3 . Who is the greatest teacher in Chinese history? Many people will think of Confucius, whose birthday was September 28. Although he lived over 2,000 years ago, people still remember and respect him for his contribution (贡献) to the education today.

Confucius lived in the Kingdom of Lu, which lies in Shandong Province. He lived during the Spring and Autumn Period. He had a hard childhood. His father died when he was only 3. His mother brought him up. As a child, he had to work to help his mother, but young Confucius didn’t give up studying. He visited many famous teachers and learned music, history, poems and sports.

Later, he became a teacher and started the first public school in Chinese history. At that time only children from rich families could go to school, but Confucius believed everyone should go to school if they wanted to learn. He had about 3,000 students in his lifetime.

Today, people still follow Confucius’ lessons. He told us that we all have something worthy to be learned. “When I am with three people, one of them must be better than me in some areas. I choose their good qualities and follow them.” He also taught us that thinking is very important in study. “All study but no thinking makes people puzzled (困惑的). All thinking but no study makes people lazy.”

Confucius is not only a great teacher, but also a famous thinker with wise thoughts about the world and society. His most important teachings are about kindness and good manners. “A person should be strict with himself, but be kind to others.” he said.

4 . About 400 years ago in China, there was a traveler (旅行者). He spent 30 years traveling across China. His name is Xu Xiake.

    1     When he was a child, Xu enjoyed reading books about Chinese mountains and rivers. These mountains and rivers were very beautiful. He made a wish then.     2    

At that time, many children studied hard to become officials (官员). Xu’s father never forced (逼迫) him to take exams.     3     Xu began to travel when he was about 22 years old. Before he left, his mother made him a hat for the traveling.

Xu travelled to 21 provinces and over 100 cities in China. He climbed thousands of mountains and discovered (发现) over 350 caves.     4     And he discovered the Yangtze River’s headwaters.

Xu travelled mostly on foot. He slept and ate in the wild (野外).     5     But Xu was brave and he always enjoyed travelling. He kept a diary while travelling and the book The Travels of Xu Xiake is still popular today!

5 . Su Shi isn’t a strange name to us, as we learn his ci in textbooks. Su is one of the most popular ancient writers. He was good at almost all kinds of writings and art, including poems, ci and prose (散文) as well as calligraphy (书法) and painting. But Su was not only respected for his talents, but also for his positive attitude towards life.

When he was young, he passed the imperial examination (科举考试) and got a degree of Jinshi. After that, he became an official. Unluckily, Su was demoted (贬谪) to serve in far areas because of other officials’ bad words about him. But he was not too discouraged.

First, he went to Huangzhou, in today’s Hubei. There he tried to enjoy life in the countryside. He farmed a piece of land which he called Dongpo. This is why people call him Dongpo. It is also said that he invented Dongpo Pork, a famous Chinese dish, during this period. Many of his poems were written there, too. Including Tune: Calming the Waves. Its line “Impervious to wind, rain or shine, I’ll have my will (归去! 也无风雨也无晴)” showed his open-minded attitude.

Su was also demoted to Danzhou, in today’s Hainan. At the beginning, he couldn’t get used to the hot and wet weather. He couldn’t understand the local language. Instead of getting sad, he set up schools and got along well with the locals. Many people traveled from far places to visit him.

“Su is a great optimist (乐天派), a friend of people, a prose master.” writer Lin Yutang said in his book about Su.

In ancient Chinese stories, Cangjie created characters (文字). Cangjie was smart, so the leader Huangdi gave him the job of recording things. However,     1     He wanted to find out a way to solve the problem.

One day, Cangjie went hunting with several other people.     2     After seeing this, Cangjie thought if there were different signs for different things, he could remember all the important things easily.     3     Huangdi was happy with Cangjie’s work and asked him to teach the signs to others. They all thanked Cangjie. Over time he got proud.

Cangjie was teaching a class one day. An old man listened to him carefully. After the class, the old man asked Cangjie, “    4     A cow also has four legs. But why doesn’t the sign for the cow show that?”

Cangjie found he mixed the two signs up when teaching. He felt very sorry for that.     5    

Interesting facts about Confucius

Confucius was a eat Chinese educator. His thought is very important in traditional Chinese culture.

    1    

How tall was Confucius?

One ancient Chinse text recorded that Confucius’ height was nine feet and six inches. But how tall is nine feet and six inches?     2     So, Confucius was no les than 220 cm tall according to the text.

Was Confucius skilled at martial arts (武术)?

You might have never imagined that Confucius was good at horse riding and archery (射箭). In the 6th century BC, he strongly developed the six skills, which included “riding” and “Confucius “.

What kinds of jobs did Confucius have?

Confucius’ father died when he was still young, so his family was very poor.     3     He once drove sheep and also worked as a warehouse (仓库) manager,.

    4       

More than 2,500 years ago, the average lifespan in China was less than 30, but Confucius lived to be 73, making him one of the oldest men of his time.

Where was the earliest known painted picture of Confucius discovered?

Several years ago, scientists discovered a set of screens in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. On the screens, there was written text recording the life of Confucius.     5    

In the Western Han Dynasty, there was a boy called Kuang Heng. He was born in a poor family and couldn’t go to school. Luckily, one of his relatives taught him to read and he became very interested in reading.

At that time, books were expensive. Kuang Heng couldn’t afford books, so he decided to borrow some. He worked for a rich man without getting paid. The rich man asked, “Why don’t you want the money?” Kuang Heng said, “I like reading. You only need to lend me some books.” The rich man was surprised at his diligence (勤奋) and agreed to lend him books.

In the daytime, Kuang Heng had to work, so he could only read in the night. However, he was too poor to buy even a candle. How could he read in the dark night? He found that his neighbor lit (点燃) candles in the house, and he had a good idea. He dug a small hole on the wall so that he could use the light to read books. From that day, he read every night until the light went out.

Finally, Kuang Heng became a successful person with great knowledge.