed and removed according to predetermined principles. Virtuous rulers received the mandate, those without virtue lost it…

Gen (Mountain)

This is one of the eight trigrams, bundled together in the shape of ☶. It is also one of the 64 hexagrams, composed of two trigrams like this. In the eight-trigram system, it symbolizes the mountain. The mountain is still, meaning that …

Love the Country as One Loves One’s Family

Originally, the concept denoted that kings, princes, and other rulers should love their kingdoms and their people the same way they did their own families. This is because in ancient China, family and state were considered same in structure. Later on, this concept became a moral value cherished by all patriotic people. It means that all those who lo…

More 》

: - Stories in a flicker of light - China ramps up cultural push in new five-yea… - Firing up a precious legacy - Exhibition invites audience to a cinematic f… - Restoring and maintaining tombs ensure legac… More 》

: - Finding connections on ancient shudao - Bronze workshop unearthed along the Yangtze - Tibetan large language model DeepZang unveil… - New findings shed light on life and death in… - Ancient Yi embroidery stitches new life into… More 》

: The purposes of the Project are to select the concepts in Chinese culture and thought that reflect the characteristics of the country's traditional culture and the Chinese people's way of thinking, and that embody the core values of China.
More 》

Links