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Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments. Although much of Chinese philosophy begun in the Warring States period (475-221 BCE), elements of Chinese philosophy have existed for several thousand years. Some can be found in the I Ching (the Book of Changes), an ancient compendium of divination, which dates back to at least 672 BCE.

It was during the Warring States era that what Sima Tan termed the major philosophical schools of China—Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism—arose, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like Agriculturalism, Mohism, Chinese Naturalism, and the Logicians. Even in modern society, Confucianism is still the creed of etiquette for Chinese society.

Chinese philosophy as a philosophy
The debate over whether the thought of ancient Chinese masters should be called philosophy has been discussed since the introduction of this academic discipline into China. See Legitimacy of Chinese philosophy for details.

Early beliefs
Early Shang dynasty thought was based on cycles like the 10 stems and 12 earthly branches. This notion stems from what the people of the Shang dynasty could observe around them: day and night cycles, the seasons progressed again and again, and even the moon waxed and waned until it waxed again. Thus, this notion, which remained relevant throughout Chinese history, reflects the order of nature. In juxtaposition, it also marks a fundamental distinction from western philosophy, in which the dominant view of time is a linear progression. During the Shang, Ancestor worship was present and universally recognized.

When the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou a new political, religious and philosophical concept was introduced called the Mandate of Heaven. This mandate was said to be taken when rulers became unworthy of their position and provided a justification for Zhou rule it is said that the Duke of Zhou made the early solar terms by measuring with a gnomon that was added to make the complete solar terms. He is also said to have used try squares and wrote the Zhoubi Suanjing with his astrologer. Several early beliefs might be found in the Guicang and perhaps the earliest Chinese book, the small calendar of the Xia in Da Dai Liji, though debated to exist the Xia dynasty is said to be its origin.

Overview
Confucianism developed during the Spring and Autumn period from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE), who considered himself a retransmitter of Zhou values. His philosophy concerns the fields of ethics and politics, emphasizing personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, traditionalism, and sincerity. The Analects stress the importance of ritual, but also the importance of ren, which loosely translates as "human-heartedness", Confucianism, along with Legalism, is responsible for creating the world's first meritocracy, which holds that one's status should be determined by education and character rather than ancestry, wealth, or friendship. Confucianism was and continues to be a major influence in Chinese culture, the state of China and the surrounding areas of East Asia.

Before the Han dynasty the largest rivals to Confucianism were Chinese Legalism, and Mohism. Confucianism largely became the dominant philosophical school of China during the early Han dynasty following the replacement of its contemporary, the more Taoist Huang-Lao. Legalism as a coherent philosophy disappeared largely due to its relationship with the unpopular authoritarian rule of Qin Shi Huang, however, many of its ideas and institutions would continue to influence Chinese philosophy throughout the Han dynasty and after.

Mohism, though initially popular due to its emphasis on brotherly love versus harsh Legalism, fell out of favour during the Han dynasty due to the efforts of Confucians in establishing their views as political orthodoxy. The Six Dynasties era saw the rise of the Xuanxue philosophical school and the maturation of Chinese Buddhism, which had entered China from India during the Late Han dynasties. By the time of the Tang dynasty five-hundred years after Buddhism's arrival into China, it had transformed into a thoroughly Chinese religious philosophy dominated by the school of Zen Buddhism. Neo-Confucianism became highly popular during the Song dynasty and Ming dynasty due in large part to the eventual combination of Confucian and Buddhist and even Taoist Philosophy.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Chinese philosophy integrated concepts from Western philosophy. Anti-Qing dynasty revolutionaries, involved in the Xinhai Revolution, saw Western philosophy as an alternative to traditional philosophical schools; students in the May Fourth Movement called for completely abolishing the old imperial institutions and practices of China. During this era, Chinese scholars attempted to incorporate Western philosophical ideologies such as democracy, Marxism, socialism, liberalism, republicanism, anarchism and nationalism into Chinese philosophy. The most notable examples are Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People ideology and Mao Zedong's Maoism, a variant of Marxism–Leninism. In the modern People's Republic of China, the official ideology is Deng Xiaoping's "market economy socialism".

Although the People's Republic of China has been historically hostile to the philosophy of ancient China, the influences of past are still deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture. In the post-Chinese economic reform era, modern Chinese philosophy has reappeared in forms such as New Confucianism. As in Japan, philosophy in China has become a melting pot of ideas. It accepts new concepts, while attempting also to accord old beliefs their due. Chinese philosophy still carries profound influence amongst the people of East Asia, and even Southeast Asia.

Spring and Autumn period
Around 500 BCE, after the Zhou state weakened and China moved into the Spring and Autumn period, the classic period of Chinese philosophy began. This is known as the Hundred Schools of Thought (諸子百家; zhūzǐ bǎijiā; "various scholars, hundred schools"). This period is considered the golden age of Chinese philosophy. Of the many schools founded at this time and during the subsequent Warring States period, the four most influential ones were Confucianism, Daoism (often spelled "Taoism"), Mohism and Legalism.

Confucianism

Confucianism is a philosophical school developed from the teachings of Confucius collected and written by his disciples after his death in The Analects, and in the Warring States period, Mencius in The Mencius and Xunzi in The Xunzi. It is a system of moral, social, political, and religious thought that has had tremendous influence on Chinese history, thought, and culture down to the 20th century. Some Westerners have considered it to have been the "state religion" of imperial China because of its lasting influence on Asian culture. Its influence also spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and many other Asian countries.

Confucianism reached its peak of influence during the Tang and Song dynasties under a rebranded Confucianism called Neo-Confucianism. Confucius expanded on the already present ideas of Chinese religion and culture to reflect the time period and environment of political chaos during the Warring States period. Because Confucius embedded the Chinese culture so heavily into his philosophy it was able to resonate with the people of China. This high approval of Confucianism can be seen through the reverence of Confucius in modern-day China.

The major Confucian concepts include filial piety, loyalty, li (ritual), ren (humanity or humaneness), the rectification of names (i.e., to ensure everything is what its name implies it should be),. Confucius taught both positive and negative versions of the Golden Rule. The concepts yin and yang represent two opposing forces that are permanently in conflict with each other, leading to perpetual contradiction and change. The Confucian idea of "Rid of the two ends, take the middle" is a Chinese equivalent of the idea of "thesis, antithesis, and synthesis", often attributed to Hegel, which is a way of reconciling opposites, arriving at some middle ground combining the best of both.

Confucius heavily emphasized the idea of microcosms in society (subunits of family and community) success's were the foundations for a successful state or country. Confucius believed in the use of education to further knowledge the people in ethics, societal behavior, and reverence in other humans. With the combination of education, successful family, and his ethical teachings he believed he could govern a well established society in China.

Taoism

Taoism arose as a philosophy and later also developed into a religion based on the texts the Tao Te Ching (ascribed to Laozi) and the Zhuangzi (partly ascribed to Zhuang Zhou). The word Tao (道; also transliterated as Dao) literally means 'path' or 'way'. However, in Taoism it refers more often to a meta-physical force that encompasses the entire universe but which cannot be described nor felt.

All major Chinese philosophical schools have investigated the correct Way to go about a moral life, but in Taoism it takes on the most abstract meanings, leading this school to be named after it. It advocated nonaction (wu wei), the strength of softness, spontaneity, and relativism. Although it serves as a rival to Confucianism, a school of active morality, this rivalry is compromised and given perspective by the idiom "practice Confucianism on the outside, Taoism on the inside."

Most of Taoism's focus is on the notion that human attempts to make the world better actually make the world worse. Therefore, it is better to strive for harmony, minimising potentially harmful interference with nature or in human affairs.

Legalism
Philosopher Han Fei synthesized together earlier the methods of his predecessors, which famous historian Sima Tan posthumously termed Legalism. With an essential principle like "when the epoch changed, the ways changed", late pre-Han dynasty reformers emphasized rule by law.

In Han Fei's philosophy, a ruler should govern his subjects by the following trinity:
 * 1) Fa : law or principle.
 * 2) Shu : method, tactic, art, or statecraft.
 * 3) Shi : legitimacy, power, or charisma.

