Confucius
Ancient Chinese philosopher whose teachings on virtue and family loyalty shaped China for centuries Show bio
Bio
Confucius lost his father at three and grew up poor, studying at schools for commoners. He tended sheep and horses to pay for his mother's proper burial, then mourned three years.
Confucius saw himself as handing down older values that his own age had abandoned. He became minister of crime and, with no army, talked nobles into razing their city walls. Confucius weighed joining a rebel to test his ideas, but rejected violence on principle.
He never saw the Analects, the book of his sayings compiled many years after his death. Confucius, schooled among commoners, later became required reading for anyone seeking a government career.