Confucianism is a system of philosophical and political principles which were developed by Confucious in the 6th century B.C., and his teaching was continued by his many students and followers. Although many consider it a religion, confucianism is primarily an ethical teaching which belongs in the aretaic tradition or the virtue ethics. This paper presents the basics of ethical teaching by the major representatives of this approach: Confucious, Mencius, Xunzi and Zhu Xi. After the fall of communism in China, Confucianism becomes an increasingly popular subject of study and comparison by philosophers worldwide, especially in the Western universities such as Stanford, Princeton and Oxford. Professors and assistants at these universities published some of the best papers on Confucianism, and this will provide us with an insight to the ethical thought of confucionists, the development of confucianism up until the modern day, and the rehabilitation of aretaic tradition in China.