What has been termed by some as the intrastate Realpolitik of the Warring States period was highly progressive, and extremely critical of the Confucian and Mohist schools. But that of the Qin dynasty would be blamed for creating a totalitarian society, thereby experiencing decline. Its main motto is: "Set clear strict laws, or deliver harsh punishment". In Han Fei's philosophy the ruler possessed authority regarding reward and penalty, enacted through law. Shang Yang and Han Fei promoted absolute adherence to the law, regardless of the circumstances or the person. Ministers were only to be rewarded if their words were accurate to the results of their proposals. Legalism, in accordance with Shang Yang's interpretation, could encourage the state to be a militaristic autarky.

Naturalists
The School of Naturalists or the School of Yin-yang was a Warring States era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the wuxing; Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school. His theory attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic forces in nature: the complementary agents of yin (dark, cold, female, negative) and yang (light, hot, male, positive) and the Five Elements or Five Phases (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth).

In its early days, this theory was most strongly associated with the states of Yan and Qi. In later periods, these epistemological theories came to hold significance in both philosophy and popular belief. This school was absorbed into Taoism's alchemic and magical dimensions as well as into the Chinese medical framework. The earliest surviving recordings of this are in the Mawangdui texts and Huangdi Neijing.

Mohism
Mohism (Moism), founded by Mozi, promotes universal love with the aim of mutual benefit. Everyone must love each other equally and impartially to avoid conflict and war. Mozi was strongly against Confucian ritual, instead emphasizing pragmatic survival through farming, fortification, and statecraft. Tradition is inconsistent, and human beings need an extra-traditional guide to identify which traditions are acceptable. The moral guide must then promote and encourage social behaviors that maximize general benefit. As motivation for his theory, Mozi brought in the Will of Heaven, but rather than being religious his philosophy parallels utilitarianism.

Logicians
The logicians (School of Names) were concerned with logic, paradoxes, names and actuality (similar to Confucian rectification of names). The logician Hui Shi was a friendly rival to Zhuangzi, arguing against Taoism in a light-hearted and humorous manner. Another logician, Gongsun Long, originated the famous When a White Horse is Not a Horse dialogue.

Agriculturalists
Agriculturalism was an early agrarian social and political philosophy that advocated peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism. The philosophy is founded on the notion that human society originates with the development of agriculture, and societies are based upon "people's natural propensity to farm."

The Agriculturalists believed that the ideal government, modeled after the semi-mythical governance of Shennong, is led by a benevolent king, one who works alongside the people in tilling the fields. The Agriculturalist king is not paid by the government through its treasuries; his livelihood is derived from the profits he earns working in the fields, not his leadership. Unlike the Confucians, the Agriculturalists did not believe in the division of labour, arguing instead that the economic policies of a country need to be based upon an egalitarian self sufficiency. The Agriculturalists supported the fixing of prices, in which all similar goods, regardless of differences in quality and demand, are set at exactly the same, unchanging price.

Qin and Han dynasties
The short founder Qin dynasty, where Legalism was the official philosophy, quashed Mohist and Confucianist schools. Legalism remained influential during the early Han dynasty under the Taoist-Realist ideology Huang-Lao until Emperor Wu of Han adopted Confucianism as official doctrine. Confucianism and Taoism became the determining forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism.

Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han dynasty, whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements. He also was a promoter of the New Text school, which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China, who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace.

In contrast, there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language (from this comes the denomination Old Text) that were so much more reliable. In particular, they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage, but simply a human and mortal

Six Dynasties
The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of the Xuanxue (mysterious learning), also called Neo-Taoism.

Buddhism arrived in China around the 1st century AD, but it was not until the Northern and Southern, Sui and Tang dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement. At the beginning, it was considered a sort of Taoist sect. Mahayana Buddhism was far more successful in China than its rival Hinayana, and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century. Two chiefly important monk philosophers were Sengzhao and Daosheng. But probably the most influential and original of these schools was the Chan sect, which had an even stronger impact in Japan as the Zen sect.

In the mid-Tang Buddhism reached its peak, and reportedly there were 4,600 monasteries, 40,000 hermitages and 260,500 monks and nuns. The power of the Buddhist clergy was so great and the wealth of the monasteries so impressive, that it instigated criticism from Confucian scholars, who considered Buddhism as a foreign religion. In 845 Emperor Wuzong ordered the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution, confiscating the riches and returning monks and nuns to lay life. From then on, Buddhism lost much of its influence.

Xuanxue
Xuanxue was a philosophical school that combined elements of Confucianism and Taoism to reinterpret the I Ching,Tao Te Ching, and Zhuangzi. The most important philosophers of this movement were Wang Bi, Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang. The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being (in Chinese, ming and wuming). A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers, like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, was the concept of feng liu (lit. wind and flow), a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse.

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion, a practical philosophy, and arguably a psychology, focusing on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, who lived on the Indian subcontinent most likely from the mid-6th to the early 5th century BCE. When used in a generic sense, a Buddha is generally considered to be someone who discovers the true nature of reality.

Buddhism until the 4th century AD had little impact on China but in the 4th century its teachings hybridized with those of Taoism. Buddhism brought to China the idea of many hells, where sinners went, but the deceased sinners souls could be saved by pious acts. Since Chinese traditional thought focused more on ethics rather than metaphysics, the merging of Buddhist and Taoist concepts developed several schools distinct from the originating Indian schools.

The most prominent examples with philosophical merit are Sanlun, Tiantai, Huayan, and Chan (a.k.a. Zen). They investigate consciousness, levels of truth, whether reality is ultimately empty, and how enlightenment is to be achieved. Buddhism has a spiritual aspect that complements the action of Neo-Confucianism, with prominent Neo-Confucians advocating certain forms of meditation.

History
Neo-Confucianism was a revived version of old Confucian principles that appeared around the Song dynasty, with Buddhist, Taoist, and Legalist features. The first philosophers, such as Shao Yong, Zhou Dunyi and Chang Zai, were cosmologists and worked on the I Ching. The Cheng brothers, Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, are considered the founders of the two main schools of thought of Neo-Confucianism: the School of Principle the first, the School of Mind the latter.

The School of Principle gained supremacy during the Song dynasty with the philosophical system elaborated by Zhu Xi, which became mainstream and officially adopted by the government for the imperial examinations under the Yuan dynasty. The School of Mind was developed by Lu Jiuyuan, Zhu Xi's main rival, but was soon forgotten. Only during the Ming dynasty was the School of Mind revived by Wang Shouren, whose influence is equal to that of Zhu Xi. This school was particularly important in Japan.

During the Qing dynasty many philosophers objected against Neo-Confucianism and there was a return to the Han dynasty Confucianism, and also the reprise of the controversy between Old Text and New Text. In this period also started the penetration of Western culture, but most Chinese thought that the Westerners were maybe more advanced in technology and warfare, but that China had primacy in moral and intellectual fields.

Chinese culture was highly influential on the traditions of other East Asian states, and its philosophy directly influenced Korean philosophy, Vietnamese philosophy and Japanese philosophy. During later Chinese dynasties like the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), as well as in the Korean Joseon dynasty (1392–1897), a resurgent Neo-Confucianism led by thinkers such as Wang Yangming (1472–1529) became the dominant school of thought and was promoted by the imperial state. In Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867) was also strongly influenced by Confucian philosophy.

Neo-Confucianism
Despite Confucianism losing popularity to Taoism and Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism combined those ideas into a more metaphysical framework. Its concepts include li (principle, akin to Plato's forms), qi (vital or material force), taiji (the Great Ultimate), and xin (mind). Song dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073) is commonly seen as the first true "pioneer" of Neo-Confucianism, using Daoist metaphysics as a framework for his ethical philosophy.

Neo-Confucianism developed both as a renaissance of traditional Confucian ideas, and as a reaction to the ideas of Buddhism and religious Daoism. Although the Neo-Confucianists denounced Buddhist metaphysics, Neo-Confucianism did borrow Daoist and Buddhist terminology and concepts. Neo-Confucianist philosophers like Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming are seen as the most important figures of Neo-Confucianism.

