Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han Dynasty, whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements.

In societies influenced by Confucianism, the farmer was considered an esteemed productive member of society, whereas merchants who made money were looked down upon.

It was the first dynasty to embrace the philosophy of Confucianism, which became the ideological underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China.

Following the abandonment of Legalism in China after the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism became the official state ideology of China, until it was replaced by the " Three Principles of the People " ideology with the establishment of the Republic of China, and then Maoist Communism after the ROC was replaced by the People's Republic of China in Mainland China.

The Analects, the main source of the Confucianism of Confucius, actually has little to say on the matter of filial piety and some sources believe the concept was focused on by later thinkers as a response to Mohism.

As a result, Confucianism was promoted by the emperor and the men its doctrines produced became an effective counter to the remaining feudal aristocrats who threatened the unity of the imperial state.

Confucianism influenced Gottfried Leibniz, who was attracted to the philosophy because of its perceived similarity to his own.

Even some women of the literate elite, for whom Confucianism was quite explicitly the norm, were able to flourish by living their lives according to that model.

In the 16th and the 17th centuries, the earliest European arrivals in China, the Christian Jesuits, considered Confucianism to be an ethical system, not a religion, and one that was compatible with Christianity.

It was during the Warring States era that the major philosophies of China, Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and Taoism, arose, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like Agriculturalism, Chinese Naturalism, and the Logicians.

Confucianism was and continues to be a major influence in Chinese culture, the state of China and the surrounding areas of Southeast Asia.

Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han Dynasty, whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements.

Xuanxue was a philosophical school that combined elements of Confucianism and Taoism to reinterpret the Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi.

During the Qing Dynasty many philosophers objected against Neo-Confucianism and there was a return to the Han Dynasty Confucianism, and also the reprise of the controversy between Old Text and New Text.

In the modern era Confucian movements, such as New Confucianism, still exist but during the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Communist Party of China.

This was partially a continuation of the condemnations of Confucianism by intellectuals and activists in the early 20th Century as a cause of the ethnocentric close-mindedness and refusal of the Qing Dynasty to modernize that led to the tragedies that befell China in the 19th Century.

In Confucianism, the term " li " (), sometimes translated into English as rituals, customs, rites, etiquette, or morals, refers to any of the secular social functions of daily life, akin to the Western term for culture.

Kurtz coined the term eupraxsophy ( originally eupraxophy ) to refer to philosophies or lifestances such as secular humanism and Confucianism that do not rely on belief in the transcendent or supernatural.

Neo-Confucianism was an attempt to create a more rationalist and secular form of Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Daoism and Buddhism that had influenced Confucianism during and after the Han Dynasty.

According to Weber, Confucianism and Puritanism are mutually exclusive types of rational thought, each attempting to prescribe a way of life based on religious dogma.

According to Weber, Confucianism and Puritanism are mutually exclusive types of rational thought, each attempting to prescribe a way of life based on religious dogma.

In addition, rational Confucianism stimulated Kokugaku, Rangaku and the non-official popular thought after the middle Edo era.

The Hundred Schools of Thought of Chinese philosophy blossomed during this period, and such influential intellectual movements as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Mohism were founded, partly in response to the changing political world.

In practice, the primary foundation and function of Confucianism is as an ethical philosophy to be practiced by all the members of a society.

It is postulated that certain elements of Leibniz's philosophy, such as " simple substance " and " preestablished harmony ", were borrowed from his interactions with Confucianism.

For many years since the era of Confucius, various critiques of Confucianism have arisen, including Laozi's philosophy and Mozi's critique.

Using stricter definitions of religion, Confucianism has been described as a moral science or philosophy.

In the post-Chinese economic reform era, modern Chinese philosophy has reappeared in forms such as the New Confucianism.

As Confucianism became the preferred philosophy of later Chinese dynasties, starting from the Emperor Wu of Han, Mohism and other non-Confucian philosophical schools of thought were suppressed.

He focused on the issues of Chinese urban development, Chinese patrimonialism and officialdom and Chinese religion and philosophy ( primarily, Confucianism and Taoism ), as the areas in which Chinese development differed most distinctively from the European route.

The Han dynasty that followed adopted Confucianism as the official state philosophy, as did most other successive dynasties, though Daoism and later Buddhism also played an important part in later Chinese life and thought, while Mohism all but disappeared as a separate school of thought.

Legalism was the dominant political philosophy of the Qin Dynasty, but was replaced by Confucianism in the Han Dynasty.

Prior to China's adoption of communism, Confucianism remained the dominant political philosophy of China up to the 20th century.

These included Mohism ( a utilitarian philosophy ), Taoism, Legalism ( a school of thought based on the supremacy of the state ), and Confucianism.

Eventually, a modified form of Confucianism ( heavily infused with elements of Legalism ) became the dominant political philosophy in China during the Imperial Period.

The concept of Tao was later adopted in Confucianism, Chán and Zen Buddhism and more broadly throughout East Asian philosophy and religion in general.

On the other hand, Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative world view advocated by Confucianism.

On the other hand, while Confucianism was introduced as both a philosophy and as a ritual tradition in Japan, the latter did not become popular in Japan.

In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu, ( c. 2nd century BCE ) a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang.

Confucianism was the official philosophy throughout most of Imperial China's history, and mastery of Confucian texts was the primary criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy.

At the same time, an intellectual paradigm shift from Taoism to Confucianism among the intelligentsia moved the focus of academic inquiry from natural science and mathematics, which were conceived of under Taoism as investigations into the mystical nature of the universe, to studies of social philosophy and morality under Confucianism.

Although in later European commentary on China it has continued to be claimed that Confucianism is a " philosophy " and not a " religion " — because it does not conform to the model of western religions — Pope Clement XI made the assessment that the Confucian rituals were indeed in conflict with Christian teaching.

Confucianism was also thus recognized as a philosophy and an integral part of Chinese culture rather than as a heathen religion in conflict with Catholicism.