Confucius is a name invented by Jesuit missionaries two thousand years later
The sage Chinese people call Kongzi, Master Kong, became Confucius only in the late sixteenth century, when Jesuits Latinised a grander title meaning roughly Great Master Kong. Born into poverty around 551 BCE, he saw himself not as an innovator but as someone passing on forgotten values from earlier ages.
His family name was Kong and his given name Qiu, meaning hill, reportedly because of a dip in the top of his head. Tradition places his birth on 28 September 551 BCE in Zou, near Qufu in today's Shandong, in the state of Lu. His elderly father, a garrison commander, died when the boy was three, and his mother raised him in poverty before dying herself before 40. At 19 he married, and a son, Kong Li, arrived a year later. Claims that his line descended from the nobility of Song are not universally accepted.
His teaching stressed moral conduct in private life and government, harmonious relationships, sincerity and kindness, and rulers who lead by virtue. Family came first: filial piety, respect for elders and ancestor veneration formed the base on which good government should stand. He taught a negative version of the Golden Rule, sometimes called the Silver Rule, advising people not to inflict on others what they would not want for themselves.
Authorship is murkier than tradition suggests. He is credited with writing or editing all Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious, since some material is older. The Analects, the collection of his sayings, was assembled long after his death.
His influence grew slowly. His ideas rose during the Warring States period, suffered under the Qin, and gained official backing under Emperor Wu of Han, when related texts became compulsory for would-be officials. The Tang and Song eras produced Neo-Confucianism, and a twentieth-century New Confucian movement in the Republic of China tried to adapt his thought to modern life. Much of the shared culture of the Sinosphere traces back to him.
Source: Confucius