Modern era
During the Industrial and Modern Ages, Chinese philosophy had also begun to integrate concepts of Western philosophy, as steps toward modernization. Chinese philosophy never developed the concept of human rights, so that classical Chinese lacked words for them. In 1864, W.A.P. Martin had to invent the word quanli to translate the Western concept of "rights" in the process of translating Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law into classical Chinese.

By the time of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, there were many calls such as the May Fourth Movement to completely abolish the old imperial institutions and practices of China. There have been attempts to incorporate democracy, republicanism, and industrialism into Chinese philosophy, notably by Sun Yat-Sen at the beginning of the 20th century. Mao Zedong added Marxism, Stalinism, Chinese Marxist Philosophy and other communist thought.

When the Chinese Communist Party took over the reign, previous schools of thought, excepting notably Legalism, were denounced as backward, and later even purged during the Cultural Revolution, whereas their influences on Chinese thoughts remain until today. The current government of the People's Republic of China is trying to encourage a form of market socialism.

Since the radical movement of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese government has become much more tolerant with the practice of traditional beliefs. The 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom of religion" with a number of restrictions. Spiritual and philosophical institutions have been allowed to be established or re-established, as long they are not perceived to be a threat to the power of the CPC. Moreover, those organizations are heavily monitored. The influences of the past are still deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture.

New Confucianism
New Confucianism is an intellectual movement of Confucianism that began in the early 20th century in Republican China, and revived in post-Mao era contemporary communist China. It is deeply influenced by, but not identical with, the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties.

Philosophers

 * Confucius, seen as the Great Master but sometimes ridiculed by Taoists.
 * Mencius, Confucius' follower having idealist inspiration
 * Xun Zi, another Confucius' follower, closer to realism, teacher of Han Fei and Li Si
 * Zhu Xi, founder of Neo-Confucianism
 * Wang Yangming, most influential proponent of "state of mind." (Xinxue)
 * Laozi, the semi-mythical founder of Taoist school.
 * Zhuang Zhou, said to be the author of the Zhuangzi.
 * Lie Yukou, said to be the author of the Liezi.
 * Yang Zhu, proposed ethical egoism and founded Yangism.
 * Mozi, the founder of Mohist school.
 * Shang Yang, Legalist founder and pivotal Qin reformer
 * Han Fei, one of the most notable theoreticians of Legalism
 * Li Si, major proponent and practitioner of Legalism

Concepts
Although the individual philosophical schools differ considerably, they nevertheless share a common vocabulary and set of concerns.

Among the terms commonly found in Chinese philosophy are:
 * 道 Dao (the Way, or one's doctrine)
 * 德 De (virtue, power)
 * 理 Li (principle, Law)
 * 氣 Qi (vital energy or material force)
 * 太極The Tai-chi (Great Heavenly Axis) forms a unity of the two complementary polarities, Yin and Yang. The word Yin originally referred to a hillside facing away from the sun. Philosophically, it stands the dark, passive, feminine principle; whereas Yang (the hillside facing the sun) stands for the bright, active, masculine principle. Yin and Yang are not antagonistic, they alternate in inverse proportion to one another—like the rise and fall of a wave and are known by their comparison.

Among the commonalities of Chinese philosophies are:
 * The tendency not to view man as separate from nature.
 * Questions about the nature and existence of a monotheistic deity, which have profoundly influenced Western philosophy, have not been important in Chinese philosophies or a source of great conflict in Chinese traditional religion.
 * The belief that the purpose of philosophy is primarily to serve as an ethical and practical guide.
 * The political focus: most scholars of the Hundred Schools were trying to convince the ruler to behave in the way they defended.

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Confucius

Confucius (孔子; pinyin: ; ; c. 551), born Kong Qiu (孔丘), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages, as well as the first teacher in China to advocate for mass education. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the philosophy and teachings of Confucius. His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, harmonious social relationships, righteousness, kindness, sincerity, and a ruler's responsibilities to lead by virtue.

Confucius considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods which he claimed had been abandoned in his time. He 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. He championed the Silver Rule, or a negative form of the Golden Rule, advising, "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself."

The time of Confucius's life saw a rich diversity of thought, and was a formative period in China's intellectual history. His 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. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Confucianism developed into a system known in the West as Neo-Confucianism, and later as New Confucianism. From ancient dynasties to the modern era, Confucianism has integrated into the Chinese social fabric and way of life.

Traditionally, Confucius is credited with having authored or edited many of the ancient texts including all of the Five Classics. However, modern scholars exercise caution in attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself, for at least some of the texts and philosophy associated with him were of a more ancient origin. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, but not until many years after his death.

Name
The name "Confucius" is a Latinized form of the Mandarin Chinese (孔夫子, "Master Kong"), and was coined in the late 16th century by early Jesuit missionaries to China. Confucius's family name was Kong and his given name was Qiu. His courtesy name, a capping (guan: 冠) given at his coming of age ceremony, and by which he would have been known to all but his older family members, was Zhongni, the "Zhòng" indicating that he was the second son in his family.

Early life
It is thought that Confucius was born on 28 September 551 BCE, in Zou (鄒, in modern Shandong). The area was notionally controlled by the kings of Zhou but effectively independent under the local lords of Lu, who ruled from the nearby city of Qufu. His father Kong He (or Shuliang He) was an elderly commandant of the local Lu garrison. His 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. Not all modern scholars accept Confucius's descent from Song nobility.

Kong He died when Confucius was three years old, and Confucius was raised by his mother Yan Zhengzai (顏徵在) in poverty. His mother later died at less than 40 years of age. At age 19, he married Lady Qiguan (亓官氏), and a year later the couple had their first child, their son Kong Li (孔鯉). 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 (孔姣).

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

Confucius was born into the class of shi (士), between the aristocracy and the common people. He 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 (aged 23) is said to have mourned for three years, as was the tradition.

Political career
In Confucius's time, the state of Lu was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were three aristocratic families, whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. The Ji family held the position "Minister over the Masses", who was also the "Prime Minister"; the Meng family held the position "Minister of Works"; and the Shu family held the position "Minister of War". In the winter of, Yang Hu—a retainer of the Ji family—rose up in rebellion and seized power from the Ji family. However, by the summer of, the three hereditary families had succeeded in expelling Yang Hu from Lu. By then, Confucius had built up a considerable reputation through his teachings, while the families came to see the value of proper conduct and righteousness, so they could achieve loyalty to a legitimate government. Thus, that year, Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime. 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. Shaozheng Mao was accused of 'five crimes', each worth execution, including 'concealed evilness, stubborn abnormality, eloquent duplicity, erudition in bizarre facts and generosity to evildoers'.

Confucius desired to return the authority of the state to the duke by dismantling the fortifications of the city—strongholds belonging to the three families. This way, he could establish a centralized government. However, Confucius relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself. In, Hou Fan—the governor of Hou—revolted against his lord of the Shu family.Although the Meng and Shu families unsuccessfully besieged Hou, a loyalist official rose up with the people of Hou and forced Hou Fan to flee to the state of Qi. The situation may have been in favor for Confucius as this likely made it possible for Confucius and his disciples to convince the aristocratic families to dismantle the fortifications of their cities. Eventually, after a year and a half, Confucius and his disciples succeeded in convincing the Shu family to raze the walls of Hou, the Ji family in razing the walls of Bi, and the Meng family in razing the walls of Cheng. First, the Shu family led an army towards their city Hou and tore down its walls in.

Soon thereafter, Gongshan Furao, a retainer of the Ji family, revolted and took control of the forces at Bi. He immediately launched an attack and entered the capital Lu. Earlier, Gongshan had approached Confucius to join him, which Confucius considered as he wanted the opportunity to put his principles into practice but he gave up on the idea in the end. 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. Creel states that, unlike the rebel Yang Hu before him, Gongshan may have sought to destroy the three hereditary families and restore the power of the duke. However, Dubs is of the view that Gongshan was encouraged by Viscount Ji Huan to invade the Lu capital in an attempt to avoid dismantling the Bi fortified walls. Whatever the situation may have been, Gongshan was considered an upright man who continued to defend the state of Lu, even after he was forced to flee.

