Confucius as a young man

In 551 B.C., Ziwei went to ancient China to be reincarnated as a young boy in the late Spring and Autumn period in the state of Lu, Cuyi (now Qufu in Shandong province) and took the name: Kong Qiu, the character Zhongni, and as Kong Qiu later became the founder of the Chinese school of Confucianism, people later revered him as Confucius. (Zi, in ancient times, could be used to refer to all adult males. However, most of the time, Zi was used to address those of a certain status or position, or those who were moral or learned. The surname of the person being addressed was added before Zi to show respect.)

Confucius' mother was called Yan Zhengzai, and she was a very young woman. Born a commoner, her family was poor. Confucius's father was a nobleman and a fierce general who was once the governor of Zu Yi, called Shu Lianghe (Kong Lianghe, or Shu, as he was also known in the history books).

Confucius's father, Shu Lianghe, was the official official of Zuanyi, a position comparable to that of a governor today, which means that Confucius was a "second generation official". Confucius's father, Shu Lianghe, was known as a capable man from far and wide, as well as a handsome, powerful and strong warrior. As a young man, he enlisted in the army and fought for his country. Unfortunately, Confucius' father died of illness when Confucius was just three years old.

During his lifetime, Shu Lianghe did not have a good arrangement for the life of Yan's mother and son. As a result, soon after his death, Yan's mother and son were driven out of the family home by the Confucian family. The orphans and widows were immediately deprived of their source of livelihood and dependence.

A weak woman, Yan was unable to put up any resistance, and she had to leave the Kong family with her still-infant son, who was still nursing, and her heart was so miserable and helpless that her pity was unimaginable.

Since the death of Confucius' father, his mother's financial situation had become even more difficult. In order to earn a living, her mother Yan Zheng moved with him from his original home to his present residence in Qufu, Shandong Province, and instead of looking for another man, she worked hard alone and did her best to bring up Confucius.

Confucius' mother, Yan Zheng, made a wise decision when she was at the end of her rope. She took Confucius with her to Qufu, the capital of the state of Lu, to join her friends and relatives.

She and Confucius struggled to make ends meet as they lived in a commoner's area southwest of Qufu, where she did laundry and sewing and did heavy work for others. Thankfully, Qufu was the political and cultural centre of the state of Lu, where Confucius received a good cultural education.

Confucius' mother, independent and self-sufficient, was not overwhelmed by poverty; she maintained good moral character and set an example in times of poverty, still insisting on supporting herself through hard work. Confucius' mother was undoubtedly the first teacher to lead Confucius on his path in life, an example for him to emulate. She was always on hand to urge Confucius to study hard, and under his mother's careful nurturing, Confucius continued to grow up in good health.

Confucius had a strange and unusual appearance, but he was very clever and intelligent and had a pure nature. In the twenty-ninth year of the Duke of Lu (544 BC), when Confucius was seven years old, Ji Zha, a scholar from the state of Wu, watched a performance of ritual music in Lu and was amazed by the magnificent and rich content of the scene, an event that made Confucius interested in music.

When the young Confucius played games with children, Confucius used to set out sacrificial vessels and imitate and learn the rituals of the adults in a serious manner.

Confucius' mother always looked at her son with admiration, and instead of laughing at his childish nonsense, she encouraged him to study consciously and seriously. But since the loss of his father, Confucius' family was so poor that attending the formal and systematic learning activities of a noble school was out of the question. Nevertheless, Confucius, under the guidance of his mother, often went to study and visit these cultural and ritual performances.

In ancient times, schools were called "school", "sequence" and "itch", and were sometimes established in the commoner areas. Schools were usually held during the agricultural period after the autumn harvest in the summer calendar. The teachers taught culture, rituals, music, archery and imperialism, as well as military knowledge, to train useful people for society. At this time, his mother, Yan, always asked her son to put aside his work and take the initiative to attend the lessons, and encouraged him to keep improving.

Time passed quickly and Confucius slowly grew up. From the time Confucius was very young, he often saw his thin mother often having to do a lot of heavy work in exchange for a meagre income to keep Confucius from going hungry. Confucius often watched his mother's back trembling as she carried heavy burdens to work in the fields, and sometimes Confucius saw his mother's hands often shaking with redness from the cold, because in the cold winter, she would also help people wash large piles of clothes and mend them in exchange for a meagre income to make ends meet. for a meagre income to make ends meet ...

To ease his mother's burden, Confucius would herd sheep for others whenever he could to earn money to support the family, but despite this, their life was still very hard and often Confucius and his mother lived without food.

In the midst of hardship, Confucius learnt to do menial work from an early age. He helped his mother plough the land, plant crops, grow vegetables and graze livestock, and became an expert at farm work.

Confucius insisted on working to earn money and studying hard at the same time. He hoped that one day he would be successful in his studies so that his dear mother could live a good life.

Confucius' mother worked long hours doing heavy work, washing clothes by hand in the cold winter and staying up late to mend them in order to support the family. Because the work was so hard, the frail mother finally fell ill. Confucius' mother had been bedridden for a long time and had spent all the money she had earned through hard work. The family had run out of money and Confucius, who was not yet ten years old, took the little rice the family had and cooked it into porridge to feed his mother.

But Confucius' mother said, "Good boy, you can eat! Mum is not hungry. I'm not well anyway, and I think I'm going to die, so I don't need to waste any more food, so you can eat!"

Confucius knew that his mother was very hungry, but she could not spare anything in order to save the little food she had for Confucius, so Confucius said, while shedding tears, "If mum doesn't eat, I won't eat either."

Only when Confucius' mother heard this did she reluctantly take a few sips.

From then on, his mother's health got worse and worse.

Confucius was so worried about his mother's health that he brought in a doctor to see her, who shook his head and sighed at her condition. When Confucius learned of the situation, he held back his tears and went out early and came home late. He worked harder and earned money to buy food and medicine for his mother by herding sheep for others. How he wished that his mother would miraculously get better!

But it was not to be. One day, when Confucius returned from herding sheep, he saw his mother lying quietly in bed, so he made a bowl of soup and brought it to her bedside.

Confucius' mother took a few sips of the soup Confucius fed her, after which she said to Confucius in a hoarse voice: "My favourite son, my mother's health will not be restored, and I will soon leave you. No matter what, you must study hard, maintain good moral cultivation, be self-reliant and become a useful person to society ..."

Confucius' mother finished speaking and stopped breathing.

Confucius was so sad to think that his mother had died before he could enjoy a good life that he wept as he stood by her bed ...