Filial piety is a very important moral norm in traditional Chinese society and a traditional virtue respected by the Chinese nation. In traditional Chinese moral norms, filial piety has a special status and role and has become an excellent tradition of Chinese traditional culture.

Shun was the first monarch to observe filial piety in ancient China. Chinese traditional culture is a filial piety culture centered on honoring parents. Legend has it that a long time ago there was a monarch in our country named Shun. Shun was born in a poor family, lost his mother when he was young, and his father was blind. Later, his father married another second wife and gave birth to a son named Xiang. From then on, his mother often abused Shun, and later even his father hated Shun. Whenever his parents wanted to kill Shun, Shun had no choice but to run away. But when his parents were sick and needed someone to take care of them, Shun came back to them and tried his best to serve his parents while giving in to his younger brother in every way. Shun's filial piety moved heaven and earth. When Shun was plowing the fields in Mount Li, elephants came to help him plow the fields, and birds flew to sow the seeds for him. Later, Emperor Yao discovered and promoted Shun, asking Shun to assist him in managing national affairs. Shun served under Yao for 28 years and held various official positions, all of which were very competent. Finally, Yao passed the throne to Shun. The reason why Yao chose Shun as his successor to the throne was because Shun was not only talented but also a filial son. It can be seen that filial piety and respect for the elderly are regarded as the most noble virtues and have been passed down from ancient times as a standard for selecting officials, and have been passed down from generation to generation and throughout the generations.

For example, in the Zhou Dynasty, filial piety was regarded as the basic moral character of people. The "Three Virtues" proposed at that time [Supreme Virtue (Tao), Mindful Deeds (Conduct), and Filial Deeds] and "Three Conducts" (learn to act filially to care for your parents; learn to act like friends to respect the virtuous; learn to act obediently to serve your teachers) . It became the core content of social moral education; in the Spring and Autumn Period, etiquette was strengthened. There are "Six Obediences" in "Zuo Zhuan": monarch's righteousness, minister's conduct, father's kindness, son's filial piety, brother's love and brother's respect. Confucius inherited the ethical thoughts of Shang and Zhou Dynasties and created a unique Confucian ethical and moral system with benevolence as the core. . He founded a private school and put filial piety first in teaching as the foundation of morality. Emphasizing that "a gentleman is committed to his roots, and the Tao is born from his roots, and filial piety and brotherhood are the foundation of benevolence." Mencius developed Confucian thought. Based on the theory of "human nature is good", it proposes benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom (that is: the heart of compassion, the heart of shame and disgust, the heart of resignation, the heart of right and wrong), filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty and trustworthiness. Mencius said: "There are five types of unfilial piety in the world: one is being lazy and not caring about the support of one's parents; the other is being unfilial; being fond of gambling and drinking, and not caring about one's support; the third being being fond of money and having a private wife, and not caring about one's support. There are four unfilial acts: killing one's parents based on the desires of one's ears and eyes, and the five unfilial acts of being brave and ruthless, endangering one's parents." Zhu Xi was the master of Confucianism in the Later Han Dynasty. On the basis of inheriting traditional Confucian thoughts, Zhu Xi absorbed and integrated Buddhist and Taoist thoughts to form a systematic, rigorous, and philosophical moral education thought. He proposed filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, and integrity. ,shame. He regarded "the relationship between father and son, righteousness between monarch and ministers, distinction between husband and wife, orderliness between elders and children, and trust among friends" as the "objectives of the Five Religions". Zhu Xi divided school education into two stages: primary school (8-15 years old) and college (after 16 years old). Regardless of primary school or college, the purpose of "enlightenment of human ethics" is. He advocated that primary schools should learn "sweeping, coping, advancing and retreating" and abide by moral codes such as "filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty and trustworthiness". Universities must "explain virtues", cultivate themselves, manage their families, govern their country, and bring peace to the world; at the beginning of the 20th century, bourgeois revolutionaries represented by Sun Yat-sen and Zhang Taiyan further put forward the slogans of "moral revolution" and "family revolution". Sun Yat-sen put forward the Eight Virtues of ethics such as "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, faith, and peace", reinterpreting them and giving them new democratic content.

To sum up, it can be seen that filial piety lasts for hundreds of generations and lasts for five thousand years. Filial piety has become a fine tradition and core value for the Chinese nation to thrive and be passed down from generation to generation. In order to maintain and form this filial piety tradition, in the Zhou Dynasty, a large-scale "countryside drinking ceremony" event was held every year to respect the elderly and the virtuous. Etiquette and law stipulate that people over 70 years old are qualified to eat meat and enjoy the same courtesy as worshiping gods. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, elderly people over 70 years old were exempted from taxation for one son; elderly people over 80 years old were exempted from taxation for two sons; elderly people over 90 years old were exempted from taxation for the whole family. In Chinese folk customs, there are also grand old-age ceremonies. Among the people, 60-year-olds can receive birthday wishes from their children and grandchildren; in the palace, the emperor personally presided over the ceremony of respecting the elderly. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor took the lead in advocating the etiquette of caring for the elderly and respecting the elderly. During the Qing Dynasty, a large-scale event called the Thousand-Shou Banquet was held to respect the elderly. On the second day of the first lunar month in the 61st year of Kangxi's reign (1722), a banquet was held for elderly people over 65 years old at the Qianqing Palace, with a total number of 1,020 people. At the banquet, the old man and Kangxi sat on an equal footing. The prince and grandson stood aside and poured wine for the old man. Kangxi also composed an impromptu poem called "Poetry for the Banquet of Thousands of Old Men". In order to ensure that the custom of advocating filial piety is solidified, emperors in the past dynasties took various measures to praise filial piety and encourage people to do it. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, he ordered the governors of the world to recommend filial and honest people and confer them with official titles. In the imperial examination system implemented in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the title of filial and honest subjects was specially established. Throughout the feudal era, "The Classic of Filial Piety" was a state-mandated teaching material and the basis for evaluation when opening courses. From the time they enter school, children will recite "filial piety and brotherhood first, experience and knowledge second" from the childhood education textbook "Three Character Classic" and "Disciple Rules". In addition, unfilial piety is severely punished. The criminal laws after the Sui and Tang Dynasties included unfilial piety among the "ten evils" that were equivalent to rebellion and were not condoned. Those who killed their parents have always been executed late in the history. According to the Ming Law, any disobedience to parents that makes them angry is regarded as disobedience and can be reported to the officials and punished until they are sentenced. The popular saying "beating one's father and scolding one's mother will cause lightning to strike from heaven" shows that those who are unfilial are despised by the world and cannot be tolerated by heaven and earth.

“Filial piety is the first of all virtues” and “filial piety to husband is the foundation of virtue”. The culture of filial piety is the basic culture of traditional Chinese culture, "civilian harmony, no resentment between superiors and subordinates", and it is also a harmonious culture, a culture with Chinese characteristics. As a socialist society with Chinese characteristics, it should inherit this moral heritage, develop this fine tradition, and enrich the ethical spirit and moral norms of socialism with Chinese characteristics.