Junzi

A junzi (Chinese: 君子 ; pinyin: jūn zǐ; lit. 'person of high stature'

Junzi
or "Son of the Monarch") is a Chinese philosophical term often
translated as "gentleman," "superior person",[1] or "noble man."[2] Chinese 君子
there is no gender implied in the characters and it can equally refer Literal "Son of a Lord. Later
to men and women, with a preferred translation as "respectable
person" or "exemplary person". The characters 君子 were
meaning used to indicate someone

employed by both the Duke Wen of Zhou in the Yi Jing 易經 (I-

who acts morally. "
Transcriptions
ching) and Confucius in his works to describe the ideal man.
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin jūnzǐ
Contents Gwoyeu Romatzyh jiuntzyy

Confucianism Wade–Giles chün1tzu3

IPA [tɕýn.tsɹ̩̀]
Leadership
Yue: Cantonese
See also
Jyutping gwan1zi2
References
See also

Confucianism
In Confucianism, the ideal personality is the 聖shèng , translated as saint or sage. However, sagehood is
hard to attain and so Confucius used the noun junzi, respectable person, which more individuals could
achieve. Junzi acts according to proper conduct ( 禮lǐ or li) to achieve
[3]
和hé or he, harmony, which
Confucianism maintains should rule the home, society, and the empire. Li primarily has to do with social
expectations, both in terms of the formal behavior required during religious rites and imperial ceremonies
and proper conduct in human relationships.[3] Confucius also considered a junzi to be someone who
embodies humanity – one who possesses a totality of the highest human qualities.[4] The philosopher called
this a person who embodies the concept of 仁rén and outlined specific qualities, which were recorded by
[4]
his disciples in the Analects. Many of these were used as Chinese proverbs ( 諺語
yàn yǔ ). An example
is君子成人之美 [5]
jūn zǐ chéng rén zhī měi, which means "A respectable person [always helps] others in
their needs".

Zhu Xi defined a junzi as second only to the sage.

Junzi has many characteristics. A junzi can live with poverty; a junzi does more and speaks
less. A junzi is loyal, obedient and knowledgeable. A junzi disciplines himself. Among these,
仁 ren is at the core of a junzi.[6](in Chinese)

Leadership
As the potential leader of a nation and country, the son of the ruler is raised to express superior ethical and
moral positions while gaining inner peace through virtue. To Confucius, the junzi sustained the functions of
government and social stratification through his ethical values. Despite its literal meaning, any righteous
man willing to improve himself can become a junzi.

By contrast the xiaoren ( 小人 , xiăorén, "scoundrel, small or petty person") does not grasp the value of
virtues and seeks only immediate personal gain. The scoundrel, or petty person, is egotistic and does not
consider the consequences of his/her actions. Should the ruler be surrounded by xiaoren as opposed to
junzi, governance and the people will suffer due to their selfish small-mindness. Examples of such xiaoren
individuals can range from those who indulge in self-satisfying sensual and emotional pleasures and gains
to the career politician who is interested merely in power and fame; neither aiming for the long-term benefit
of others. There are many expressions in Confucius' writings that contrast the two. Following are two
examples: (1) 小人可偽君子不肯偽君子。 xiǎo rén kě wéi jūn zǐ bù kěn wéi jūn zǐ , The scoundrel can
act as a respectable person but chooses not to. (2) 君子和而不同，小人同而不和。 jūn zǐ hé ér bù tóng ,
xiǎo rén tóng ér bù hé , The respectable person works with others in harmonious ways, not for personal
gain; the scoundrel is only interested in personal gain, not working harmoniously.

The junzi rules by acting virtuously himself. It is thought that his pure virtue would lead others to follow his
example. The ultimate goal is that government behaves much like family. Thus at all levels filial piety
promotes harmony and the junzi acts as a beacon for this piety.

See also
Confucianism
Bodhisattva
Four Gentlemen
Four Sages
Magnanimity § Aristotle
New Man (utopian concept)
Übermensch

References
1. Sometimes "exemplary person".Ames, Roger T.; Roesmonet, Jr., Henry (24 November
2010). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=ulEnpjoqwTwC). Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-77571-9. Paul
R. Goldin translates it "noble man" in an attempt to capture both its early political and later
moral meaning. Cf. "Confucian Key Terms: Junzi (http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/kurtis.hagen/k
eyterms_junzi.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140520073016/http://faculty.pla
ttsburgh.edu/kurtis.hagen/keyterms_junzi.html) 2014-05-20 at the Wayback Machine".
2. Goldin, Paul (2020). The Art Of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press.
ISBN 9780691200811.
3. Matthews, Warren (2008). World Religions, Sixth edition (https://archive.org/details/worldreli
gions00matt). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. pp. 184 (https://archive.org/detai
ls/worldreligions00matt/page/n206). ISBN 9780495603856.
4. Sen, Tan Ta (2003-08-01). Cheng Ho and Islam in Southeast Asia (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=hB9qDwAAQBAJ&dq=Junzi+gentleman&pg=PT31). Flipside Digital Content
Company Inc. ISBN 9789814515436.
5. Rohsenow, John S. (2003). ABC Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs (Yanyu). Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press. p. 76. ISBN 0824822218.
 6. 君子——儒學的理想人格 (A respectable person - The Ideal personal qualities as viewed by
Confucius and through Confucianism) (http://jds.cass.cn/Item/1390.aspx)

See also
Lunyu 論 語 , The Analects; the Database of Religious History, at
https://religiondatabase.org/browse/1063/#/

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