What are the Confucian Rites of Passage

The ideal feudal social order propagated by Confucianism is to differentiate between the noble and the lowly, the superior and the inferior, the young and the old, and the close and distant, and to require that people's lifestyles and behaviors be consistent with their identities and social and political status within the family, and that there be different norms of behavior for different identities, which is called ritual.

Confucianism believes that if everyone abides by a code of conduct that is consistent with his or her status and position, and achieves the state of "Jun Jun, Minister, Father, Father, Son," as described by Confucius, then the ideal social order of differentiation between the noble and the lowly, the inferior and the superior, the young and the old and the close and distant will be maintained, and the country will be able to enjoy long-term peace and stability.

On the other hand, if one abandons the rites of passage and does not use them, or if one does not observe the norms of behavior that are consistent with one's status and position, then the ideal social and ethical order advocated by Confucianism cannot be maintained, and the country cannot be ruled.

Expanded:

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was a sole ruler of Confucianism. Part of Confucianism was absorbed into the ideology of the state. Through the power of the state, the "Confucianization of rituals" and "Confucianization of laws" were gradually accomplished.

In fact, the rituals existed before the formation of Confucianism, at least during the Xia Dynasty, Yin Dynasty, and Zhou Dynasty. For a long time, the concept of "ritual" was not exclusive to Confucianism. However, through teaching and organizing ancient literature, Confucius developed Confucian doctrine and Confucian classics, which had a far-reaching impact.

During the process of social transformation, Confucianism has been adhering to the stance and values of "rites" and envisioning a future society constructed on the basis of "rites". They continued to organize the ritual books, and while textualizing the ritual system, they integrated Confucian views and concepts with ancient rituals.

On this basis, the Han Dynasty gradually completed the Confucianization of rituals, allowing Confucianism and rituals to merge and intertwine. Later, the Confucianization of the law was completed, that is, to see whether you are lawful or not depends on whether you are lawful or not, which instilled the standard of rites into the law.

In the process of Confucianization of rituals, Confucians compiled a lot of literature and exerted a lot of their own insights, and compiled a number of important books of rituals, which were finally synthesized into the Zhou Rites, the Rites of Passage, and the Records of Rites. From the Western Jin Dynasty onwards, the imperial court followed the structural framework of these rituals to formulate the state's ceremonial system, such as the "five rites" based on Ji, Jia, Jun, Bin, and Fierce.

Since then, about every dynasty has rewritten, modified and adjusted the Five Rites according to its own requirements.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Rites

People's Daily Online - Confucian Rites Culture and Its Modern Echoes