He's been dead for 2,500 years but his family just keeps growing
and growing - Confucius, or more properly his descendants, are
alive and well and flourishing in China and across the globe,
according to the latest version of his family tree which is set to
triple the size of his kith and kin.
The job of registering new members to the family tree of the
revered Chinese thinker and educator Confucius (551- 479 BC) was
finished by the end of 2007, and the number in the updated tree now
stands at more than two million.
The family tree will be published in 2009, according to the
Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee.
"We have received more than 1.3 million new entries and already
stopped soliciting new ones," said Kong Dewei, a Confucius
descendant who is directing the updating work.
The 1.3 million are the living members of the Confucius family
who have paid the official registration fee of five yuan (70 U.S.
cents), but the deceased members will also be included if their
descendants can prove a collateral family tree which conforms to
the Confucius Genealogy, without any charges, Kong said.
The registration work started in 1998, when Kong Deyong,
77th-generation descendant, established the committee in Hong Kong.
More than 450 branches were set up around the world to assist the
work.
The pedigree has only been revised four times throughout
history. The last revision took place in the 1930s and included
600,000 members. The fifth edition of the Confucius family tree
will be published to coincide with the 2560th anniversary of the
birth of the thinker next year.
Compared with previous versions, the new genealogy will for the
first time include overseas and female descendants of the great
philosopher.
Confucius' family tree is regarded as the world's longest,
recording more than 80 generations of the sage's family.
(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2008)
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