In Confucianism, the ideal personality is the sheng, translated as sage. However, sagehood is hard to attain and so Confucius created the junzi, gentleman, which more individuals could achieve. Junzi acts according to proper conduct to achieve he, harmony, which Confucianism maintains should rule the home, society, and the empire. Li primarily has to do with rituals, both in terms of the formal behavior required during religious rites and imperial ceremonies and proper conduct in human relationships. Confucius also considered a junzi to be someone who embodies humanity – one who possesses a totality of superior human qualities. The philosopher called this man of ren and outlined specific qualities, which were recorded by his disciples in the Analects. Many of these were used as Chinese proverbs. An example is Junzi cheng ren zhi mei, which means "A gentleman others attain desires". Zhu Xi defined junzi as second only to the sage. Junzi has many characteristics. Junzi can live with poverty; Junzi does more and speaks less. A junzi is loyal, obedient and knowledgeable. Junzi disciplines himself. Among these, ren is the core of becomingjunzi''.
Leadership
As the potential leader of a nation, the son of the ruler is raised to express superior ethical and moral positions while gaining inner peace through virtue. To Confucius, the junzi sustained the functions of government and social stratification through his ethical values. Despite its literal meaning, any righteous man willing to improve himself can become a junzi. By contrast the xiaoren does not grasp the value of virtues and seeks only immediate gain. The petty person is egotistic and does not consider the consequences of his actions. Should the ruler be surrounded by xiaoren as opposed to junzi, his governance and his people will suffer due to their small-mindness. Examples of such xiaoren individuals can range from those who continually indulge in sensual and emotional pleasures to the career politician who is interested merely in power and fame; neither sincerely aims for the long-term benefit of others. The junzi rules by acting virtuously himself. It is thought that his pure virtue would lead others to follow his example. The ultimate goal is that government behaves much like family. Thus at all levelsfilial piety promotes harmony and the junzi acts as a beacon for this piety.
