ABSTRACT
If China’s universal order served as the first pillar that supported the culture, the second pillar had to be the traditional Chinese family. Ancient Chinese held that the most essential human relationships were those connected by blood. Because love naturally existed among kin, kinship was Confucius’s foundation for a harmonious society. The traditional Chinese family was a patriarchal and multigenerational environment, one that also included members of the family’s ancestral past. In this multigenerational environment, individuals not only contributed but also relied on one another for physical and mental survival. Observing and experiencing the workings of relationships, children learned their first lessons of relationalism and the rights and responsibilities of all family relationships. While reciprocity held the key to a harmonious relationship, compromise and sacrifice were also critical. Additionally, ancestral worshipping rituals helped children realize that death was not the severance of relationships. Although ancestors are physically gone, spiritually they still had blessing powers for the living. Growing up, the younger generation became familiar with the nuances of the planning and practice of ancestor worship and burial rituals. As such, mandatory and frequent participation in these rituals ensured the necessity and nuances of relationalism, the value of which was quietly but effectively passed down from generation to generation.
