Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BC was also known as Master Kong or Kongzi. Born in the late-Zhou dynasty, his social philosophy has remained central to Chinese and Asian thinking for over 2,500 years. Parents still teach children Confucian virtues and the Five Confucian Classics remain among the most widely-read books in the world.

The end of the Zhou dynasty was a period of constant small-scale warfare between rival landlords and these disputes left much of the population in poverty. To those who lived in this time of chaos, public morals seemed in decline and grim prophets warned that the country would soon fall into total anarchy.

Enter one mild-mannered man from the state of Lu, present day Shandong, whose ideas had a clarity and simplicity that would cement Chinese morality for over two millennia.

In order to preserve harmony, the social hierarchy, he said, should be respected: fathers should love sons and sons should respect fathers, the people should listen to their leaders and the leaders should act benevolently. The best government would rule by example of virtue, not by strict law and retributive punishment.

Then there were three kinds of behavior: li, yi, and ren. Li was the essential desire for profit or advantage and was usually, but not exclusively, bad. Yi was “righteousness,” and encouraged helping others and acting for the greater good. Ren was the best quality to strive for – love, charity and sympathy.

He was in his thirties when he began to lecture on these ideas. Prior to that, feudal officials had monopolized education and schooling had been confined to the children of nobles. Confucius, however, took in students from various social classes and personally taught more than 3,000 young men were firmly excluded. He believed that teaching should be tailored to the individual student and would often give differing replies to the same question – students were instructed to “carpe diem” if they were shy and mull things over if too headstrong.

Confucius held government posts for some years, but the turmoil of the period and the constant squabbling for power frustrated him. Later in life, he traveled extensively and returned home only a few years before his death. His disciples collected his philosophy into The Analects, each section of the book begins with “Kongzi yue” (Master Kong said), known in the West as “Confucius says.”

Years after his death, later emperors came to highly revere The Analects. Confucian teachings provided the basis for the civil service examinations, thousands of temples were built and the Confucian rituals were practiced as a religion. The Confucius Temple in Qufu survives today and is listed by UNESCO as one of the most important cultural and historical sites in the world.