Position : Home > Chinese Study Resources > Free Materials >

Confucius

In modern-day China, there is a city named Qufu, located in the southwest of Shandong
Province.This is the birthplace and home of Confucius. Some 2,500 years ago, the city
served as the capital of a small state, known as the State of Lu, which was widely recognized
at the time as a land of great ceremony and propriety.
  In present-day China, an 80-year-old woman receives congratulations on her birthday.
She is Kong Lingren, the 76th-generation lineal granddaughter of Confucius. During
Kong Lingren’s birthday celebrations, as indeed with many Chinese, great importance
is attached to seniority in making arrangement of seats for guests, just as it would have
been done 76 generations before with her distant ancestor Confucius, whose teachings
brought such practices into being.
  In the Confucius family, it is seen as axiomatic that young should respect the old, a
doctrine shared by most belief system. However, some Confucian idea about daily life
may be more difficult for people today to understand. For instance, it is tenet of Confucianism
that children mustn’t begin their meal before adults have first eaten. In the Confucian family
elders always enjoy priority in every aspect of life.
  Confucianism also has much to say on the issue of interpersonal communication. When
a pupil comes home after class, he is expected to visit every member in the house,
beginning with the eldest and continuing on the second eldest and so on. For thousands
of years, generation after generation of Chinese were thoroughly imbued with such Confucian
belief from a very early age.
  It is undoubtedly true that the emphasis on ceremony and propriety that is so central to
Confucianism can be traced back to Confucius’s experience as a child.
  When Confucius was still a child, he became attached to ceremony and propriety. The
game he gained most pleasure from was to arrange plates and bowls, in an effort to
imitate adults who would ritualistically arrange such items in order to worship the Heavens
and their ancestors. Confucius is also a keen trumpeter, not least because those who
played the trumpet at weddings and funerals very often would received dried meat for their
services.
  “Propriety” and “music,” the two passions of his childhood, which came about because
of family circumstances, would become two of the most centrally important elements in
Confucius’s later life.
  Confucius was regarded as sage by the emperors of countless past dynasties. His
influence is not confined to the land of his birth. Confucian temples have been
established in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Indonesia of Asia, as well as in Europe.
The number of such temples had reached almost 2,800 by the 19th century.
  The 2,000-plus years since Confucius lived have witnessed countless wars and fighting.
Kings and dynasties have come and gone with dizzying regularity but the worship
ceremonies associated with Confucianism have almost never been interrupted. This begs
the question as to what miraculous strength there was in the life and thoughts of this man
that could endure and prosper for some 2,500 years and still remain potent today in midst
of the 21st century.

FAQ

Contact us

Shinan Campus: Floor 21th, Building A, Central international (zhonghuan) Plaza, No. 19 zhangzhou Er Lu, (Bank of China’s uptairs), Qingdao

P: (86)532-88078385/85890993
EP: 13589278775
Skype:Call me!

Email:study@xmandarinchinese.com