14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been on a doodle spree lately with a series celebrating the birthday of H.G. Wells, the popular British science fiction writer and just yesterday with a new one to mark Google's own birthday. But just after dropping the second 'l' in the Googlle doodle, it's now sporting a new one, this time to mark the birthday of the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius.
The philosopher is believed to have been born on September 28, 551BC in Qufu, China, 2,560 years ago. From records gathered later on it is said that he was born into a poor family of noble descent and that his father was an elderly man when he married his mother who was still in her teens, something outside of the accepted norm at the time. His father died when he was three and he was raised in poverty by his mother.
He married at 19 years old and worked as a shepherd and a clerk before he started teaching. By the age of 53 he was the Justice Minister in the government of the region. He became disillusioned with the rulers of the time and resigned his position choosing to travel around the kingdoms in the region spreading his teachings and beliefs. After some 15 years he returned to his homelands where he spent his time teaching and writing the set of texts known as the Five Classics.
His teachings have been gathered in the 'Analects of Confucius' which were written some time after his death and some experts say that he may not have been the author of some of the works but rather a curator. He is one of the best known Chinese thinkers and his birthday is still celebrated in some parts of Asia and especially in China. Google is known for its doodles marking important events or people and is now displaying a drawing of the philosopher on its homepage in most parts of the world but not in the US yet.
