MEMORIAL rituals for Confucius (551 B.C.-479 B.C.), a great thinker and educator in ancient China, will be held on the 28th day of each month from April to October in his hometown of Qufu in China's eastern Shandong Province.

The monthly activities are a simplified version of the grand ceremony held Sept. 28, the birthday of Confucius, when people dressed in traditional costumes performed the rituals, according to a tourism official in Qufu.

The monthly rituals are aimed at entertaining domestic and overseas tourists who want to appreciate the memorial activities for Confucius, the official said.

Confucius, or Kong Zi in Chinese, was a great ancient Chinese educator and philosopher, with benevolence as one of his key doctrines. His profound thinking has been an integral part of China's cultural system.

The memorial events can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) in China.

Since the 1980s, a grand ceremony has been held annually in Qufu on Sept. 28 every year to commemorate the birth of Confucius.

Editor: Wing