On Sept. 28, a memorial ceremony was held in the Southern Confucius Ancestral Temple in Quzhou, southeastern China's Zhejiang province, to mark the 2,572nd anniversary of the birth of Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and educator.
Quzhou Mayor Gao Yi acted as the master of ceremony, and Kong Lingli, the 76th generation lineal descendant of Confucius, was the assistant master of ceremony.
Representatives from the Quzhou municipal government, the International Confucian Association, the Confucius Institutes, and descendants of Confucius gathered for the ceremony, and took part in a series of activities such as tributes and recitals.
This year also marks the 500th anniversary of the establishment of the Southern Confucius Ancestral Temple. The memorial ceremony was also livestreamed over the internet.
Quzhou is the second home of the Confucius family. In 1128, after the downfall of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Kong Duanyou, a 48th-generation descendant of Confucius, moved to China's south and settled in Quzhou.
