In Confucian ethics, xiao is the Chinese term for filial piety toward parents and elders.
Xiao involves respect, care, loyalty, and appropriate conduct within the family. Confucian thinkers treated family relationships as the first setting in which people learn responsibility, gratitude, and moral discipline. These habits were then expected to extend outward into wider society and government.
The character 孝 combines ideas traditionally associated with an older generation and a younger generation supporting it. Filial piety does not simply mean unquestioning obedience in every interpretation. Classical discussions also connect it with honest moral advice when parents act wrongly, although respectful behavior remains essential.
Xiao appears throughout Confucian writings, including the Classic of Filial Piety. It is often confused with ren, the broader virtue of humaneness, and li, the rules and forms of proper conduct.