Editing Eastern philosophy (section)

====Confucianism====
{{Main|Confucianism}}
[[File:Konfuzius-1770.jpg|thumb|x230px|[[Confucius]]]]
[[Confucianism]] (孔教, ''Kǒngjiào'' — "Confucius' doctrine"), also known as "Ruism" (''Rújiào'' — "doctrine of the scholars"), is a Chinese philosophical system with ritual, moral, and religious applications.<ref>Yao, Xinzhong (2000). An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-64312-0}}. pp. 38–47.</ref> The tradition developed around the teachings of [[Confucius]] (''Kǒng Fūzǐ'', 孔夫子, "Master Kong", 551–479 BCE) who saw himself as transmitting the values and theology of the ancestors before him.<ref>Fung, Yiu-ming (2008), "Problematizing Contemporary Confucianism in East Asia", in Richey, Jeffrey, Teaching Confucianism, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-804256-6}}. p. 163.</ref> Other influential classical Confucian philosophers include [[Mencius]] and [[Xun Kuang]] who famously disagreed on the innate moral nature of humans.

Confucianism focuses on humanistic values like familial and social harmony, [[filial piety]] (孝, ''xiào''), ''[[Ren (Confucianism)|Rén]]'' (仁, "benevolence" or "humaneness") and ''[[Li (Confucianism)|Lǐ]]'' (禮/礼) which is a system of ritual norms that determines how a person should act to be in harmony with the law of Heaven. Confucianism traditionally holds that these values are based on the transcendent principle known as [[Tian|Heaven]] (''Tiān'' 天), and also includes the belief in spirits or gods (''[[Shen (Chinese religion)|shén]]'').<ref>Littlejohn, Ronnie (2010), Confucianism: An Introduction, I.B. Tauris, {{ISBN|1-84885-174-X}}. pp. 34–36.</ref>

Confucianism was a major ideology of the imperial state during the [[Han dynasty]] (206 BCE–220 CE) and was revived as [[Neo-Confucianism]] during the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907). During later Chinese dynasties like [[Song dynasty]] (960–1297) and the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) as well as in the Korean [[Joseon dynasty]] (1392–1897) a resurgent [[Neo-Confucianism]] led by thinkers such as [[Zhu Xi]] (1130–1200) and [[Wang Yangming]] (1472–1529) became the dominant school of thought and was promoted by the imperial state. Beginning in the [[Song dynasty]], [[Confucian classics]] were the basis of the [[imperial exams]] and became the core philosophy of the [[Scholar-officials|scholar-official class]]. Confucianism suffered setbacks during the 20th century, but is recently undergoing a revival, which is termed [[New Confucianism]].<ref>Benjamin Elman, John Duncan and Herman Ooms ed. ''Rethinking Confucianism: Past and Present in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam''(Los Angeles: UCLA Asian Pacific Monograph Series, 2002).</ref>

Traditionally, East Asian cultures and countries in the [[East Asian cultural sphere|cultural sphere]] are strongly influenced by Confucianism, including [[Culture of China|Mainland China]], [[Culture of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]], [[Culture of Macau|Macau]], [[Culture of Japan|Japan]], [[Culture of Korea|Korea]], [[Culture of Taiwan|Taiwan]], and [[Culture of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as well as various overseas territories settled predominantly by [[Overseas Chinese]], such as [[Culture of Singapore|Singapore]].