Author

Books by Confucius

Confucius (551–479 BCE), known in Chinese as Kong Qiu or Kong Fuzi, was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political thinker whose teachings profoundly shaped East Asian culture and civilization. He lived during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history, a time of political fragmentation and social upheaval. He spent years traveling among the warring states seeking a ruler who would implement his vision of governance through virtue. His students compiled his sayings and dialogues into the Analects after his death, and Confucian thought became the official state philosophy of Han dynasty China. It remained central to Chinese civil service examinations until 1905.