JINAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Confucius, a great Chinese thinker in ancient China, has more than three million descendants around the world, according to recent statistics.

    Born in 551 B.C., Confucius, a statesman and educator, founded the Confucian school of thought, or Confucianism, which emphasizes a people-first ideal and advocates a personality with the virtues of loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and seeking "harmony while maintaining disparity" culturally and in thought.

    Confucianism dominated Chinese society for a long time, and started to spread to Europe in late 16th century. Confucius was placed at the top of 10 key thinkers in the world by a guidebook of world celebrities published in the United States in 1984.

    Kong Deming, vice director of the Qufu Confucius pedigree research center said that with Qufu as its main concentration region, the descedants of Confucius are now over three million, with 2.5 million on Chinese mainland, 100,000 in Republic of Korea,and many also in the United States and Malaysia and Singapore.

    He also noted that the new version of Confucius family tree book will be published in 2007. Enditem