Editing Confucianism

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em; width:320px;"
! colspan="2" | Confucianism
|-
! Family
| East Asian / Chinese
|-
! Origin region
| China
|-
! Founding period
| 6th-5th century BCE and later classical development
|-
! Estimated adherents
| Often counted as a philosophy, ethical-religious tradition, or civilizational system rather than a membership religion.
|}

'''Confucianism''' is An East Asian ethical, ritual, and social tradition associated with Confucius, focused on humane conduct, learning, family, and social harmony. 

== Overview ==
Confucianism has shaped Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and global East Asian cultures. It emphasizes moral cultivation, ritual propriety, filial piety, humane governance, education, and reverence for ancestors and sages.

== Key beliefs ==
* Ren or humane goodness
* Li or ritual propriety
* Xiao or filial piety
* Moral cultivation through learning
* Harmony between family, society, and cosmos

== Practices ==
* Ancestor rites
* Study of classics
* Ritual observance
* Ethical self-cultivation
* Commemoration of Confucius and sages

== Places of worship ==
* Confucian temple
* Ancestral hall
* Family altar

== Sacred texts ==
* Analects
* Mencius
* Great Learning
* Doctrine of the Mean
* Five Classics

== Holidays and observances ==
* Confucius birthday commemorations
* Ancestor observances
* Local ritual calendars

== Branches and related traditions ==
* [[Classical Confucianism]] - Teachings associated with Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, and early classical texts.
* [[Neo-Confucianism]] - Song dynasty and later developments integrating metaphysics, self-cultivation, and social ethics.
* [[New Confucianism]] - Modern intellectual movements reinterpreting Confucian thought for contemporary life.

== See also ==
* [[Religion]]
* [[Theology]]
* [[Philosophy of religion]]

[[Category:Religions]]
[[Category:East Asian / Chinese]]