Mencius
禮 lǐ means the ability to see your own position in society and the positions of other people in society, and to do things that let people get along well. For instance, it may be o.k. for you to go in the back door of your own family's house, or even to go in the back door of your grandmother and grandfather, without knocking. But if you go into the house of somebody else, they may become afraid or angry because you do not belong there. Sometimes we need to go into the house of someone else, and there is a lǐ for that situation. The guest may knock on the door and wait, scratch on the door of the tent and wait, or do something else to let the people inside know that there is somebody outside who has peaceful intentions and would like to come in. Different cultures may have different inventions to handle this kind of situation. The important thing is that all cultures will have found their own solutions, and whatever people decide to do is a lǐ. It does not really matter whether people drive on the left side or the right side of the road. What is important is that everybody should agree to the same plan. Perhaps the best English translation for this word is "a sense of propriety," which just means that people have a way of figuring out what is proper. fitting, or appropriate to do in social situations to prevent unneeded fights. "It is not proper to just open a door to somebody else's house and walk in." "It fits the situation to knock on the door and ask permission to come in."