The real meaning of Confucius' saying that men are superior and women are inferior.

When it comes to the term "male superiority and female inferiority", people nowadays think that it is the claim of Confucius, that is, men are inherently noble and women are inherently humble, which is the dregs of traditional culture. In fact, this is a misunderstanding of Confucius' idea of "men are superior to women". The idea of "male superiority and female inferiority" comes from the I Ching. In the I Ching system of rhetoric biography "I Ching system of rhetoric biography", there are: heaven and earth, Qiankun fixed. The low and high to Chen, noble and low position carry on. ...... Qian Dao into male, Kun Dao into female.

The I Ching is a classic work of traditional Chinese culture, which explores the laws of celestial movement in the universe and occupies an important position in traditional culture. Among them, [dry] category:heaven, man, father, king, etc.; [kun] category:earth, woman, mother, queen, etc.. A woman is obedient to heaven and must be humble, forgiving, virtuous and selfless like the earth.

Likewise, if a man wants to follow the "Way of Heaven", he must be like the sky, tall, upright and self-reliant. Heavenly dignity means that the sky is noble, fair, and selfless. It does not mean that the sky is noble. The lowliness of the earth implies that the earth is footloose and does not discriminate between cleanliness and nobility. In the I Ching, there is the saying, "The earth is a place of virtue, and a gentleman carries things with virtue". "Modesty" means to make people feel friendly.

The meaning of male superiority and female inferiority is that men have the characteristics of men and women have the characteristics of women, which determines the differences in the division of labor between men and women in the family and society. When men and women adhere to their positions, families naturally prosper. "Men's respect" means that men must have high character, integrity, respect and honor. Women should be modest, tolerant and easy to get along with. The ancient word "humility" means modesty, intimacy and closeness.

The term "male superiority and female inferiority" advocates the harmony of nature, with yin and yang in their own place. Therefore, "male honoring female inferiority" refers to the principle that men and women should live together harmoniously in life and marriage, without the connotation of inequality between men and women. If a man has a noble character, then a woman will naturally respect him. In a family where the man is upright and noble and the woman is humble and tolerant, there is no reason why there should not be harmony. In such a family and society, women naturally have a corresponding status and will not be discriminated against. I would like to ask if Liang Hong in the story of lifting up the family would discriminate against his wife Meng Guang?

After Confucius studied the I Ching, he wrote "I Ching - The Series of Rhetoric, the Upper and Lower Biographies". One of the descriptions is:Heaven is honored and the earth is humbled, and Qiankun is set. Low and high to Chen, noble and low position. ""Qian Dao becomes male, Kun Dao becomes female."" This shows that Confucius understood the importance of having everything in its place. Therefore, Confucius put forward the "ruler and minister, father and son" reflects this "status" relationship.

This means that as a monarch, you must act like a monarch, a minister must act like a courtier, a father must act like a father, and a child must act like a child, each fulfilling his or her own duties and responsibilities. Similarly, the nobility here is different from the nobility we are talking about now. Nobility and lowliness here refers to the different statuses of people in society at different stages of their lives. It does not mean ability or status, let alone nobility or inferiority in thought and position. This is in line with the traditional Chinese culture of "equality between the noble and the lowly, and the commonwealth of the world".

Nowadays, with the change of time, many men and women have become coworkers, but the inherent differences between men and women still exist objectively, and shrewd bosses still divide the work between men and women according to these differences. Offspring, including some Confucian scholars' understanding and elaboration of Confucius' thought, are often reflections of their own minds and hearts. Therefore, it is obviously unfair that they consciously or unconsciously impose their own erroneous ideas on Confucius, to which these offspring's interpretations are attributed.