East Asia Tradition and the Practice of Filial Piety
             According to Confucius, "In serving his parents, a filial son reveres them in daily life; he makes them happy while he nourishes them; he takes anxious care of them in sickness; he shows great sorrow over their death; and he sacrifices to them with solemnity." The practice of filial piety has and has had direct consequences for a person's psychological, social, and economic well being in East Asia. According to Chinese tradition, the practice of filial piety was the primary duty of all-Chinese. Being a filial son or daughter came with a lot of family rules and traditions. Complete obedience to their parents during their lifetime and as they grow older, taking the best possible care of them. The practice of filial piety could bring honor and prestige to a community, an unfilial act could bring dishonor and shared punishment. Failure to live up to local standards of filial piety can result in damage to one's own self-image, loss of reputation in the community, and loss of one's inheritance. Refusal to fulfill obligations of filial piety made one suspect in the eyes of other Chinese.
             Filial piety is a social value, which has greatly influenced the parent care and parent-child relationship of East Asian peoples. Among the paths to filial piety in everyday life is maintaining a multi-generational large household, and one of the most important. Living with your family after marriage was big in East Asia. To break up one's family would be unfilial and social disapproval. When you got married the women would move in with their husbands families. Men practiced filial piety by maintaining the unity of the parental household, while women practiced it by helping their husbands fulfill their filial duties and as their everyday duties as daughters-in-law. Daily household chores in complex households were tedious and never-ending work, requiring ar...