The works of Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civic service examination in 140 BC which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of 19th century. Under the succeeding of Han and Tang Dynasty, Confucian ideas gained widespread prominence. Analects is the collection of his talk with various disciples.

Indeed, such canonical status has Confucianism arrived in shaping Chinese government, society and culture, and even people's daily behavior codes and talk, that the texts have almost proverbial memorability and quotability.Ĭonfucius lived in the time of Spring and Autumn Period. Finally I will lead you to read the text twice so that you can recite and memorize them. For each lecture, I will explain word by word the meaning of the classical Chinese text, first in English, then in modern Chinese (Don't worry! modern Chinese is not so far from classical Chinese, it is very often simply that monosyllabic word in classical Chinese turn into bi-syllabic phrase in modern Chinese), and then I will explain to you the philosophical implication of these texts, often comparing it with other schools of Chinese philosophies. In learning the course, print out the PDF of Analects text in the introduction chapter, and with it in hand, study the selected chapters in the following lectures (because there is no subtitle of the text in the video). Study of Confucianism is quintessential for understanding Chinese culture and Chinese society shaped by it through centuries. This course studies 61 selected chapters from Analects- the most important work of Confucius. Welcome to the course studying the most important educator in Chinese history-Confucius and his Analects.

The analects of confucius meaning