68 Facts About Confucius

Confucius considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods which he claimed had been abandoned in his time.

Confucius advocated for filial piety, endorsing strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, the respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives.

Confucius recommended a robust family unit as the cornerstone for an ideal government.

The time of Confucius's life saw a rich diversity of thought, and was a formative period in China's intellectual history.

Confucius's ideas gained in prominence during the Warring States period, but experienced setback immediately following the Qin conquest.

Under Emperor Wu of Han, Confucius's ideas received official sanction, with affiliated works becoming mandatory readings for career paths leading to officialdom.

Traditionally, Confucius is credited with having authored or edited many of the ancient texts including all of the Five Classics.

The name "Confucius" is a Latinized form of the Mandarin Chinese, and was coined in the late 16th century by early Jesuit missionaries to China.

Confucius's father Kong He was an elderly commandant of the local Lu garrison.

Confucius's ancestry traced back through the dukes of Song to the Shang dynasty which had preceded the Zhou.

Traditional accounts of Confucius's life relate that Kong He's grandfather had migrated the family from Song to Lu.

Kong He died when Confucius was three years old, and Confucius was raised by his mother Yan Zhengzai in poverty.

Qiguan and Confucius later had two daughters together, one of whom is thought to have died as a child and one was named Kong Jiao.

Confucius was educated at schools for commoners, where he studied and learned the Six Arts.

Confucius was born into the class of shi, between the aristocracy and the common people.

Confucius is said to have worked in various government jobs during his early 20s, and as a bookkeeper and a caretaker of sheep and horses, using the proceeds to give his mother a proper burial.

When his mother died, Confucius is said to have mourned for three years, as was the tradition.

The Xunzi says that once assuming the post, Confucius ordered the execution of Shaozheng Mao, another Lu state official and scholar whose lectures attracted the three thousand disciples several times except Yan Hui.

However, Confucius relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself.

Confucius immediately launched an attack and entered the capital Lu.

Confucius disapproved the use of a violent revolution by principle, even though the Ji family dominated the Lu state by force for generations and had exiled the previous duke.

When Confucius heard of the raid, he requested that Viscount Ji Huan allow the duke and his court to retreat to a stronghold on his palace grounds.

Confucius ordered two officers to lead an assault against the rebels.

Confucius had made powerful enemies within the state, especially with Viscount Ji Huan, due to his successes so far.

Confucius left the state of Lu without resigning, remaining in self-exile and unable to return as long as Viscount Ji Huan was alive.

The Shiji stated that the neighboring Qi state was worried that Lu was becoming too powerful while Confucius was involved in the government of the Lu state.

Confucius was disappointed and resolved to leave Lu and seek better opportunities, yet to leave at once would expose the misbehavior of the duke and therefore bring public humiliation to the ruler Confucius was serving.

Confucius therefore waited for the duke to make a lesser mistake.

Meanwhile, Confucius dedicated himself in transmitting the old wisdom by writing or editing the Five Classics.

Confucius was buried on the bank of the Sishui River, to the north of Qufu City in Shandong Province.

Confucius puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study that opens the text.

Confucius was considered more of a humanist than a spiritualist, his discussions on afterlife and views concerning Heaven remained indeterminate, and he is largely unconcerned with spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of souls.

Some believed that li originated from the heavens, but Confucius stressed the development of li through the actions of sage leaders in human history.

Confucius argued that the best government is one that rules through "rites" and morality, and not by using incentives and coercion.

Confucius looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples.

Confucius argued for representing truth in language, and honesty was of paramount importance.

Confucius believed that if a ruler is to lead correctly, by action, that orders would be unnecessary in that others will follow the proper actions of their ruler.

Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders by force or punishment are not necessary.

Confucius heavily promoted the use of music with rituals or the rites order.

Unlike other philosophers around the world, Confucius viewed music and music theory beyond a mere art form or curriculum subject, and stated that it was intrinsically intertwined with rites in structuring man.

Confucius is traditionally ascribed with compiling these classics within his school.

Confucius's teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers, who organized his teachings into the Analects.

The works of Confucius were first translated into European languages by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty.

Francois Noel, after failing to persuade ClementXI that Chinese veneration of ancestors and Confucius did not constitute idolatry, completed the Confucian canon at Prague in 1711, with more scholarly treatments of the other works and the first translation of the collected works of Mencius.

Confucius's works are studied by scholars in many other Asian countries, particularly those in the Chinese cultural sphere, such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

The Ahmadiyya believes Confucius was a Divine Prophet of God, as were Lao-Tzu and other eminent Chinese personages.

In modern times, Asteroid 7853, "Confucius", was named after the Chinese thinker.

Confucius was regarded as the first teacher who advocated for public welfare and the spread of education in China.

Confucius devoted his entire life, from a relatively young age, to teaching.

Confucius pioneered private education adopting a curriculum known as the Six Arts, aimed at making education accessible to all social classes, and believed in its power to cultivate character rather than merely vocational skills.

Confucius began teaching after he turned 30, and taught more than 3,000 students in his life, about 70 of whom were considered outstanding.

The Han dynasty historian Sima Qian dedicated a chapter in his Records of the Grand Historian to the biographies of Confucius's disciples, accounting for the influence they exerted in their time and afterward.

Confucius did not charge any tuition, and only requested a symbolic gift of a bundle of dried meat from any prospective student.

Confucius considered his students' personal background irrelevant, and accepted noblemen, commoners, and even former criminals such as Yan Zhuoju and Gongye Chang.

Confucius often engaged in discussion and debate with his students and gave high importance to their studies in history, poetry, and ritual.

Confucius advocated loyalty to principle rather than to individual acumen, in which reform was to be achieved by persuasion rather than violence.

Confucius continued to remind his disciples to stay true to their principles and renounced those who did not, all the while being openly critical of the Ji family.

The influence of Confucius has been observed on multiple Western thinkers, including Niels Bohr, Benjamin Franklin, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Jefferson, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Robert Cummings Neville, Alexander Pope, Ezra Pound, Francois Quesnay, Friedrich Schiller, Voltaire, and Christian Wolff.

An early verbal portrayal of Confucius is found in the chapter "External Things" of the book Zhuangzi, finished in about 3rd BCE, long after Confucius's death.

The oldest known portrait of Confucius has been unearthed in the tomb of the Han dynasty ruler Marquis of Haihun.

In other temples, Confucius is represented by a memorial tablet.

In 2006, the China Confucius Foundation commissioned a standard portrait of Confucius based on the Tang dynasty portrait by Wu Daozi.

Confucius appears as a leader in Civilization VII, leading China.

In Taiwan, where the Nationalist Party strongly promoted Confucian beliefs in ethics and behavior, the tradition of the memorial ceremony of Confucius is supported by the government and has continued without interruption.

Confucius's descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts.

Many of the Muslim Confucius descendants are descended from the marriage of Ma Jiaga, a Muslim woman, and Kong Yanrong, 59th generation descendant of Confucius in the year 1480, and are found among the Hui and Dongxiang peoples.

In 2013, a DNA test performed on multiple different families who claimed descent from Confucius found that they shared the same Y chromosome as reported by Fudan University.

The fifth and most recent edition of the Confucius genealogy was printed by the CGCC.