Loyalty - Chung

The character for chung, meaning both ‘loyalty’ and ‘patriotism’, shows a ‘heart’ beneath an arrow piercing a target through its ‘centre’. This shows that loyalty means having a centred heart. A heart that is in the centre is a heart in the right place. However, a steadfast heart does not imply blind loyalty. Confucius taught “What is loyalty, if it does not instruct its subject?”