Kong Xiangkai (L), first descendant of the 75th generation of lineal descent in the Confucius family, reads the Analects of Confucius at the ancestral temple of the Confucius family in Quzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 28, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

A grand ceremony marking the 2557th birth anniversary of Confucius was held on Thursday in Quzhou, where one of the two ancestral temples of the Confucius family was located. Similar ceremonies were also held in various places in China. Confucius (551 B.C. -- 479 B.C.), native of Qufu in east China's Shandong Province, was a great thinker, philosopher, and educator in ancient China. Confucius and philosophy have, over the past 2500-odd years, profoundly influenced the politics, values and ethics of China and some other Asian countries.
 

Pupils read the Analects of Confucius at the ancestral temple of the Confucius family in Quzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 28, 2006.(Xinhua Photo)

 
Performance in the ancient style is staged during a grand ceremony marking the 2557th birth anniversary of Confucius held in the Confucian temple in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 28, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

Performance in the ancient style is staged during a grand ceremony marking the 2557th birth anniversary of Confucius held in the Confucian temple in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 28, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

Editor: Yan