100 Chinese Famous People Who Influence Students' Lives

Author: Li Jie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Confucius was a great thinker, statesman, and educator in China. He established the Confucian school, which has influenced Chinese society for over two thousand years, based on the principles of benevolence (ren), propriety (li), and righteousness. The core of Confucius's thought is "benevolence," pursuing the goal of "the world returning to benevolence." Confucius placed great emphasis on personal moral cultivation, believing that whether a person could become virtuous depended on their own subjective effort. One should be strict with themselves and lenient toward others; if one possessed virtue, they had nothing to fear from others' recognition or understanding. A gentleman should be content with poverty and happy with their path, ready to sacrifice themselves for righteousness. In politics, Confucius proposed the concept of "the ruler ruling as a ruler, the subject serving as a subject, the father acting as a father, and the son acting as a son." He hoped to restore the rites of the Zhou Dynasty to establish a strict and orderly society. Confucius opposed tyrannical rule and the abuse of labor, advocating for rulers to "benefit the people" and "love the people." Confucius believed that morality must also be reflected in politics, meaning the moralization of political conduct. In his view, punishments could make people fearful of breaking the law but could not fundamentally eliminate the motivation to commit crimes. Only by using "benevolence" and "ritual" to enlighten and guide the people, and by raising their moral awareness, could society be stable. The fundamental guarantee of ruling with virtue was that the ruler must become a model of morality, influencing and educating the people with their own moral example. In education, Confucius centered moral education, believing that the fundamental purpose of education was to teach people how to be good, with the key being the cultivation of love, as expressed in the principle "Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself." Confucius also proposed the educational principle of "education for all," setting his own teaching content, creating new teaching methods, and tailoring instruction to individual aptitudes. He emphasized the combination of learning and thinking, heuristic teaching, and active comprehension by his disciples. Confucius also emphasized practical education, combining teaching with social phenomena. In the teaching process, he used the Six Arts—poetry, books, rites, music, archery, charioteering, and mathematics—as specific teaching content, which were complemented by the virtues of culture, action, loyalty, and trustworthiness. Confucius made significant achievements in literature and history. After 14 years of unsuccessful political endeavors, he abandoned his political ambitions, returned to Lu, and devoted himself to compiling books such as the I Ching (Book of Changes), Shu Jing (Book of Documents), Li Jing (Book of Rites), Yue Jing (Book of Music), Shi Jing (Book of Songs), and Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals). Confucius first proposed the term "literature and documents" (wenxian), highlighting its importance and establishing a plan to compile documents that combined teaching with the need to preserve national records. During the compilation process, Confucius assigned his disciples to assist with the work and clearly outlined the principles: first, to record rather than create, preserving the original wording of the documents; second, to avoid discussing strange or supernatural matters; third, to exclude heretical views; and fourth, to listen and observe widely, avoiding hasty judgments, and striving to ensure the authenticity of the compiled documents. Based on these principles, Confucius began to organize the Shi Jing. In the process of organizing the Shi Jing, he widely consulted his disciples, studied each poem carefully, and finally selected 305 poems, dividing them into three parts: "Feng," "Ya," and "Song." The Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals) was another masterpiece by Confucius. Confucius once told his disciples that since his youth, he had spent over forty years trying to realize his political ideals of "benevolent governance" and "reviving Lu and restoring the Zhou Dynasty," but he had failed. Therefore, he compiled this book, using the history of Lu as its main thread.