Confucius
551–479 BCE
- First attested
- 479 BCEPreserved in the Analects (Lunyu) and Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji).
Social harmony and inner virtue blossom together when daily life is approached with ritual care and empathy.
Confucius, Analects (Lunyu); Sima Qian, Shiji (c. 94 BCE).
Chinese philosopher whose moral and social ethics shaped East Asian civilisation.
Confucius (Kong Fuzi) was a philosopher and statesman of the Spring and Autumn period whose ethical, educational, and political philosophy became the bedrock of Chinese civilization. Facing widespread social chaos and moral decay, Confucius taught that order is restored through the cultivation of personal virtue (ren, humaneness), adherence to ritual propriety (li), righteousness (yi), and filial piety (xiao). Traditional Chinese scholarship attributes to him the Ten Wings (Shiyi), the classic cosmological commentaries that elevated the ancient divination manual I Ching into a moral-philosophical classic.
Light
Moral integrity, civic responsibility, educational cultivation, and humane empathy.
Shadow
Rigid authoritarian hierarchy, patriarchal suppression, and inflexible traditionalism.