Confucius and His Influence on Far Eastern Culture

Essay by Paul Pietkiewicz January 1996

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One of the most influential people in the far east was Confucius. Confucius (K'ung Futzu is how he is called in China but his birth name was K'ung Ch'iu) was a very important Chinese philosopher who saw in life that there was injustice and immorality. In my essay I will tell about his life, and the religion that was based on his philosophies. I shall also mention about his influence on the government in the past and the present.

Confucius was a very important person who had a really interesting life. He lived around 551-479 BC. 'According to legend, the child's mother had a vision when she was pregnant. She saw five old men leading an animal with a horn in the middle of its forehead and scales all over its body. This Chinese unicorn knelt before her and spat out a piece of jade. On it was an inscription that promised her that her awaited child shall be a king without a crown.'

Confucius was born present-day Shantung (in those days it was called the sate of Lu) He was born into the noble K'ung clan. His father, was the commander of a district in Lu before he died. Confucius's father died three years after Confucius was born. As a young boy Confucius had to do a variety of tasks to help his mother to survive. Confucius was married at 19 and had two daughters and one son. Shortly after Confucius passed through a hard financial time when he had to menial jobs. Later on he was a tax collector and there he observed the unfairness of the world or at least in that area of China. In 527 BC his mother died. After that experience he started his career as a teacher. That was the beginning of...