77th-generation descendant Kong Deyong (middle) in the unveiling ceremony.
By Wang Yu
September 28 was the 2,560th birthday of Confucius, one of China’s greatest thinkers and social philosophers. A celebration was held in a Confucian temple in ufu, Shandong Province, the sage’s hometown.This year’s occasion was special because it coincided with the unveiling of a fifth version of Confucius’ family tree, last revised 72 years agoIt took the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee 13 years to amend the “longest pedigree in the world,” as confirmed by Guinness World Records in 2005. Kong Deyong, a 77th-generation descendant of Confucius and head of the committee, registered the cmittee in Hong Kong in 1998, then hired more than 450 agents worldwide to collect information about the descendants.
The updated version includes 2 million descendants. For the first time, women, ethnic minorities and overseas offspring have been added to the list.
Over twenty percent of the descendants are female. Kong Kaiping who works in a culture company in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, was the first female on the list. After being included in the family tree, Kong spent three years traveling in Jiangsu and helped discover more descendants of Confucius.
There are still a number of descendents who objected to listing female offspring, Kong said.
“People think women belong to another family after marriage. But gender never changes your blood,” Kong saidThough the sage is recorded as being Han, lots of descendants became ethnic minorities over time. The new family tree records descendants representing at least 14 minorities. Kong Xiangxian, a 71-year-old former government officer, is a Muslim whose name is on the list. He said the new genealogy reflects the family’s diversity
