Confucius

Confucius was born in 551 B.C. in Changping Country of the Lu State. His name was Qiu and styled Zhongni.
Under the education of his mother, Yan Zhengzai Confucius was interested in rites from childhood and practicing the rites by displaying utensils at only six years old.
He was a poor descendant of a deposed noble family. As a child, he held make-believe temple rituals ; as a young adult, he quickly earned a reputation for fairness, politeness and love of learning, and he was reputed to be quite tall. He traveled extensively and studied at the imperial capital, Zhou, where he is said t o have met and spoke with Lao Zi, the founder of Daoism.

When Confucius was 17 years old in 546 B.C., his mother Yan zhengzai was died and was buried with his father in one tomb. As same time, he was refused to take part in banquet by Yanghu, the officer of Jisi.
When he was 19 years old, Confucius learnt to play the music of Wen Wang Zao from the master Xiang for a long time until he understood the music' meaning.

Upon his return to Lu, he gained renown as a teacher, but when he was 35, Duke Zhao of Lu led his country to war, was routed and fled to the neighboring country of Qi ; in the disorder following the battle, Confucius followed. Duke Zhao frequently came to him for advice, but upon counsel of one of his ministers, he decided against granting land to Confucius and gradually stopped seeking his counsel. When other nobles began plotting against Confucius' position, Duke Zhao refused to intervene, and Confucius returned to Lu. But conditions there were no better than before, and Confucius retired from public life to concentrate on teaching and studying.

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At age 50, he was approached by the
Baron of Qi to help defending against
a rebellion, but he declined. He was later
made a city magistrate by the new Duke
of Lu, and under his administration the
city flourished. He was promoted several
times, eventually becoming Grand
Secretary of Justice and, at age 56,
Chief Minister of Lu. Neighboring countries
began to worry that Lu would become too
powerful, and they sent messengers with
gifts and dancers to distract the duke
during a sacrifice holiday. When the duke
abandoned his duties to receive the
messengers, Confucius resigned and left
the country.

Confucius spent the next five years
wandering China with his disciples, finding
that his presence at royal courts was rarely
tolerated for long before nobles would begin
plotting to drive him out or have him killed.
He was arrested once and jailed for five
days, and at 62 he was pursued, along
with his disciples, into the countryside by
a band of soldiers sent by jealous nobles,
until he was able to send a messenger to
the sympathetic king of a nearby country,
who sent his own soldiers to rescue them.
Once again, Confucius was to be given
land but was denied it upon counsel of
another high minister.

After further wanderings, he eventually
returned to Lu at age 67. Although he was
welcomed there and chose to remain, he
was not offered public office again, nor
did he seek it. Instead he spent the rest of
his years teaching and, finally, writing.
He died at 72.