During the revolt by Gongshan, Zhong You had managed to keep the duke and the three viscounts together at the court. Zhong You was one of the disciples of Confucius and Confucius had arranged for him to be given the position of governor by the Ji family. 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. Thereafter, the heads of the three families and the duke retreated to the Ji's palace complex and ascended the Wuzi Terrace. Confucius ordered two officers to lead an assault against the rebels. At least one of the two officers was a retainer of the Ji family, but they were unable to refuse the orders while in the presence of the duke, viscounts, and court. The rebels were pursued and defeated at Gu. Immediately after the revolt was defeated, the Ji family razed the Bi city walls to the ground.

The attackers retreated after realizing that they would have to become rebels against the state and their lord. Through Confucius' actions, the Bi officials had inadvertently revolted against their own lord, thus forcing Viscount Ji Huan's hand in having to dismantle the walls of Bi—as it could have harbored such rebels—or confess to instigating the event by going against proper conduct and righteousness as an official. Dubs suggests that the incident brought to light Confucius' foresight, practical political ability, and insight into human character.

When it was time to dismantle the city walls of the Meng family, the governor was reluctant to have his city walls torn down and convinced the head of the Meng family not to do so. The Zuo Zhuan recalls that the governor advised against razing the walls to the ground as he said that it made Cheng vulnerable to Qi, and cause the destruction of the Meng family. Even though Viscount Meng Yi gave his word not to interfere with an attempt, he went back on his earlier promise to dismantle the walls.

Later in, Duke Ding of Lu personally went with an army to lay siege to Cheng in an attempt to raze its walls to the ground, but he did not succeed. Thus, Confucius could not achieve the idealistic reforms that he wanted including restoration of the legitimate rule of the duke. He had made powerful enemies within the state, especially with Viscount Ji Huan, due to his successes so far. According to accounts in the Zuo Zhuan and the Records of the Grand Historian, Confucius departed his homeland in after his support for the failed attempt of dismantling the fortified city walls of the powerful Ji, Meng, and Shu families. He left the state of Lu without resigning, remaining in self-exile and unable to return as long as Viscount Ji Huan was alive.

Exile
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. According to this account, Qi decided to sabotage Lu's reforms by sending 100 good horses and 80 beautiful dancing girls to the duke of Lu. The duke indulged himself in pleasure and did not attend to official duties for three days. 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. Soon after, the duke neglected to send to Confucius a portion of the sacrificial meat that was his due according to custom, and Confucius seized upon this pretext to leave both his post and the Lu state.

After Confucius's resignation, he travelled around the principality states of north-east and central China including Wey, Song, Zheng, Cao, Chu, Qi, Chen, and Cai (and a failed attempt to go to Jin). At the courts of these states, he expounded his political beliefs but did not see them implemented.

Return home

According to the Zuozhuan, Confucius returned home to his native Lu when he was 68, after he was invited to do so by Ji Kangzi, the chief minister of Lu. The Shiji depicts him spending his last years teaching 3000 pupils, with 72 or 77 accomplished disciples that mastered the Six Arts. Meanwhile, Confucius dedicated himself in transmitting the old wisdom by writing or editing the Five Classics.

During his return, Confucius sometimes acted as an advisor to several government officials in Lu, including Ji Kangzi, on matters including governance and crime.

Burdened by the loss of both his son and his favorite disciples, he died at the age of 71 or 72 from natural causes. Confucius was buried on the bank of the Sishui River, to the north of Qufu City in Shandong Province. Starting as a humble tomb, the cemetery of Confucius had been expanded by emperors since the Han Dynasty. To date, the Cemetery of Confucius (孔林) covers an area of 183 hectares with more than 100,000 graves of the Kong descendants, it is included in the World Heritage List for its cultural and architectural value.

Philosophy
In the Analects, Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study (學) that opens the text. Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples to master and internalize older classics, so that their deep thought and thorough study would allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events (as recorded in the Annals) or the past expressions of commoners' feelings and noblemen's reflections (as in the poems of the Book of Odes).

Although some Chinese people follow Confucianism in a religious manner, many argue that its values are secular and that it is less a religion than a secular morality. Proponents of religious Confucianism argue that despite the secular nature of Confucianism's teachings, it is based on a worldview that is religious. 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.

Ethics
One of the deepest teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules. Confucian ethics may, therefore, be considered a type of virtue ethics. His teachings rarely rely on reasoned argument, and ethical ideals and methods are conveyed indirectly, through allusion, innuendo, and even tautology. His teachings require examination and context to be understood. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:

"廄焚. 子退朝，曰：傷人乎？不問馬.

When the stables were burnt down, on returning from court Confucius said, 'Was anyone hurt?' He did not ask about the horses."

This remark was considered a strong manifestation of Confucius' advocacy in humanism.

One of his teachings was a variant of the Golden Rule, sometimes called the "Silver Rule" owing to its negative form:

"子貢問曰：有一言而可以終身行之者乎？子曰：其恕乎！己所不欲、勿施於人.

Zi Gong [a disciple] asked: 'Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?' The Master replied: 'How about 'reciprocity'! Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.'"

Often overlooked in Confucian ethics are the virtues to the self: sincerity and the cultivation of knowledge. Virtuous action towards others begins with virtuous and sincere thought, which begins with knowledge. A virtuous disposition without knowledge is susceptible to corruption, and virtuous action without sincerity is not true righteousness. Cultivating knowledge and sincerity is also important for one's own sake; the superior person loves learning for the sake of learning and righteousness for the sake of righteousness.

The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in lǐ (禮) is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: (a) ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, (b) social and political institutions, and (c) the etiquette of daily behavior. Some believed that lǐ originated from the heavens, but Confucius stressed the development of lǐ through the actions of sage leaders in human history. His discussions of lǐ seem to redefine the term to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society, rather than those conforming with canonical standards of ceremony.

In the early Confucian tradition, lǐ was doing the proper thing at the proper time; balancing between maintaining existing norms to perpetuate an ethical social fabric, and violating them in order to accomplish ethical good. Training in the lǐ of past sages, cultivates virtues in people that include ethical judgment about when lǐ must be adapted in light of situational contexts.

In Confucianism, the concept of li is closely related to yì (義), which is based upon the idea of reciprocity. Yì can be translated as righteousness, though it may mean what is ethically best to do in a certain context. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest. While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one's life was based upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good. Thus an outcome of yì is doing the right thing for the right reason.

Just as action according to lǐ should be adapted to conform to the aspiration of adhering to yì, so yì is linked to the core value of rén (仁). Rén consists of five basic virtues: seriousness, generosity, sincerity, diligence, and kindness. Rén is the virtue of perfectly fulfilling one's responsibilities toward others, most often translated as "benevolence", "humaneness", or "empathy"; translator Arthur Waley calls it "Goodness" (with a capital G), and other translations that have been put forth include "authoritativeness" and "selflessness". Confucius's moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To develop one's spontaneous responses of rén so that these could guide action intuitively was even better than living by the rules of yì. Confucius asserts that virtue is a mean between extremes. For example, the properly generous person gives the right amount – not too much and not too little.

Politics
Confucius's political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argued that the best government is one that rules through "rites" (lǐ) and people's natural morality, and not by using bribery and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good." (Analects 2.3, tr. Legge). This "sense of shame" is an internalisation of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism.

Confucius looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples. In times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven (天命) that could unify the "world" (天下, "all under Heaven") and bestow peace and prosperity on the people. Because his vision of personal and social perfections was framed as a revival of the ordered society of earlier times, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and perhaps twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: a revival of a unified royal state, whose rulers would succeed to power on the basis of their moral merits instead of lineage. These would be rulers devoted to their people, striving for personal and social perfection, and such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and rules.

While Confucius supported the idea of government ruling by a virtuous king, his ideas contained a number of elements to limit the power of rulers. He argued for representing truth in language, and honesty was of paramount importance. Even in facial expression, truth must always be represented. 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. In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject (or a father and his son), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the subordinates must advise their superiors if the superiors are considered to be taking a course of action that is wrong. Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders by force or punishment are not necessary.

Music and poetry
Confucius heavily promoted the use of music with rituals or the rites order. The scholar Li Zehou argued that Confucianism is based on the idea of rites. Rites serve as the starting point for each individual and that these sacred social functions allow each person's human nature to be harmonious with reality. Given this, Confucius believed that "music is the harmonization of heaven and earth; the rites is the order of heaven and earth". Thus the application of music in rites creates the order that makes it possible for society to prosper.

