Letters and words

Ru

Ru, the Chinese character for the scholars, from which Confucianism takes its Chinese name: what the word meant, how it came to stand for the tradition of Confucius and where you see it.

Also called 儒 · Rujia · Rujiao

In brief

I.Ru (儒) is the Chinese word for the scholars, the ritual experts and teachers of ancient China.
II.In Chinese, Confucianism is called rujia, “the school of the scholars”, or rujiao, “the teaching of the scholars”.
III.The character joins the sign for “person” with a word meaning “to need” or “to wait”.
IV.It stands for learning, ritual and moral cultivation.

Chapter I

What it means

Ru were the scholars: men learned in the old books, rites and music who served as teachers and as masters of ceremony. Confucius (551–479 BCE) was one of them, and the tradition he shaped took their name.

The character is a symbol of the Confucian ideal: a person made fully human through learning, ritual and virtue, who serves family and society. In the tradition, it is study and self-cultivation, not birth, that make a person noble.

Chapter II

Where it comes from

The ru existed before Confucius, as experts in ritual. From the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) the teaching of Confucius and his followers became the state orthodoxy, and the ru became the officials and teachers who ran the empire, later chosen through the imperial examinations, which began under the Sui dynasty and lasted until 1905.

Chapter III

Where you see it today

The character appears in the names of schools, academies and research institutes, and on banners at Confucian temples. It is a reminder of the place of learning in East Asian culture.

Questions people ask

Why not call it Confucianism in Chinese?

The English name, from the Latinised form of Kongfuzi, “Master Kong”, was coined by Europeans. In China the tradition is named after the scholars who carried it, not after one founder.

Is Confucianism a religion?

It has rites, temples and the honouring of ancestors and of Heaven, but no priesthood or creed. Scholars debate whether to call it a religion, a philosophy or a way of life.

Sources and further reading

Xinzhong Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Religious symbolism and iconography”

← All symbols · ↑ Back to top