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民德归厚矣

民德歸厚矣
míndéguīhòuyǐ
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 the moral character of the people will then return to genuine depth
  2. 2 popular virtue will settle into something substantial
  3. 3 Confucian claim that ritual mourning reforms society

Examples

慎终追远，民德归厚矣——这句话讲的是仪式的社会意义。
Shèn zhōng zhuī yuǎn, mín dé guī hòu yǐ — zhè jù huà jiǎng de shì yíshì de shèhuì yìyì.
'Attend carefully to the end, remember ancestors afar, and the people's virtue will return to substance' — this line is about the social meaning of ritual.
家风好，则民德归厚矣。
Jiā fēng hǎo, zé mín dé guī hòu yǐ.
Good family traditions lead to substantial virtue in the people.

Tips

history
From 《论语·学而》 (Analects, 'Xue Er'), spoken by Zengzi (曾子): 慎终追远，民德归厚矣 — 'If funerals are conducted with due care and ancestors are remembered across the generations, then the virtue of the people will return to substance.' Zengzi argues that family ritual, done seriously, is the root of public morality.
usage
矣 (yǐ) is a classical sentence-final particle signaling completion — like 了 in modern Chinese, without semantic content. 归厚 = 'return to thickness / substance.' Usually quoted with 慎终追远, and frequently appears today in discussions of cultural revival and ancestral rites.

Stroke Order

民 mín
德 dé
归 guī
厚 hòu
矣 yǐ