Kongzi, or Confucius, was the father figure for a Chinese ideology and philosophy that would affect the way Chinese people think and live for thousands of years after his death. It is important to note that Confucius claims no ownership to his philosophies; he did not consider himself the founder of any school or philosophical movement, and once said of himself, “I transmit but do not create. I believe in and love the ancients” (Analects 1.1). Although he only claimed himself to be a transmitter, because of the expansion and continuation of his ideology through later philosophers, it is evident that he also a creator.

Confucian morals focus around man. Confucius believed that man “can make the Way (Tao) great,” and not that “the Way can make man great.”(Chan 1

Although Confucius does not speak about Heaven directly in many cases, it is without doubt that Heaven plays the central role as “dictator” of our morals and principles.

“… Although there may be a difference between the different stalks of wheat, it is due to the difference in the soil, as rich or poor, to the unequal nourishment obtained from the rain and the dew, and to differences in human effort. Therefore all things of the same kind are similar to one another. Why should there be any doubt about men? The sage and I are the same in king.”

“Gongduzi then said, ‘All are equally human. Why is it that some follow what is great and others follow what is small?’

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