Chung-yung a portion of the Chinese Confucian classic Book of Rites. The standard English title of the Chung-yung (composed in the third or second century B.C.) is The Doctrine of the Mean, but Centrality and Commonality is more accurate. Although frequently treated as an independent classic from quite early in its history, it did not receive canonical status until Chu Hsi made it one of the Four Books. The text is a collection of aphorisms and short essays unified by common themes. Portions of the text outline a virtue ethic, stressing flexible response to changing contexts, and identifying human flourishing with complete development of the capacities present in one’s nature (hsing), which is given by Heaven (t’ien). As is typical of Confucianism, virtue in the family parallels political virtue. See also CH ‘ ENG , TA – HSÜE. B.W.V.N.