Confucius and Mencius were the worst philosophers in China’s history. The tenets of Confucius began during the warring states period as a set of guidelines on how to bring about peace and order. He believed that wars occur because people do not know how to properly regard or treat each other’s social status in life. He defined the rules according to different classes of society. There is also a pecking order: Ruling class, Elite upper class, middle class, lower class (common people) and lastly the slaves or criminals. Families also have rankings: Father, Mother, Son, then Daughter. the father makes all the decisions in the family regarding marriages, business, and property. When the father dies, the oldest son takes his place in the ranking. Even language is divided into 2 classes: honorifics speech, and casual speech. Honorific speech must be used when talking with or addressing an older person (including among siblings) than you or a person who is of a higher title than you. When you are speaking to your manager at work, you address him as “Head of accounting Mr. Jones” If you are given permission by Mr. Jones, then you can address him as Andy. If you have 2 brothers older than you, you address them as “Oldest brother or second oldest brother,” the same applies to sisters or other relatives. If you are given permission to use casual speech, then you can call them by their first names. Males always have higher status than women in this type of society. Women can never have self-determination, agency, property, and equality of life. This is why I feel that a Confucian society has slowed any progress in the growth of a nation’s people and the improvement of its society. No one from a lower class can ever be allowed to elevate themselves to a higher class and no one can marry someone in a higher class. It is a terrible philosophical guide of life that enables and promotes corruption, arrogance, discrimination, and greed. Great story and thanks for sharing, Kat Kou!