Abstract: In the ancient Chinese traditional society,the concept of “De” is not only an important concept in politics,but also an important concept in philosophy.The Zhou people put forward the concept of “Ming De”,which brought back the concepts of “ghosts and gods” and “God” that businessmen attached importance to the world of peoples livelihood and morality in reality.However,with the evolution of time and space in history,the concept of “Ming De” tends to solidify and it is difficult to follow the concept of “Jian Ming”.The system of rites and music tends to collapse along with the concept of “De”.In order to save the Zhou Dynastys “De” concept,Confucianism represented by Confucius and Taoism represented by Lao Zi respectively expanded and deepened in different directions of “benevolence” and “metaphysics”.They either explored the profound connotation of “De” or transformed the connotation of “De” and endowed it with metaphysical characteristics.Although Lao Zis “metaphysical virtue” is different from Confucius “benevolent virtue”,which belonged to the development of Zhous “Ming De” concept in a different direction,their “De” was not confined to the external formalized etiquette and music norms;On the contrary,they all reflected the emphasis on the internal “mind-nature”—Confucius advocated “benevolence” to interpret “rites”,while Lao Zi left the rigid appearance of Zhou “rites” and turned to reveal the soft texture of “kindness”.

Key words: Confucius, Lao Zi, Ming De, Benevolent Virtue, Metaphysical Virtue