In Confucianism, li means proper ritual conduct, customary behavior, and social etiquette.
The Chinese term li originally referred especially to ritual practices, including ceremonies, offerings, and formal behavior. Confucian thinkers expanded its meaning to include the patterns of conduct that make family, political, and community life orderly. It can therefore refer both to formal ritual and to everyday manners shaped by moral expectations.
Confucius did not treat li as empty ceremony. He argued that ritual should express appropriate feeling and cultivate character. A person who performs outward actions correctly but lacks respect or sincerity has not fully understood their purpose. Li was therefore connected with other Confucian ideals, including ren, or humaneness.
Li is commonly confused with yi, which means righteousness or appropriateness, and with ren, which means humaneness or benevolence. In simplified terms, li concerns appropriate forms of conduct, while ren concerns the humane quality that should animate them. The two were understood as mutually reinforcing.