What Confucius Had Actually Said

Confucianism is not a religion like Christianity or Buddhism, but its influence in the whole Chinese culture is not less than that of Christianity in the West or Buddhism in the East. Confucius has been so long and so fervently worshiped in China as well as in the Southeastern Asian nations. Confucius died at the age of 73. After his death, his students built a temple named after him. Years later, some of his students and their students compiled all of Confucius's sayings and some of his outstanding students' sayings into a book called "The Analects of Confucius", which later became the most important document used to study Confucianism. Analects of Confucius was the most authoritative of all laws in a long Chinese history over thousands of years, and it could not be criticized, no matter in which dynasty or who the emperor was. Even the emperor himself also had to abide by the Confucius Sayings. This situation finally changed when the Chinese republic was established in 1912. Although Confucius died more than 2,500 years ago, his philosophy, his teaching, and his advice, have been deeply rooted in the Chinese people's hearts. Hundreds of years ago, his doctrine was introduced into the Southeastern Asian nations and was soon accepted and worshiped as well by the people in those lands. In early times, there was a Confucius temple at every town in China and in many Southeastern nations too. Confucius's birthday, September 28, was declared as Teacher's Day, a national holiday, by the Nationalist Chinese government while it ruled China. Today, the government in Taiwan still observes the Teacher's Day. On that day the government officials would lead people in a ceremony at a Confucius temple to worship and pay highest respect to the greatest sage in China. Definitely this book will help people understand what Confucius actually said some 2,500 years ago.