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Confucian culture is based on humanistic philosophy, and this is shown in its respect, attention to and love of human individuals. Confucianism is the cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture. It is a complete ideological system created by Confucius, based on the traditional culture of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Confucianism has dominated a feudal society that in essence has lasted 2000 years and for that reason its influence over the history, social structure and the people of China cannot be overlooked. First of all, let’s talk about the most important person—Confucius, who is the founder of Confucianism, and he has been proved to be the greatest influence over the Chinese character. Confucius was born in 551B.C in the State of Lu, the spring and Autumn Periods, a time when the established system could not meet the demand of development as the ruling classes of China experienced the transition from a slave to feudalist society. He was well known as a great educationist, thinker and unsuccessful politician all over the world. In Chinese, his name was Kong Qiu. Kong was the family name while Qiu was his given name. Confucius pursued truth, kindness and perfection throughout his life and his success and failure were largely due to his character.
Patriotism was the driving force for the young Confucius and he set his sights on an official career as a means to apply his political ideals. This eventful career was to last for only four years as he was forced to resign when he found it impossible to agree with the authorities. Then he left his country and to travel around the states. During those years, Confucius was in danger on many occasions and even risked his life. When he was 68 years old, he was welcomed back to Lu but he was set up as a respected gentleman without any authority. When he was 73 years old, Confucius died because of illness. His students treated him as father and wore the willow for three years. Zigong, one of the famous disciples, set up a cabinet near his tomb and stayed there for six years to mourn his beloved teacher. Compared to his frustrated political career, Confucius' career as a teacher and philosopher was brilliant and full of achievements.
As for the education, Confucius promoted the ideas "to educate all despite their social status" and "to teach according to the students' characteristics". Confucius also proposed a complete set of principles concerning study. He said, "Studying without thinking leads to confusion; thinking without studying leads to laziness." Imparting knowledge was only part of his teaching. Confucius' private life was a model of his doctrines. The Analects of Confucius provide a vivid record of his teachings but although he wrote nothing personally, his words were collected and recorded for posterity by his disciples. The accumulated words of wisdom have come down to us as "The Analects", one of the most important of all the Chinese classics. Uniquely, only he is qualified to be called "the teacher of ten thousand generations". He never tired of teaching his disciples while diligence, his unremitting pursuit of truth, ideas and perfect personality, his integrity, kindness, modesty and courteousness inspired his disciples and the intellects of subsequent generations. It is said that among 3000 of Confucius' disciples, there were 72 who were brilliant and who succeeded in morality, literature, language, and especially politics. These politicians contributed much to the spreading, formation and development of Confucianism. Confucius stuck to righteousness. He once said: "Improper fortunes are just flowing clouds to me. For proper fortunes, I will do jobs such as a driver." To him, a benevolent person is one who loves others. He said, "Do not give others what you do not want yourself." As for his marriage, he got married at 19 and divorced his wife at 23 and remained single for the rest of his life.
Confucian culture is an important component of world cultural heritage, a major representative of oriental culture, and the dominant facet of Chinese cultural tradition. Confucianism dominated China’s feudalistic society for thousands of years before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and it is the essence of the Chinese cultural spirit. Patriotism is also an important concept of Confucianism. On the one hand, it asked the ruler to love the people, bring them benefits and wealth, and sympathize with them, using more virtue and ritual and less law to rule the country. On the other hand, it required the people to have a patriotic spirit and social responsibility: “To be concerned about affairs of the state before others, and to enjoy comfort after others.” Besides, Confucianism also advocated good relations among countries, demanding all the noble classes and the separate feudalistic kingdoms to restrain themselves, stop warring with each other and follow the rituals to establish a unified centralized state power. Confucianism is succinct as well as intensive. Strictly speaking, it is not a religion but more a doctrine than belief, while the meaning behind the beautiful words renders wordy post-modernism pale and dull. To our delight, many scholars devote themselves to the study of Confucianism and its application to modern society.
It is widely accepted that Confucianism is a treasure of world culture and is still having impact on the world today. However, Confucianism is a feudalistic culture, and like many other cultures in the world, it has both advantages and weaknesses. The aim of Confucianist humanism is to protect the ruler, not the ordinary people. Though it says to love the people and pay attention to their needs, what it really cares about is how to use them to serve the ruler’s own interests. Confucianism divides people into two kinds, the mental laborers and manual laborers. “Those who do mental labor rule and those who do manual labor are ruled.” It speaks for the mental laborers and looks down upon manual laborers, and especially discriminates upon women. Therefore, Confucianism is a tool serving the feudalistic rule. The Confucianist concept of world commonwealth is only an ideal; it can never be realized in a centralized feudalist social system.