Confucianism took its birth in the sixth century B.C., at a time when the old solar myth was very extensively believed in China and the neighbouring countries, and was, strictly speaking, a system of morality and conduct. Its author, Confucius (Kong-fu-tse), was born B.C. 550, in Lu, a province of China, and at a very early age commenced to preach a higher and purer morality among the Chinese people, many of whom became regular followers of the young reformer, and followed his good example by likewise teaching the people at every favourable opportunity. He was strongly opposed to all false show, hypocrisy, and deceit, and abhorred the life of a hermit as unnatural and mischievous. He preferred not to speak of heaven as a personal being, as was the habit of his countrymen, but was exceedingly fond of quoting its example as the preserver of order, frequently alluding to its commands, ordinances, and purposes. He attached no value to prayer, preached the doctrine that good and evil are rewarded on the earth by prosperity and adversity, and expressed his disbelief in special revelations to men. The canonical books of the Confucians are known as the five _Kings_ (the historical _Shu-King_, the psalms of the _Shi-King_, and the ritual of the _Li-ki_, the chronicles of the _Tshun-tsiew_, and the magical _Yi-King_), and the three volumes containing the remarkable and benevolent utterances of the master Confucius himself—viz., the _Lun-yu_, the _Ta-hio_, and the _Tshung-yung_. In the _Ta-hio_ occur those celebrated and beautiful moral passages which have so justly immortalised the name of Confucius. The one is the 24th moral: “Do unto another what you would he should do to you, and do not to another what you would should not be done to you. Thou needest this law alone; it is the foundation and principle of all the rest.” The other is the 53rd moral: “Acknowledge thy benefits by return of other benefits, but never avenge injuries.” Notwithstanding the great persecution of Confucians in b.c. 212, by the Ts’in rulers, and other smaller attempts to destroy the new system of morality in favour of the sun-gods, the moral code of Confucius was publicly permitted to be used in A.D. 57, and since the seventh century has almost entirely taken the place of god-worship, a few only of the more uneducated classes still professing to worship Fo-hi.