The Confucian approach to music was heavily inspired by the and the, which was said to be the sixth Confucian classic until it was lost during the Han dynasty. The serves as one of the current Confucian classics and is a book on poetry that contains a diversified variety of poems as well as folk songs. Confucius is traditionally ascribed with compiling these classics within his school. In the Analects, Confucius described the importance of the poetry in the intellectual and moral development of an individual: Confucius frowned upon globalization encroaching on China, especially with music, and he preached against musical influences from Persians, Greco-Bactrians, and Mongols.

Legacy

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. Confucius's disciples and his only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death. These efforts spread Confucian ideals to students who then became officials in many of the royal courts in China, thereby giving Confucianism the first wide-scale test of its dogma.

Two of Confucius's most famous later followers emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. In the centuries after his death, Mencius (孟子) and Xunzi (荀子) both composed important teachings elaborating in different ways on the fundamental ideas associated with Confucius. Mencius articulated the innate goodness in human beings as a source of the ethical intuitions that guide people towards rén, yì, and lǐ, while Xunzi  underscored the realistic and materialistic aspects of Confucian thought, stressing that morality was inculcated in society through tradition and in individuals through training. In time, their writings, together with the Analects and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus of Confucianism.

This realignment in Confucian thought was parallel to the development of Legalism, which saw filial piety as self-interest and not a useful tool for a ruler to create an effective state. A disagreement between these two political philosophies came to a head in when the Qin state conquered all of China. Li Si, Prime Minister of the Qin dynasty, convinced Qin Shi Huang to abandon the Confucians' recommendation of awarding fiefs akin to the Zhou dynasty before them which he saw as being against to the Legalist idea of centralizing the state around the ruler. When the Confucian advisers pressed their point, Li Si had many Confucian scholars killed and their books burned—considered a huge blow to the philosophy and Chinese scholarship.

Under the succeeding Han and Tang dynasties, Confucian ideas gained even more widespread prominence. Under Wudi, the works attributed to Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civil service examinations in which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of the 19th century. As Mohism lost support by the time of the Han, the main philosophical contenders were Legalism, which Confucian thought somewhat absorbed, the teachings of Laozi, whose focus on more spiritual ideas kept it from direct conflict with Confucianism, and the new Buddhist religion, which gained acceptance during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. Both Confucian ideas and Confucian-trained officials were relied upon in the Ming dynasty and even the Yuan dynasty, although Kublai Khan distrusted handing over provincial control to them.

During the Song dynasty, the scholar Zhu Xi added ideas from Daoism and Buddhism into Confucianism. In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored, but not long after his death, his ideas became the new orthodox view of what Confucian texts actually meant. Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different and call his way of thinking Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism held sway in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam until the 19th century.

The works of Confucius were first translated into European languages by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty. The first known effort was by Michele Ruggieri, who returned to Italy in 1588 and carried on his translations while residing in Salerno. Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and a team of Jesuits—Prospero Intorcetta, Philippe Couplet, and two others—published a translation of several Confucian works and an overview of Chinese history in Paris in 1687. François Noël, 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. It is thought that such works had considerable importance on European thinkers of the period, particularly among the Deists and other philosophical groups of the Enlightenment who were interested by the integration of the system of morality of Confucius into Western civilization.

In the modern era Confucian movements, such as New Confucianism, still exist, but during the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Chinese Communist Party. This was partially a continuation of the condemnations of Confucianism by intellectuals and activists in the early 20th century as a cause of the ethnocentric close-mindedness and refusal of the Qing dynasty to modernize that led to the tragedies that befell China in the 19th century.

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. Many of those countries still hold the traditional memorial ceremony every year.

Among Tibetans, Confucius is often worshipped as a holy king and master of magic, divination and astrology. Tibetan Buddhists see him as learning divination from the Buddha Manjushri (and that knowledge subsequently reaching Tibet through Princess Wencheng), while Bon practitioners see him as being a reincarnation of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the legendary founder of Bon.

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

According to the Siddhar tradition of Tamil Nadu, Confucius is one of the 18 esteemed Siddhars of yore, and is better known as Kalangi Nathar or Kamalamuni. The Thyagaraja Temple in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu is home to his Jeeva Samadhi.

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

Teaching and Disciples
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. He 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 not only made teaching his profession but also contributed to the development of a distinct class of professionals in ancient China—the gentlemen who were neither farmers, artisans, merchants, nor officials but instead dedicated themselves to teaching and potential government service.

Confucius began teaching after he turned 30, and taught more than 3,000 students in his life, about 70 of whom were considered outstanding. His disciples and the early Confucian community they formed became the most influential intellectual force in the Warring States period. 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. Sima Qian recorded the names of 77 disciples in his collective biography, while Kongzi Jiayu, another early source, records 76, not completely overlapping. The two sources together yield the names of 96 disciples. Twenty-two of them are mentioned in the Analects, while the Mencius records 24.

Confucius did not charge any tuition, and only requested a symbolic gift of a bundle of dried meat from any prospective student. According to his disciple Zigong, his master treated students like doctors treated patients and did not turn anybody away. Most of them came from Lu, Confucius's home state, with 43 recorded, but he accepted students from all over China, with six from the state of Wey (such as Zigong), three from Qin, two each from Chen and Qi, and one each from Cai, Chu, and Song. Confucius considered his students' personal background irrelevant, and accepted noblemen, commoners, and even former criminals such as Yan Zhuoju and Gongye Chang. His disciples from richer families would pay a sum commensurate with their wealth which was considered a ritual donation.

Confucius's favorite disciple was Yan Hui, most probably one of the most impoverished of them all. Sima Niu, in contrast to Yan Hui, was from a hereditary noble family hailing from the Song state. Under Confucius's teachings, the disciples became well learned in the principles and methods of government. He 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. Even though Confucius denounced them for their practices, the aristocracy was likely attracted to the idea of having trustworthy officials who were studied in morals as the circumstances of the time made it desirable. In fact, the disciple Zilu even died defending his ruler in Wey.

Yang Hu, who was a subordinate of the Ji family, had dominated the Lu government from 505 to 502 and even attempted a coup, which narrowly failed. As a likely consequence, it was after this that the first disciples of Confucius were appointed to government positions. A few of Confucius's disciples went on to attain official positions of some importance, some of which were arranged by Confucius. By the time Confucius was 50 years old, the Ji family had consolidated their power in the Lu state over the ruling ducal house. Even though the Ji family had practices with which Confucius disagreed and disapproved, they nonetheless gave Confucius's disciples many opportunities for employment. 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.

In the West
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, François Quesnay, Friedrich Schiller,   Voltaire,   and Christian Wolff.

Visual portraits
No contemporary painting or sculpture of Confucius survives, and it was only during the Han dynasty that he was portrayed visually. Carvings often depict his legendary meeting with Laozi. Since that time there have been many portraits of Confucius as the ideal philosopher. 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 (died ). The picture was painted on the wooden frame to a polished bronze mirror.

In former times, it was customary to have a portrait in Confucius Temples; however, during the reign of Hongwu Emperor (Taizu) of the Ming dynasty, it was decided that the only proper portrait of Confucius should be in the temple in his home town, Qufu in Shandong. 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.

The South Wall Frieze in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States depicts Confucius as a teacher of harmony, learning, and virtue.

Fictional portrayals
There have been two film adaptations of Confucius' life: the 1940 film Confucius starring Tang Huaiqiu, and the 2010 film Confucius starring Chow Yun-fat.

Memorials

Soon after Confucius's death, Qufu, his home town, became a place of devotion and remembrance. The Han dynasty Records of the Grand Historian records that it had already become a place of pilgrimage for ministers. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many people visit his grave and the surrounding temples. There are also numerous temples dedicated to Confucius and distinguished Confucian scholars. These temples have been used for ceremonies paying tribute to Confucius as a revered Master, honoring his guiding principles that have shaped Chinese society.

