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Confucius family tree to grow bigger

— Photo: AP

Fuzimiao, or Confucius Temple, in Nanjing, China, in this file photo.

Beijing: The great Chinese philosopher, Confucius (551-479 BC), may have been dead for over 2,500 years, but his family tree only keeps growing. More than two million persons have been registered as descendants of the sage according to the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee (CGCC).

The latest project to revise and update the Confucius family tree began in 1998 when Kong Deyong, a 77th-generation descendant of the philosopher, established the CGCC in Hong Kong. The results of the study will be announced next year to coincide with the 2,560th anniversary of the sage’s birth.

According to reports in the Chinese state media, more than 1.3 million new entries in the family tree have been gathered by the CGCC over the last decade. The latest compilation of Confucius descendents includes for the first time both women and overseas relatives. Confucius himself was hardly a feminist — being famous for views such as, “Women and people of low birth are very hard to deal with” — but Kong Deyong was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying that times had changed. “Men and women are equal now. Even if a woman has to leave the family when she marries that doesn’t change the fact that she is descended from Confucius,” Mr. Kong said.

While around a fifth of the newly-registered relatives of Confucius are thus women, several thousands are also from overseas. Thirty-thousand new descendants have, for example, been located in South Korea.

The Confucius family tree has been revised only four times in history. The last revision took place in the 1930s and listed some 600,000 names.

The works and philosophy of Confucius have witnessed a marked revival in China in recent years. Reviled during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) as a proponent of a “feudal” and “backward” philosophy, the sage has made a comeback in Chinese political and social life.

Not only do his views on harmony find resonance in China’s new leadership’s efforts to create a “harmonious society” but his teachings are gradually being reintroduced in primary schools and universities. The moniker Confucius is a westernised version of the philosopher’s Chinese name: Kong Zi.

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