ABSTRACT
Confucius was a world-recognized and celebrated philosopher. He was an educator, a philosopher, and a politician in the history of China. For over 2,500 years, his thoughts and values have influenced and continued to occupy a unique place in Chinese culture, particularly in the education arena. Confucius was born on August 27, 551 BCE in Zouyi of Lu State (currently to the south-east of
Qu Fu of Shandong Province, China) and died on February 18, 479 BCE. His last name was Kong, his first name was Qiu, and people generally called him “Kong Fu Zi.” “Fu Zi” added following a surname is an honorific title, which is equivalent to the meaning of “Master.” Thus, Kong Fu Zi stands for “Master Kong.” During the late sixteenth century, Confucian works started to be introduced to the Western world by
European Jesuits. Matteo Ricci (1552 CE-1610 CE), an Italian Jesuit, latinized “Kong Fu Zi” (Master Kong) as Confucius (Dawson, 1981; Do-Dinh, 1969), hence, Kong Fu Zi has been known to the Western world as Confucius. As one of the longest and richest ideologies of human history, Confucianism started from the thoughts
of Confucius (551 BCE-479 BCE) (Huang, 2006; Zhang, 2009). It retained a dominant position in Chinese history, and still has tremendous and profound influence on almost every aspect of Chinese society today. It is the core of traditional Chinese culture (Wang, Yong, Liu and Tang, 2006; Zhang, 2009). Confucianism was developed, enriched, and joined by the thoughts of Mencius (372 BCE-289 BCE), Xun
Zi (298 BCE-238 BCE), and other followers. It was in the reign of Emperor Wu (156 BCE-87 BCE) during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) that Confucianism was highly promoted and occupied the state ideology. Since then, Confucianism became the orthodox doctrine of Chinese society. Confucius was glorified as a Sage, the Confucian ideal human model (Sun, 2008). In the coming Wei (386 CE-534/535 CE) and Jin (265 CE-420 CE) Dynasties, Confucianism coexisted with Buddhism and Taoism. Up to the Sui (581 CE-617 CE) and the Tang (618 CE-907 CE) Dynasties, the struggle for dominance between the three became heated. In its development over a millennium, Confucianism absorbed some thoughts from Taoism and Buddhism.
The Song Dynasty witnessed a vital period of the development of Confucianism. In the Song Dynasty (960 CE-1279 CE) and then the Ming Dynasty (1368 CE-1644 CE), the Confucian school of idealist philosophy was featured and called “Li Xue” in Chinese, initiated by Zhu Xi (1130 CE-1200 CE), a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the most influential rationalist “Neo-Confucians” in China. Confucianism restored its orthodox role for the following 700 years.
