Abstract

This chapter discusses the Confucian concern for transmitting cultural objects, practices, and attitudes as a link between past and present. Confucian thought idealized a golden past, where practices (Confucius), Classics (Mencius), and rituals (Xunzi) established by the Sages-King held specific lessons for the present. Whether for Classical Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism (Zhu Xi), cultural mediations inherited from the past are integrated into self-cultivation: the attempt to become a superior person (Junzi君子), someone able to be in charge of public government because of a moral and intellectual lineage.