HE IS PERHAPS THE world's most famous teacher and certainly one of the longest remembered. Confucius created a school of philosophy that would go on to dominate much of Chinese thought, politics and culture until the modern era.
The Spring and Autumn era (770-476BC) philosopher may have just celebrated his 2,556th birthday but the influence of his teachings can still be felt in the local education system today.
Tong Yan-kai, president of the Confucian Academy - a school sponsoring body and academic association that researches Confucian thought - believes the teachings still have a role to play in today's education.
'I began studying Confucius when I was four or five years old,' Dr Tong said. 'I feel that learning about Confucius as a child helped me understand how to be a good person, not to tell lies, not to take advantage of other people. It was very meaningful and helped me to develop my intellect.'
Dr Tong said the teachings of Confucian thought began early in the academy's two aided primary schools and continued in its secondary school. The process began with simple textbooks explaining the concepts at the primary level, gradually progressing to the original classical Chinese texts.
'Christianity has the Bible. Buddhism has its Sutras. Islam has the Koran,' Dr Tong said. 'In Confucianism, we also have our own sacred canon, the Four Books and Five Classics.'