Confucius
A teacher without office shapes two millennia of Chinese government
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What was radical in Confucius is that *nobility should be achieved, not inherited*: the cultivated man is the one who has studied, not the one born wealthy. The idea became the civil service examination, which for a thousand years gave a farmer's son a theoretical path to state power. The teaching was later used both to justify rebellion against bad rulers and to demand obedience — it has served both sides.
For children
Confucius held that society is held together by everyone behaving rightly in their role — child to parent, subject to ruler, friend to friend. He never obtained the post he wanted, but his students wrote down what he said.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org