Millions of descendants of Confucius are being listed in an international update of the Chinese philosopher's 2,556-year-old family tree, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
The laborious task -- being conducted in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and several other Asian countries -- will include an estimated 3 million descendants when it is completed by 2009, the Liberty Times, the Taipei Times' sister paper, said.
It said the project was being coordinated in Hong Kong, but did not provide further details.
Confucius was born in China's Shandong Province, and for centuries Chinese and others have been influenced by his main body of work, The Analects, which consists of his responses to questions from 72 disciples who toured the countryside with him during the Warring States Period.
The period began in the fifth century BC and continued for approximately 300 years.
The family tree of Confucius, whose Chinese surname is Kung (孔), has gone through a major updating every 60 years despite the many political upheavals in Chinese history.
It listed 560,000 descendants when it was last updated in 1937, officials said.
The Liberty Times quoted Kung Hsiang-chi (
Kung was quoted as saying he was tracking down the descendants mainly through classified ads and the telephone directory.
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