The Ties That Bind: An Overview of Traditional Chinese Family Ethics

The primary aim of this article is to provide a historical and conceptual overview of traditional Chinese family values. The two types of relationships - the relation between the individual and the family- as well as the relation between the family and the state – are studied, in order to ex-amine the traditional Chinese family values embedded historically and politically. It is argued, that the individual was subordinated to family interests in a strong sense and that the absolutely hierarchical structure of the family could be applied to the social structure of the nation and state. An important part of this article is also dedicated to the study of the status of women in traditional Chinese family, for understanding what factors determined the rigid hierarchy of male over female in family, community and society throughout Chinese history. To this end, it is suggested that there are profound implications generated by Chinese family ethics, leading to different cultural constructions of China and the West and later to the different construction process of Chinese mo-dernity.