Do you know Confucius?
Confucius was born in 551B.C in the State of Lu which is known today as Qufu City in Shandong Province. In Chinese, his name was Kong Qiu. Kong was the family name while Qiu was his given name. This was because his parents had prayed for a son at Niqiu Hill and 'Qiu' was an appropriate token of their thanks and joy at having their prayers answered. Sadly, his father died when he was very young but despite a hard life, he dedicated himself to study at the age of 15.
Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn Periods, a time when the established system could not meet the demand of development as the ruling classes of China experienced the transition from a slave to feudalist society. It was a time of "the collapse of etiquette and the deterioration of music", which implies the ethics and moralities of society were in decline. The intellectuals of the day were concerned about the future mode of society, hence the most brilliant contention of a hundred schools of thought, such as Legist, Taoist, thrived in a vibrant period in Chinese history. This is often regarded as the most exciting of times for Chinese intellectuals as no single doctrine dominated their lives.
Confucius' proposal was to discipline oneself and to revive the ethics of Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, he brought forward a series of norms, which step by step developed into Confucianism.

Development History of Confucianism
Confucianism was further developed by Mencius (372B.C.-289B.C.) and Xun Zi. It was in the reign of Emperor Wu during the Han Dynasty that it was promoted to being the state ideology. Since then, it became the orthodox doctrine of Chinese society. And Confucius was glorified as a Saint instead of an ordinary man.

In the coming Wei and Jin Dynasties, Confucianism coexisted with Buddhism and Taoism. Up to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the struggle for dominance between the three became heated. The Song Dynasty witnessed a vital period of its development. Featuring Confucian school of idealist philosophy of the Song and Ming dynasties, it restored its orthodox role for the following 700 years.

Waving the banner of science and democracy, the New Cultural Movement from 1915 attacked the feudal system, including its core ideological system of Confucianism. During the Cultural Revolution, it was once again under violent attack.

In recent years people can look at Confucianism with a more rational state of mind, some even suggest its returning for wisdom while opponents hold that it should be held responsible for the backwardness of China's development and for that reason its dominance should not be revived. In any event, that would not be possible.

To our delight, many scholars devote themselves to the study of Confucianism and its application to modern society. Such study is important as the Chinese language has experienced considerable changes over the centuries and the lack of any punctuation in the ancient classics has made it difficult for us to fully comprehend his ideology.

Confucianism is succinct as well as intensive. Strictly speaking, it is not a religion but more a doctrine than belief, while the meaning behind the beautiful words renders wordy post-modernism pale and dull. It is part of world cultural heritage and an integral part of Chinese life.

Visit Confucius temples in China
Chinese people built Confucius temples to commemorate Confucius (551BC-479BC), also called Kongzi or Kongfuzi in Chinese, who was a great thinker, educator and the founder of Confucianism in the late Spring and Autumn Period (770BC- 476BC). This school occupies a dominant position in Chinese culture. Kongzi was among the best recognized sages of that period. He devoted his whole life to education. He had some 3,000 disciples and many of them were knowledgeable and highly talented.

Confucius temples are called Kong Miao in Chinese; they are famous for their large scale, rich cultural relic collection and their artistic value. Among these holy temples, the Confucian temple in Qufu in Shandong Province, which consists of Cemetery of Confucius (Kong Lin), Temple of Confucius (Kong Miao) and the Confucius Family Mansion (Kong Fu) is regarded as one of the holy cities in the world. The Temples of Confucius in Beijing, theConfucian Temple in Nanjing and the Confucius Temple in Shanghai are also well worth visiting.

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