Followers of Confucianism have a tradition of holding spectacular memorial ceremonies of Confucius (祭孔) every year, using ceremonies that supposedly derived from Zhou Li (周禮) as recorded by Confucius, on the date of Confucius's birth. In the 20th century, this tradition was interrupted for several decades in mainland China, where the official stance of the Communist Party and the State was that Confucius and Confucianism represented reactionary feudalist beliefs which held that the subservience of the people to the aristocracy is a part of the natural order. All such ceremonies and rites were therefore banned. Only after the 1990s did the ceremony resume. As it is now considered a veneration of Chinese history and tradition, even Communist Party members may be found in attendance.

In Taiwan, where the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) strongly promoted Confucian beliefs in ethics and behavior, the tradition of the memorial ceremony of Confucius (祭孔) is supported by the government and has continued without interruption. While not a national holiday, it does appear on all printed calendars, much as Father's Day or Christmas Day do in the Western world.

In South Korea, a grand-scale memorial ceremony called Seokjeon Daeje is held twice a year on Confucius's birthday and the anniversary of his death, at Confucian academies across the country and Sungkyunkwan in Seoul.

Descendants
Confucius's descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts. They were honored with the rank of a marquis 35 times since Gaozu of the Han dynasty, and they were promoted to the rank of duke 42 times from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang first bestowed the title of "Duke Wenxuan" on Kong Suizhi of the 35th generation. In 1055, Emperor Renzong of Song first bestowed the title of "Duke Yansheng" on Kong Zongyuan of the 46th generation.

During the Southern Song dynasty, the Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou in Zhejiang, while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. From that time up until the Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs, one in the north in Qufu and the other in the south at Quzhou. An invitation to come back to Qufu was extended to the southern Duke Yansheng Kong Zhu by the Yuan-dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan. The title was taken away from the southern branch after Kong Zhu rejected the invitation, so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng. The southern branch remained in Quzhou where they live to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000. The Hanlin Academy rank of Wujing boshi 五經博士 was awarded to the southern branch at Quzhou by a Ming Emperor while the northern branch at Qufu held the title Duke Yansheng. The leader of the southern branch was 孔祥楷 Kong Xiangkai.

In 1351, during the reign of Emperor Toghon Temür of the Yuan dynasty, 54th-generation Kong Shao (孔昭) moved from China to Korea during the Goryeo dynasty, and was received courteously by Princess Noguk (the Mongolian-born queen consort of the future king Gongmin). After being naturalized as a subject of Goryeo, he changed the hanja of his name from "昭" to "紹" (both pronounced so in Korean), married a Korean woman and bore a son (Gong Yeo, 1329–1397), therefore establishing the Changwon Gong clan , whose ancestral seat was located in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. In 1794, during the reign of King Jeongjo, the clan then changed its name to Gokbu Gong clan in honor of Confucius's birthplace Qufu.

Famous descendants include actors such as Gong Yoo (real name Gong Ji-cheol (공지철)) and Gong Hyo-jin (공효진); and artists such as male idol group B1A4 member Gongchan (real name Gong Chan-sik (공찬식)), singer-songwriter Minzy (real name Gong Min-ji (공민지)), as well as her great aunt, traditional folk dancer Gong Ok-jin (공옥진).

Despite repeated dynastic change in China, the title of Duke Yansheng was bestowed upon successive generations of descendants until it was abolished by the Nationalist government in 1935. The last holder of the title, Kung Te-cheng of the 77th generation, was appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius. Kung Te-cheng died in October 2008, and his son, Kung Wei-yi, the 78th lineal descendant, died in 1989. Kung Te-cheng's grandson, Kung Tsui-chang, the 79th lineal descendant, was born in 1975; his great-grandson, Kung Yu-jen, the 80th lineal descendant, was born in Taipei on 1 January 2006. Te-cheng's sister, Kong Demao, lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu. Another sister, Kong Deqi, died as a young woman. Many descendants of Confucius still live in Qufu today.

A descendant of Confucius, H. H. Kung, was the Premier of the Republic of China. One of his sons, Kong Lingjie (孔令傑), married Debra Paget who gave birth to Gregory Kung (孔德基).

Confucius's family, the Kongs, have the longest recorded extant pedigree in the world today. The father-to-son family tree, now in its 83rd generation, has been recorded since the death of Confucius. According to the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee (CGCC), he has two million known and registered descendants, and there are an estimated three million in all. Of these, several tens of thousands live outside of China. In the 14th century, a Kong descendant went to Korea, where an estimated 34,000 descendants of Confucius live today. One of the main lineages fled from the Kong ancestral home in Qufu during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s and eventually settled in Taiwan. There are also branches of the Kong family who have converted to Islam after marrying Muslim women, in Dachuan in Gansu province in the 1800s, and in 1715 in Xuanwei in Yunnan province. Many of the Muslim Confucius descendants are descended from the marriage of Ma Jiaga (馬甲尕), a Muslim woman, and Kong Yanrong (孔彥嶸), 59th generation descendant of Confucius in the year 1480, and are found among the Hui and Dongxiang peoples. The new genealogy includes the Muslims. Kong Dejun (孔德軍) is a prominent Islamic scholar and Arabist from Qinghai province and a 77th generation descendant of Confucius.

Because of the huge interest in the Confucius family tree, there was a project in China to test the DNA of known family members of the collateral branches in mainland China. Among other things, this would allow scientists to identify a common Y chromosome in male descendants of Confucius. If the descent were truly unbroken, father-to-son, since Confucius's lifetime, the males in the family would all have the same Y chromosome as their direct male ancestor, with slight mutations due to the passage of time. The aim of the genetic test was to help members of collateral branches in China who lost their genealogical records to prove their descent. However, in 2009, many of the collateral branches decided not to agree to DNA testing. Bryan Sykes, professor of genetics at Oxford University, understands this decision: "The Confucius family tree has an enormous cultural significance ... It's not just a scientific question." The DNA testing was originally proposed to add new members, many of whose family record books were lost during 20th century upheavals, to the Confucian family tree. The main branch of the family which fled to Taiwan was never involved in the proposed DNA test at all.

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. It was unveiled in a ceremony at Qufu on 24 September 2009. Women are now included for the first time.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Confucius


text:
Talk:Confucius

Adding title "educator"
Confucius was not just a philosopher, but also an educator. Should the beginning sentence be rewritten as "Confucius ... was a Chinese philosopher and educator"? Windywendi (talk) 00:30, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

 * If you can demonstrate that a majority of secondary reliable sources describe him as an "educator", by all means add it. If not, then it is not appropriate addition –  Aza24  (talk)   04:40, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The section under Legacy/Disciples" specifically discusses Confucius' contribution as a teacher/educator. He is arguably the very first teacher to make education accessible for the commoners, which is previously a privilege of the nobles. I am going to pinpoint the sources supporting this statement and add it to the lead section as applicable.  TheIntrospectorsfacts (talk) 21:26, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't think you are understanding what is needed here. Sources that merely describe his work in education are not sufficient for such a label. Plus, the article already says "paragon of Chinese sages"—a sage is someone who teaches, I don't see any need for further labels.
 * Either way, you will need to "demonstrate that a majority of secondary reliable sources describe him as an educator".  Aza24  (talk)   00:38, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I will continue to work on the sources. Meanwhile, I would like to add on that, unlike other sages such as Laozi or Zhuangzi, Confucius not only advocated private teaching for the commoners but also established a legacy of educational theories, methods, and principles through extensive teaching practice, which continue to exert far-reaching influence to this day. TheIntrospectorsfacts (talk) 17:36, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

First sentence
We have to stop the name garble quickly, before even more alternatives are added. Kong Qiu is terribly irrelevant and we have no reason to believe this was a real name anyways. We should just stick to Kongzi and Confucius—leave the other names for the article text.  Aza24  (talk)   02:46, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Pinging, who added "Kong Qiu" in Special:Diff/1190114053. I just put 孔子 in front of 孔夫子.I agree that 孔丘 doesn't belong in the lead sentence (much less primary position) any more than 仲尼. Our early Chinese biographies have a super frustrating tendency to put people's attributed birth names as the introductory term, even if they were almost never called that. Honestly I don't even see 孔夫子 enough that I would put it in the lead. My preference would be just Kongzi and Confucius, and leave the rest for the infobox and body prose. Folly Mox (talk) 03:00, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

