In the third through the second centuries B., three main social philosophies became prominent in China, each claiming to offer the correct path to achieve social harmony. These philosophies were Legalism, Daoism, and Confucianism. .
Confucianism is concerned with a vision of a more perfect society in which rulers and subjects, nobles and commoners, parents and children, and men and women wholeheartedly accepted the roles assigned to them, devoting themselves to their responsibilities to others. Confucianism considered the family the basic unit of society. It extolled the idea of filial piety. This meant that children must respect their parents and serve them in many ways.
Confucianism had five cardinal relationships. One was between father and son. The others were between ruler and subject, husband and wife, elder and younger brothers, and friend and friend. Confucianism also defined the term gentlemen, to mean a man of moral cultivation rather than a man of noble birth. But, it did not advocate social equality; instead, it minimized the importance of class distinctions and opened the way for intelligent and talented people to rise in the social scale. .
The highest virtue of Confucianism was "ren." It translates into perfect goodness, benevolence, humanity, human heartedness, and nobility. It means deep concern for the well being of others and orientation that makes right action seem effortless.
Confucianism believed that government benefited the people and called on to do what they could to make government work well. Daoism, on the other hand, did not accept this basic premise. They did not place human beings at the center of the cosmos and they were concerned that human's contrivance upsets the natural order of things. They identified this natural order with Dao, or the way, the invisible, indescribable, immaterial force or energy that is the source of all that exists or happens.