The fifth updated genealogy of Confucius, or Kong Zi, has taken about ten years to compile, and is set to be printed in 2009 in honor of the sage’s 2560th birthday anniversary.

In 2005, the Guinness Book of World Records included Confucius’ family tree as the longest on record, spanning 83 generations.

The current head of the household in Taiwan, Kung Teh-cheng, is the Supreme Teacher’s 77th-generation descendant, who is also a professor at National Taiwan University and a former president of the Examination Yuan.

The youngest Confucius family descendant in Taiwan is one-year-old Kung Yu-jen, who is also the great grandson of 87-year-old Kung Teh-cheng (the surname is spelled differently in different transliteration systems).

The main line of the family fled from Confucius’ hometown of Qufu in modern-day Shandong province to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War.

Traditionally, wives of husbands were included in Chinese family trees, but female descendants were rarely recorded. In the latest version of the sage’s genealogy, not only will female descendants be included, but, in a role reversal, their husbands’ names will be written in the smaller characters used for spouses.

An estimated 3 million people in the world are descendants of Confucius, 2.5 million of which live in mainland China.

Besides Taiwan, other major branches of the family tree reside in China’s special administrative region of Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States.

“One of the reasons why the family tree of Confucius has survived in such detail for thousands of years is because the Grand Master’s descendants were repeatedly identified and honored with titles and official posts,” explained Lee Ming-tzu, a Confucius expert with the Taipei City Archives and a volunteer guide at Taipei’s Confucius Temple.

Thirty-five descendants have held the title of marquis, and forty-two have been named dukes. More recently, in 1055, Emperor Zhenzong of Song bestowed the title of Lord of Yansheng (Saint Blood) on Kong Zong of the 46th generation. The latest holder of the title is Kung Teh-cheng, who is also the appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius.

For Lee, it is not very surprising that Confucius’ family tree has evolved to its current size. “The Chinese place great emphasis on record-keeping and historical documentation. Usually prominent families will keep precise records of their family trees...It is not uncommon for many families even in Taiwan today, for example, to have big family trees,” she said.

Confucius’ family tree was first revised during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) under Emperor Tianqi (1621-1627). It was edited twice again during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) under Emperors Kangxi (1661-1722) and Qianlong (1735-1796), at which point the descendants totaled 20,000 and 100,000, respectively. The fourth update, presided over by Kung Te-cheng, was compiled between 1930 and 1937, and showed 560,000 members.

Descendants must abide by strict naming guidelines. Same generations must share the first two characters in their names. The result is a considerable amount of namesakes, with “Kung Hsien-ming” being the most common, at 1192 descendants with the name. Descendants from different generations that share the same name are also common.

Confucius was a famous Chinese teacher and philosopher who lived between 551 and 479 BC.

His teachings emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity, and have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and other cultures.

Confucius’ thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism. His teachings are known primarily through the “Analects of Confucius.”

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