Filial Piety, Fertility Ethics and Inheritance of Mother's Surname

Traditional fertility ethics is inseparable from the virtue of filial piety emphasized by Confucianism. This paper focused on the critical role of women in filial piety, reproductive ethics and virtue practice, and pro-posed that in contemporary marriage, especially when both men and women were the only children of their respec-tive families, at least two children should be born, and one of the children can be assigned a mother's surname. This paper argued that "inheritance of mother's surname" can be defended by Confucian fertility ethics: not only to comply with the requirements of Confucian filial piety, but also to maintain the value of family inheritance. Women who are willing to contribute to family continuity through family name inheritance may also be more inclined to have two children. The new reproductive ethics is not for personal utilitarian purposes, but for the realization of deep value and the placement of life significance. © 2019, Editorial department of Chinese Medical Ethics. All rights reserved.