Confucius

Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551–479 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political thinker. Born in the state of Lu, in present-day Shandong, he came from an impoverished aristocratic family. He held government posts in Lu before political conflict led him into exile, during which he travelled from one state to another seeking to put his ideas on political and social reform into practice. He returned to Lu and died in Qufu. After his death, his disciples compiled a collection of his teachings, the Lunyu (Analects), which became a foundational text of Confucianism. The traditional claim that he edited the ancient Chinese Classics is considered uncertain.