The best way to describe someone who is truly virtuous is to imagine a person that puts the needs of others above the needs of himself, even while at the same time that person will be attempting to cultivate himself to the best extent possible. The Confucian ideal suggest that self-determination and progress is desirable, but at the same time every act should be undertaken to achieve harmony and this sometimes comes at the expense of an individual's personal desires.
The Confucian idea of virtue suggests that a man should aspire to cultivate and increase his own virtue, but at the same time he may gain power over another by participating in virtuous acts. Naturally the Westerner would assume that this would mean that the person performing virtuous acts has the potential to transform this power into something negative. If however, the virtuous person is truly living their life in a manner that is in line with Confucian idealism, they will be...
Their virtuosity will in a sense 'rub off' on the recipients of their kind acts, and the person doing the actual act will gain more virtuosity in the process.
From these examples we can see that virtue is not as simple as it at first seems. It has as Confucian scholars suggest the potential to be both good and bad, though ultimately "de" is something that by very nature is powerful and good when used for the common benefit of all mankind. Man by nature has the power to acquire more power over himself and others, but in a way that is beneficial to mankind as a whole using virtue and by conducting acts that are virtuous in nature.
References
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Ivanhoe, P.J. (1993). "Confucian Moral Self-Cultivation." New York: P. Lang.
Virtue
