dissent, and criticism are appropriate only when the authorities have inadvertently deviated from the principles of good government, but questioning the pre-defined social order is forbidden. In retaining the paternalism and emphasis on kinship, Confucianism requires a broad commitment to a harmonious operation and the welfare of the society. Confucian principles provide the basis for Chinese organizational bureaucracy, respect for seniority, rituals of etiquette and ceremony, and various types of business relationships.
             Chinese families, as a basic unit of the society, act to provide not only shelter and food but also an environment within which the people socialize and play the roles defined by Confucius. A form of social immortality, families have something of the character of a religion which, at times, is enhanced by the ritual of ancestor worship; the consciousness of it has penetrated deep into the Chinese soul. A strong and lingering belief is that when one dies, his or her self lives on in the greatest stream of the family life. In modern times, the Chinese traditional family concept is transformed i
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