 * I added it per MOS:FULLNAME, the person's full legal name comes first, even if he's almost never called that (see Julius Caesar, whose first name was actually Gaius). If it wasn't actually his name, the article desperately needs to be fixed, it says it was.  As for additional names, I think we should actually relegate Kongzi and Kong Fuzi (which are rarely used in the west) to a footnote and add Zhongni.  I'm not familiar with early Chinese biographies on here, however, what do we usually do? Esszet (talk) 03:25, 16 December 2023 (UTC)
 * "Kongzi" is actually not that rare in English language subject matter literature anymore, largely due to the inherited conceptual burden "Confucius" packs. I'd be opposed to removing "Kongzi" from the lead, as it's been the common term in the vast majority of published sources for about 24 of the past 25 centuries (and if the article were ever unprotected, unregistered editors would place it in the lead within the first few days anyway).We did have a "names" footnote for part of this year (possibly longer), which I smooshed into the opening sentence in October.What early Chinese biographies typically do is add a subject's birth name which they're never called except in other biographies (which on its own is fair) and then go on to use the birth name throughout the article as if it was what the person was called. They also have a tendency to treat ancestral clan surnames (never used as part of a personal appellation) as a regular surname, which I'm pretty sure nobody except me is bothered by.As to Kong Qiu, I don't think I'm aware of which sources call it out as not a real name. It's certainly attested early. Maybe can speak to that? Folly Mox (talk) 03:51, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Hmm, then maybe we can keep Kongzi and put Kong Fuzi in a footnote? As for Zhongni, I defer to you guys, how were people referred to in early Chinese biographies? Esszet (talk) 15:30, 16 December 2023 (UTC)
 * That was my idea, keep Kongzi, with Kong Fuzi in a footnote. To be honest, I've never heard Zhongni, and I think we should stick to how modern scholarship refers to him anyways.
 * To that point, the utter irrelevance of Kong Qiu makes me still think it should still be removed entirely. I don't think this is comparable to Caesar, since it is an entirely different name and the details of Confucius's life are so sketchy to begin with. I just assumed it was a posthumous name or something—having it in the first sentence is definitely overkill.  Aza24  (talk)   22:06, 16 December 2023 (UTC)
 * There's a very fascinating if slightly multifocal article on Confucius's family background, which goes to some length exploring the subject and calls him Kong Qiu throughout without ever questioning that the personal name Qiu was genuine: I keep wanting to use this source for the article and failing to get around to it. At one point (in a not-strong, throwaway addendum to a footnote, p 12 n 35) the author even mentions the frequency of "mountain"-connoting names present in Confucius's ascribed lineage, including of course Qiu (which I realise immediately is not necessarily understandable as a matter of course). This source also contains one of my favourite passages in published academia, (p 36). TWL access yes, btw. Folly Mox (talk) 23:48, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Kong Qiu belongs in primary position because it was his real name, it was who he really was. Master Kong immediately raises the question of what his personal name was, and Kong Qiu is not completely different from Kongzi (or Fuzi), his family name is still there.  Even if the subject of the article is known by a completely different name, such as El Cid, his real name comes first because it was who he really was, the title of the article (as well as the vast majority of subsequent mentions) use the name he is generally known by. Esszet (talk) 05:44, 17 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I'd also like to point out that Chinese Wikipedia uses Kong Qiu in primary position as well. Esszet (talk) 05:56, 17 December 2023 (UTC)
 * In fairness, the Chinese article begins "Kong Qiu (vital dates), ancestral clan surname Zi, lineage surname Kong, given name Qiu, courtesy name Zhongni, later called Kongzi or Kongfuzi..." I think that's precisely the kind of Aza24 mentions at the top of the thread, and it's a biographical style that en.wp has deliberately not adopted, so that most of the Chinese characters for people's various names and titles are shunted out of the lead sentence and into the infobox.If it's a question of, why not include his (rarely used, as is/was his given name) ancestral clan surname and courtesy name in the lead sentence? Both were real, legitimate names, inherited or given during his lifetime. They are both part of  in certain contexts.If it's a question of encyclopaedic understanding, I don't think any of the three ancestral clan surname, given name, or courtesy name have a real need to be present in the lead sentence (or Kongfuzi, as previously opined).I don't mean to harangue you for a minor detail in wording, but it's dangerous to assume that "who someone really is" can be equated to one particular name, especially across cultural contexts that differ to a great degree. Having said all this, I actually don't feel super strongly about "Kong Qiu". Folly Mox (talk) 19:02, 17 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, we obviously should avoid that "name garble", which is completely alien from a western perspective. If I had to pick out the single most important aspect of who he was, however, it would obviously be his personal name; even emperors (see here, here, and here) always have it included.  It would be best to include it for the sake of consistency if nothing else.  Finally, and as I said before, it already has his family name, so we might as well include his given name anyway. Esszet (talk) 19:54, 17 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Given the cultural norms of the late Springs and Autumns period, what makes it obvious that the personal name is more important than the other two names not included in the lead?Emperors are correctly introduced by their posthumous name, with their personal names or birth names mentioned second. Why should this article introduce the subject by their personal name instead of the name they were known by for the later part of their life and all subsequent generations ($n ≈ 80$)?I should come clean that one of the names I've stressed as being as important as the personal name (the ancestral clan surname) is not likely evidenced early enough to give credence to, and probably an interpolation coming from the later tradition of Kongzi's descent from a ministerial line of the state of Song (see Eno 2003, linked above). Folly Mox (talk) 13:05, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

According to Courtesy name, he would have called himself Qiu, so yes, it was the most important aspect of who he really was – and Chinese Wikipedia agrees (by the way, that aricle says courtesy names were only used in writing and on formal occasions – is that correct?). Besides, Master Kong is a strange way to start the article – it would be like starting Samuel Johnson with Doctor Johnson. The fact that he has been known as Kongzi for 2500 years is irrelevant – Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar has been known as El Cid, which is completely different from his real name, for almost a thousand years as well, but his real name still comes first – it's who he really was. This is a norm followed almost universally throughout English Wikipedia and beyond. Esszet (talk) 23:41, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

 * I'm not convinced, this all feels like a Westernification. The Chinese personal name of a sage from 2500 years ago is just historical trivia—not emphasized in anyway by secondary scholarship (which is what Wikipedia is chiefly based upon). At the moment it is literally the first two words of this article. I don't see why Master Kong is a strange way to start the article—its the only way he's ever referred to; Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi and Laozi have similar starting methods.
 * I hate to play this card, but the onus is Esszet to prove its inclusion against the long-term status quo. Otherwise, the page should be reverted to an older first sentence variation. At the very bare minimum, the personal name should come after the posthumous name, just like every Chinese Emperor article on WP.  Aza24  (talk)   08:51, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I said above I didn't want to harangue about a minor choice of wording, but being that it's now been used four times in support of an argument, I can't regard as a minor word choice. I do think it's reductive and unverifiable. If we're going to talk about, it wasn't Kong Qiu because the words weren't pronounced like that until centuries later, and it wasn't 孔丘 because the words weren't written like that until centuries later.Right now I'm leaning ^Confucius (孔子, Kongzi, 'Master Kong' [vital dates]) (but with proper formatting and tone mark). I'm ambivalent about appending personal name Kong Qiu (孔丘). I don't really like it, but wouldn't revert it. It implies to me that his courtesy name should come next, which is how we get back to the name garble nobody wants.The other Warring States "Masters Texts" figures reminds me of another point: that they (including Kongzi) were most commonly referred to by their personal names by political or philosophical opponents as a means of disrespect. (Laozi, who never existed, being the obvious exception). Folly Mox (talk) 13:37, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * "Westernification"? Seriously?  It's also the first two words in his Chinese Wikipedia article, so who are we to say it's a problem?  It is not our place to dewesternize Chinese society (if this is the result of western influence at all); it would be condescending and perversely Eurocentric ("This is OUR job").  If it's fine there, it's fine here. And if you are so concerned about westernization, why not include the whole "name garble"?  It would be the most culturally accurate thing to do, right?

