REMOLDING THE RULING CLASS 153scholars requires that all of them be straight and pure in their natures and actions,
that at home they be filial and respectful of their elder brothers, have a sense of
honesty, shame, and propriety, and are obedient; that they have a comprehen-
sive knowledge of scholarly matters and are fully accomplished in the way of
governance." I 19
Chu Hsi: Respectfor AgeYu Hyongwon included as part of his survey of Chu Hsi's views the texts of
three documents Chu drew up for the purpose of encouraging education and
moral cultivation. The first was Chu's "Posted Instructions for the White Deer
Academy" (Pai-lu t'ung shu-yuan chieh-shih), a rather brief text that listed the
five basic principles governing the five moral relationships in society and
exhorted students to be loyal, control anger, repress desire, keep to their right-
eous duty, and eschew profit and reputation. The text ended with a restatement
of the golden rule and the assertion that in ancient times the cultivation of right-
eousness and principle was the purpose of education. 120
The second document was Chu Hsi's "Posted Instructions for Chang-chou"
(Chu Hsi Chang-chou pang-yii), a set of pao-chia mutual responsibility group
regulations governing the proper behavior of villagers on a host of everyday mat-
ters, in particular filiality and respect for elders and superiors. 121 The third doc-
ument was Chu's "Emendations on the Community Compact of Mr. Lti" (Chu
Hsi tseng-sun Lii-shih hsiang-yueh), which stressed mutual aid and responsi-
bility in inculcating proper moral standards in the village.^122
What was of particular interest to Yu in these texts were those regulations that
concerned the proper behavior due to elders. Chu defined six categories of age
groups: the tsun or respected elder, defined as an individual twenty or more years
older than ego; the chang or elder, between ten and twenty years older than ego;
the ti or equal, less than ten years younger or older than ego; the hsiao or younger,
between ten and twenty years younger than ego; and the yu or very young, more
than twenty years younger than ego. The etiquette due from ego to another per-
son in each of these categories differed with respect to paying courtesy calls on
special holidays, ordinary courtesy calls, visits during travel, chance meetings
on the street, making requests, welcoming people or sending them off, informal
gatherings and banquets, weddings, condolence calls, and seating arrangements
in village meetings or convocations. One's behavior on any occasion was to be
governed by his own position in the age hierarchy relative to his guest.
The specific regulations were quite detailed, but a couple of examples will
suffice to illustrate Chu's insistence on governing social relations according to
hierarchical principles of respect or deference:
If you [younger person 1 happen to meet a tsun or chang elder on the street
and if both parties are walking, then you rush forward and bow. If the elder
speaks to you, you reply. If not, you stand by the side of the road and wait until