chung shu, Chinese philosophical terms important in Confucianism, meaning ‘loyalty’ or ‘commitment’, and ‘consideration’ or ‘reciprocity’, respectively. In the Analects, Confucius observes that there is one thread running through his way of life, and a disciple describes the one thread as constituted by chung and shu. Shu is explained in the text as not doing to another what one would not have wished done to oneself, but chung is not explicitly explained. Scholars interpret chung variously as a commitment to having one’s behavior guided by shu, as a commitment to observing the norms of li (rites) (to be supplemented by shu, which humanizes and adds a flexibility to the observance of such norms), or as a strictness in observing one’s duties toward superiors or equals (to be supplemented by shu, which involves considerateness toward inferiors or equals, thereby humanizing and adding a flexibility to the application of rules governing one’s treatment of them). The pair of terms continued to be used by later Confucians to refer to supplementary aspects of the ethical ideal or self-cultivation process; e.g., some used chung to refer to a full manifestation of one’s originally good heart/mind (hsin), and shu to refer to the extension of that heart/mind to others. See also CON- FUCIANIS. K.-l.S.