 * As for the fact that the writing amd pronunciation of his name has changed over the years, do not get too concerned with adhering to the standards of earlier time periods. Alfred the Great is quite rightly not entitled "Ælfred Micela", nor is it written in the style of an early medieval biography; that would simply be living in the past.  I also looked at the Chinese articles for the other people Aza mentioned, and, leaving aside Laozi, I saw that their personal names all feature prominently in the article (at the top of the infobox and in the first sentence, if not in primary position) - a fact that should leave no doubt as to whether Confucius's personal name should be included in the first sentence here as well.  It may well be historical trivia to an extent, but this is exactly where it belongs: in the first sentence of a biographical article about him.  Courtesy names are not included in the first sentence of their English articles, so that isn't an issue at all; I would still support putting their personal names all in primary position because a) it was who they really were b) it's more consistent with our own practices.  Quite frankly, I don't think Chinese people would care. Esszet (talk) 04:14, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * , I'm still trying to figure out what you mean by . Do you mean like in legal registers? My brain keeps interpreting it as "how they self-identified", but that can't possibly be it, because it's unverifiable.Although MOS:FIRST doesn't address this specifically, I think in general we need a really good reason to make the introductory term of an article not match the article title. We'd have a significantly stronger case for this if things were reversed: if this article were titled Kong Qiu, we'd probably want to start out with the term Confucius / Kongzi, the common name of the subject in Western / Asian literature over the past few millennia.As it stands, the article is already at the title Confucius. Leading with one of his other names should have firm basis in sourcing or guidance. I'm not an MOS expert, but I'm not aware of guidance anywhere on the project that invokes who someone really was. Do you have a link to any?As to the "Westernification" bit, I would probably have framed this as unfamiliarity with the relative prominence and usage of different kinds of names across a sharp contextual boundary that divides us from a deeply separate culture so long gone even subject matter experts struggle to understand it. Stating that a personal name is so much more important than a courtesy name for an early Chinese figure that the personal name should introduce the article while the courtesy name is relegated to the infobox or a footnote, is flatly a misunderstanding. Folly Mox (talk) 07:53, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Out of curiosity, I checked the revision history of zh:孔子, and found that the introductory term had been changed from 孔子 to 孔丘 in 2014, by a globally locked LTA. Granted, I didn't find an instance of people changing it back in the 1% of edits I sampled from the intervening decade, and this doesn't really have much bearing on the discussion here, but thought I'd report what I found to be an interesting result. Folly Mox (talk) 08:28, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * As for the MOS, see MOS:FULLNAME. I posted a link to this previously, please read my comments more carefully.  Also keep in mind that Master isn't a name at all, it's a courtesy title, which is why it would be such a strange way to start the article.  When appropriate, he would have self-identified as Qiu – right?  I don't know why you're so hung up on his courtesy name, this is a western encyclopedia written in a western language by predominantly western authors, westernization is inevitable.  Courtesy names are completely alien to us, so we don't include them right away, we put them further down.  A link to Courtesy name is even included so people can understand it better.  It does not need to be at the very top of the article; including his personal name without his courtesy name in the lede would do nothing to hinder people's understanding of the Spring and Autumn period.  For our purposes and from our perspective, it's the best thing to do.  It is not an issue at Mencius, Mozi, or Xunzi, so why would it be an issue here? Finally, keep in mind that this is just a Wikipedia article, such an inane point does not need to be analyzed in so much detail. Esszet (talk) 16:28, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I did read MOS:FULLNAME when previously linked, which contains no mention of "who someone really was". I'm wondering if how you is a perfect reflection of how I'm feeling or Aza24 might be feeling about your attachment to the subject's personal name.Anyway, I agree with your last sentence above and am tired of this backy-forth and we probably all have more important stuff to work on.So how about this compromise: Confucius (c. 551), personal name Kong Qiu, was...?, , I presume you'll both have objections to this, in opposite directions, but could you both agree to hate it so we can move on? Folly Mox (talk) 17:14, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * That solution seems fine by me. I agree with Esszet that its rather silly to discuss this so much—though immediately slightly fun, as I'm sure you would all secretly admit :)  Aza24  (talk)   06:49, 25 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Sorry,, I somehow missed your last reply, and really, ? Since MOS:FULLNAME says "the article should start with the complete version [of the subject's name] in most cases", I thought it would be abundantluy clear that I was trying to explain the underlying reasoning behind that policy, but if you really want to take it to the level of disingenuous Wikilawyering, see MOS:HON (for Kongzi) and MOS:PSEUDONYM (for Confucius).  No matter which way you slice it, the MOS is squarely on my side, I was trying to make a simple edit to bring the article more closely in line with our policies.  It would say "Kong Qiu, generally known as Confucius...", so there would be no doubt as to which name is generally preferred, and thus far, nobody has made a decent argument as to why a small group of Confucian philosophers should form an exception to a policy that is followed virtually everywhere else (including almost all of the unusual exceptions in the MOS).  I would have let this die, but I did not want to let Wikilawyering go unaddressed.  I have little interest in discussing this further (WP:LAME anyone?), but I did not want to let a clearly bad-faith argument stand. Esszet (talk) 01:50, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Wearily, I think this is the first time I've ever been accused of bad-faith wikilawyering, and the intent thought to be wasn't to me. I guess we really don't understand each other. I'll just state that the MOS guidelines do carve out space for exceptions in their wording, and even the brief bit of MOS:FULLNAME extracted just above says in most cases. Folly Mox (talk) 12:43, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

Good article status revisit
Fellow editors, I'd love to call for some collective efforts to upgrade the article rating and hopefully eventually achieve the good article status, would you kindly provide insights and recommendations. I am currently filling in citation requests as a kick-start. Thanks! TheIntrospectorsfacts (talk) 18:54, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

 * A lot of the sources are just dumb websites instead of academically published sources, and for the books we do cite in this article, a lot of them are pretty old (Dubs and Creel, e.g.).We don't have anything on the evolution of academic opinion on which of the classics he edited, his appearance as a character or voice in early texts postdating him by a few centuries, and present his Shiji biography as if it were unquestionable historical fact.Off the top of my head, those are the big issues here, but I'm sure there are others. I'll try to add some sources to or on this talkpage, and try to incorporate them as I go; prima facie the article doesn't seem like it needs a complete rewrite from the ground up the way Confucianism does. Folly Mox (talk) 21:31, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
 * We can continue to improve and update the quality of references to build a solid foundation, then work on the organization, copy-editing, and fact checking along the way. It will be of great help if you can post up good quality academic sources that all editors can refer to. TheIntrospectorsfacts (talk) 18:08, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
 * My apologies; this is still on my radar and todo list. It's been a difficult week. Folly Mox (talk) 11:10, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

Potential sources
Apologies for the late response. Sourcing for an article with a topic like this one has posed a lot of organisational challenges, and filtering out sources that are more suited to Confucianism or Lunyu than to Confucius, checking for current TWL accessibility against the unavailability of Brill, and just finding appropriate sources amongst the hundreds or thousands that search strings return: it's been a difficulty.So, in the spirit of "something is better than nothing", a disorganised mess of potential sources, which I intend to annotate better.First is Eno 2018, already cited in the article, but could be employed more, and should be read by anyone attempting a rewrite.• Brill

• Brill

• Brill (obvs)

• Brill

• Brill

• Brill

• Brill

• Brill

• Brill

• Brill

• Brill, although jstor might have it depending on embargo durationAs a courtesy, I have not suggested anything that is neither TWL-accessible nor stored locally in my library. Anyone wanting access to the materials listed above tagged as Brill, Special:EmailUser me to request a copy. Folly Mox (talk) 17:38, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

 * I suppose I might also mention: Folly Mox (talk) 18:19, 14 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Oh right maybe these as well: Folly Mox (talk) 19:23, 14 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Csikszentmihalyi's SEP article (revised just this year) is rather elegant at presenting the many identities of Confucius. Two scholars I see missing are Philip J. Ivanhoe (2013) and Roger T. Ames (many, e.g. 1987)  Aza24  (talk)   03:10, 15 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Oh I've guaranteed missed some top tier sources: this wasn't an investigation into any academic bibliographies, nor even an exploratory search of TWL space. This is what I have in my library, ordered by whenever I renamed the file most recently. Folly Mox (talk) 16:06, 15 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Confucius