Our Findings in the Project

In this project, we provide a new perspective for studying the image of Confucius. We explore different images of Confucius in different literature contexts by analyzing early Chinese literature. Our conclusion shows that Confucius's changeable and flexible image adds complexity and diversity to Chinese history's "Confucius" in different contexts.

In "The Analects", Confucius is the founder of Confucianism and the ideal personality in Confucianism. Confucius is described as a great man who returns to Rites of Zhou in The Analects. In this literature, Confucius is closer to an interpreter and disseminator of knowledge and Zhou rites than a creator of knowledge.

In addition to classic works of Confucius like the Analects, the description of Confucius by ancient Chinese masters is also worthy of our study.

Zhuangzi is a representative figure of Daoism. In his literary work "Zhuangzi," Zhuangzi often used Confucius to explain his ideas. In Zhuangzi's literature, the image of Confucius is both derogatory and praiseworthy. Although Zhuangzi believed that Confucius was indeed a great man, he also thought that the spiritual realm of Confucius was incomparable with the spiritual realm of the "sage" of his school. In this literary context, Confucius was regarded as the object of comparison.

Mozi used to be a student of Confucius's thought; He is well versed in Confucian thought, so his description of Confucius is worthy of our discussion. Although he once admired Confucianism, he chose to abandon Confucianism after discovering the flaws in Confucius's thoughts. There is no doubt that Mozi is one of the fiercest critics of Confucius. In Mo Zi's literature, although he recognized Confucius as one of the authorities of traditional Chinese thought and culture, Mo Zi believed that Confucius was a hypocrite, and his thinking was backward and clichés.

Unlike Mozi's negative attitude towards Confucius, Mencius is one of Confucius' most important supporters. Mencius perfectly reconstructed the image of Confucius and helped to myth Confucius. He regarded Confucius as the greatest thinker in Chinese history, and for the first time abstracted Confucius as the incarnation of the ideal personality of Confucianism. Unlike Mozi, Mencius deliberately avoided flaws of Confucius' thinking. In Mencius's literature, Confucius was deified as a more symbolic symbol.

Finding an accurate image of a person more than 2500 years ago is very difficult. Even for a celebrity like Confucius, who has plenty of historical records, it is still challenging to piece together a real and complex Confucius. However, it may be more meaningful to find the image of Confucius in the early Chinese literature than to get the actual image of Confucius. Under different textual environments, Confucius was abstracted into an authority and label representing Confucianism and traditional Chinese culture. For example, Confucius can be an image of a "saint" in Mencius' literature that integrates virtues or a "hypocrisy" and "conservative" master in Mozi's thought. Confucius can even be an interpreter of truth and a reteller of stories in some works. Abstracting the image of Confucius to a certain extent makes Confucius a meta-argument for scholars to study Chinese traditional culture and thought.

Early Chinese writers may not rely on the actual image of ConfuciusThey just endowed Confucius' authority in their works and ideas (regardless of their attitude towards Confucius) by using phrases like "Kongzi yue(Confucius comments)." From this perspective, our respect for Confucius seems to be derived more from the symbolic Confucius than the accurate image of Confucius in history.

Indeed, in early Chinese literature, Confucius's image and role are much richer than those introduced in this project. However, our project aims to provide a new perspective and method to help interested people study Confucius. As China's most authoritative literary and cultural label, it is foreseeable that Confucius will continue to be given different images and functions in the future.