I hope you will agree with me that the world of early China is truly fascinating. And I hope you will explore it on your own in greater detail. But now, we must turn to Confucius. Who was Confucius? Obviously, the name Confucius doesn't sound exactly Chinese. The name Confucius is the Latinized form of Kong Fuzi or Kongzi, which means Master Kong. You can just imagine how difficult it was for the early Christian missionaries who went to China to overcome the language barrier. The name Kongzi or Master Kong is a title. His personal name is Kong Qiu and he is also called Zhongni. Now, for such an important figure, really very little is known about his life from historical sources. Although like any other great thinker, legends and apocryphal stories abound in later writings. For example, one widely accepted legend has it that Confucius was born in the cave that you now see. The standard biography of Confucius is found in a historical work known as the Shiji or Records of the Historian by the Han dynasty scholar, Sima Qian, written around 100 BCE, some 400 years after Confucius death. From what we can gather, Confucius was from a noble but poor family in the state of Lu, which as we have mentioned previously, is located in modern Shandong province. Now, the state of Lu at that time was known for its cultural accomplishments. Its culturally rich, but politically and militarily, it is relatively weak. Surrounded by, shall we say, very powerful and very ambitious neighbors. Confucius father died when he was still a young boy. Nevertheless, because of his family background, Confucius was educated and he worked as a minor official in the state of Lu. Some accounts do indicate that he rose to high ministerial positions but we won't pursue those stories here. Suffice it to say, that Confucius was recognized especially for his knowledge of the classical literary and ritual traditions. So, what else do we know about him? We do know that Confucius was married. He had a son, who was actually featured in the Analects. And from the Analects also, we can infer that he had a daughter. The daughter apparently was married to a disciple of Confucius. The son unfortunately died when he was relatively young. And I should also mention, perhaps that Confucius grandson by the name of Zisi, later played a very important role in the development of Confucian philosophy. Nothing or close to nothing is really known about his wife, although she does occupy a place and receives homage in Confucius temples in traditional China. Seeing that the world was in turmoil, Confucius proposed ways to restore order and harmony. The state of Lu was at that time beset with both internal and external problems. But he was unable, or unwilling, or both, to adopt Confucius proposals. Eventually, Confucius left the state of Lu, and for about 14 years, he traveled from state to state to seek a ruler who would put his ideas into practice, without success, unfortunately. And eventually, Confucius returned to his home state and devoted himself to teaching. More than anything else, Confucius has come to be remembered as the model teacher of China. He is credited with having brought education from the hands of the aristocracy to the common people. And in this respect, his contribution to Chinese culture has been simply immense. Tradition has it that Confucius had over 3000 disciples of whom about 70 are remembered as especially important. A number of his disciples attained high political office and others continued the teachings of Confucius, and in so doing, laid the foundation for the eventual triumph of Confucianism.