📖 Meaning
An abbreviation of the Confucian sequence 修身、齐家、治国、平天下 — cultivating the self, ordering the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. It represents the classical Chinese view that personal moral cultivation is the foundation of all political order, and that ethical development should extend outward in ever-widening circles from individual to family, state, and all under heaven.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the chapter "The Great Learning" (大学) in the Book of Rites (礼记), compiled during the Warring States period (c. 5th–3rd century BCE) and later revered as one of the Four Books of Confucianism after the Song dynasty scholar Zhu Xi (朱熹) elevated it in the 12th century. The text states that the ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the world first governed their states; wishing to govern their states, they first regulated their families; wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their own persons. The work presents this as a graded path of moral and political cultivation radiating outward from the self.
💡 Example Usage
他熟读儒家经典，常以修齐治平自勉，立志做个有益于国家的人。
He read deeply in the Confucian classics and constantly exhorted himself with the ideal of cultivating the self, ordering the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world, resolving to become someone of real use to his country.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
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🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 修齐治平
- Pinyin: xiū qí zhì píng
- Literal Translation: cultivate, regulate, govern, pacify
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4