Korean Confucius descendants trace back to ancestor of family tree

There are as many as 80,000 Korean Confucius descendants, making the group the largest overseas branch of the family tree.

Kong Deping, general secretary of the Confucius Genealogy Constant Compilation Committee, also director of Qufu Bureau of Cultural Relics, said the committee began to update the Confucius family tree in 1998 and disclosed its latest version in 2009, which recorded all 83 generations of Confucius' offspring, more than 2 million people. It was regarded as the world's biggest family tree.

More than 40,000 overseas descendants had their names added to the 2009 edition, with more than 30,000 of them from ROK.

However, new findings continue to appear as descendants dig deeper into historic materials collected from all over the world.

"We Confucius descendants are bonded by the bloodline," said Kong Deyong, 90, a 77th-generation descendant, leader of the family clan and chief compiler of the great thinker's genealogy books.

The Chinese, enjoying learning more about where they come from, have been documenting their ancestors and descendants throughout history. But many such family records were lost and the tradition was interrupted due to wars and social chaos in the last century.

Revising family tree books have seen a renaissance in recent years as many Chinese feel that they suffer a moral void in society caused by the nation's rush into commercialism.

Confucianism, a body of ethical principles derived from Confucius' thinking, including putting people first, cultivating fraternity, loyalty, filial piety and integrity of personality, and seeking harmony while keeping differences in thoughts and culture, has been a dominant force throughout Chinese history.

It is estimated that there are more than 3 million descendants of Confucius living in the world, including 2.5 million on the Chinese mainland.