Confucianism laid a basis for the social order in ancient China since 200 BC. It provided working rules and ethical precepts for Chinese to follow. Even today the majority of Chinese still behave according to these rules. Confucianism regards individual as a social creature obligated to each other through relationships. These may include the relations between sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger, husband and wife, or even friend and friend. Confucianism defined the rules in the engagement, action, and responsibilities in all these human relationships and interactions. Proper conduct proceeds not through compulsion, but through a sense of virtue and self-consciousness achieved by learning, observing and practicing.