Confucius

Confucius Confucius was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political thinker whose ethical and social philosophy — emphasizing filial piety, ritual propriety, humaneness (ren), and righteous governance — became the state ideology of China and shaped East Asian civilization for over two millennia. His teachings, preserved in the Analects compiled by his disciples, stressed the cultivation of personal virtue as the foundation of harmonious family, social, and political life. Confucianism remains a living intellectual tradition across China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.